One of the greatest privileges of being a Christian is access to God in prayer. Being a child of God is a unique relationship in which He as Father turns His attention toward you and opens His ears to what you are saying. This is truly a great blessing, and the more you consider it, the greater it appears. On the human level it is difficult to bridge the barriers that separate the common person from a dignitary, so that conversation with such an individual is usually next to impossible. All who read this article have access to a telephone. Just try calling the President of the United States, or the Queen of England, or the Secretary General of the United Nations, or the Pope in the Vatican. The chance is next to nothing that you would be connected with any of them. But if you are a Christian, a child of God, I assure you that the line to God is open right now via prayer. You will not be put on hold, or told to call back, or offered an apology that His high station excludes commoners from an audience with Him. God will hear you, even though He is exalted infinitely above every president, prime minister, king, queen, or human potentate.
All people have needs that must be met. Some of them are general and ordinary, while others are specific and very personal. We do not worry about the needs we can meet ourselves, but we all experience anxiety about those which we are unable to meet. If you lose your job and have no way to provide for your family, do not expect the President to help you if you make a personal appeal to him. If you find that you have life threatening cancer, it will do no good to call upon some king or prime minister for help. Aside from the fact that they would take little, if any, note of your call, they could not relieve their own condition if they themselves become gravely ill. When death takes a loved one, do not bother to look toward any human dignitary for comfort and consolation.
The Christian, however, has an all powerful Father in heaven whose ears are tuned to the calls of His children on earth in their varied conditions of life. The text of this article are the very words of Jesus, who assures His disciples that God will hear and answer our cries for help when we utter them in faith. God will answer the appeal of the one who has lost his job and cannot provide for his dependents. God will listen to the call of the one whose life is threatened with illness and will send comfort and consolation in full measure. Whatever the need, whatever the request, He will consider it and respond in the way best suited to fit the situation.
The one qualification that Jesus attaches is faith. He says, "Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." Many prayers receive no reply because they are offered with an element of doubt. People often approach prayer with the attitude, "Well, I've tried a lot of things, so I guess I ought to try prayer also to see if it will work." This kind of thinking dooms the prayer to impotence even as it is being spoken. People ought to think, "Now I will carry this matter to God in prayer. He will surely hear and respond in the way that is best, whether I think it is or not." There must be no doubt in the heart as you pray, or your petition will be dismissed.
It must be recognized that there is a hidden assumption in Jesus' statement about prayer. It is revealed later in the New Testament as follows, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions," (Jas. 4:3). If the object of one's request involves the gratification of carnal desire and the lust for pleasure, God will reject it, even if it is asked in faith. Our requests must have merit that transcends the vulgar "desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions," (I Jno. 2:15) that dominate so much in our appetites, affections, plans and ambitions.
