"According To His Will"
God doubtless loves to answer our prayers more than we love to pray them. Our Heavenly Father's infinitely generous heart stands ever ready to respond, even as the hymnwriter exulted, "Out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth and giveth and giveth again."
"He shall call upon Me and I will answer him" (Psalm 91:15).
"How much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" (Matthew 7:11).
However, our Father must always answer in accordance with His character, nature, and "the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Ephesians 3:11).
"If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us and… we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him" (I John 5:14; 15).
In the light of both our Father's desire to answer and His requirements of righteousness, we must seek to discover His will as revealed in the Scriptures. We must endeavor to offer informed prayers that flow from knowing our Lord and His way in accordance with Truth. We will not be perfect in our quest, and sometimes our prayers will either not be answered, or answered in a way that seems quite different than we expect. In such times, we must maintain our confidence in God's willingness to respond to our requests, even as He works to maintain His perfect integrity and virtue. The latter aspect of Truth is actually more important than the former. Our Father must forever be Himself and act faithfully to His nature. Indeed, if we could ever twist His arm, as it were, and convince Him to sentimentally answer a prayer that violates His character, nature, and way, the reality of all things would instantly dissolve into utter chaos and nothingness. This will not and cannot happen. "As for God, His way is perfect… I am the Lord, I change not" (II Samuel 22:31; Malachi 3:6). Thus, God's desire to answer flows with the current of His determination to abide in the perfection of His Divine being. We therefore do well to be grateful for prayers He doesn't answer as well as for those He does.
Through Christ, let us pray with much confidence to a Father who loves to answer our prayers. Let us also pray with much consciousness that even more than His answers, we need God to be and remain who He is. This He will do, ensuring the reality of all things, and assuring us of a Father who loves us enough respond to our requests in a manner that supplies our most important need…
"The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works."
(Psalm 145:17)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."
(I Peter 5:8)
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