What's the Key to Answered Prayer?
Jesus once said, ”You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:13-14). Wow. Sounds great! Sign me up! But is this all there is to it? Can I ask for anything and get it?
I decided to find all of the New Testament scriptures that promise that God will give us what we ask for. I identified 15 of them. There could be others. Seven of them say we can ask for “anything” or “whatever.” Again, sounds great. But there are also some requirements attached. What follows is a list of all of the things that are required in these 15 verses for our prayers to be answered, along with the number of times they are mentioned:
Ask in Jesus’ name (3)
Persistence, keep asking (2)
Ask in faith (2)
Don’t doubt (2)
Proclaim/pray (2)
Ask for what pleases God (1)
Ask with proper motives (1)
Obey and do what pleases God (1)
Produce lasting fruit (1)
Have unwavering faith in God alone (1)
Believe you have received it (1)
First forgive (1)
Believe in Jesus (1)
Remain in Jesus (1)
Ask God directly (1)
Ask in community/unity (1)
Treat your wife as you should (1)
Don’t have divided loyalty (1)
Don’t feel guilty (1)
When I look at this list I ask, who on earth does all these things and can we really expect to receive anything we ask for? What are your thoughts? Please free to share them with me using the Contact page.
Also, I’m including the fifteen scriptures I considered below for reference – in NLT form. Enjoy!
Scriptures
Matthew 7:7-11 – “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. You parents – if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”
Matthew 18:19 – “I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you. For where two or three gather together as my followers, I am there among them.”
Matthew 21:21-22 – Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
Mark 11:24 – Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”
Luke 11:5-10 – Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread… though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence (or, in order to avoid shame). And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Luke 18:1-8 – One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’” Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
John 14:12-14 – “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!”
John 15:7 – “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!”
John 15:16 – “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.”
John 16:23-24 – “At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”
James 1:5-9 – If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
James 4:2b-3 – Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
1 Peter 3:7 – In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives… Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered. (NLT 96: If you don’t treat [your wife] as you should, your prayers will not be heard.)
1 John 3:21-22 – Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.
1 John 5:14-15 – And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.