1. “In like manner, wives, be subject to your own husbands...Husbands, in like manner dwell together with them according to knowledge...that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Pet. 3:1, 7).
Wives must be subject to their own husbands. Husbands must dwell together with their wives according to knowledge. This is according to God’s ordination, and it pleases Him. If a husband and a wife do not live in this way, if there is a problem or separation, their prayer will be hindered. Any friction, quarrel, or discord between husband and wife makes it difficult for prayers to be heard and answered by God.
1. “Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor man / Also will cry and will not be heard” (Prov. 21:13; see also 1 John 3:17, 22).
Stinginess also causes prayers to not be heard or answered by God. If we do not listen to the cry of others, God will not listen to our cry. If we have the economic means to care for a brother’s lack but close our heart of mercy, how can God hear our prayers and cries? If we do not keep His commandment to love and care for the brothers, if we do not practice what pleases Him, how can He answer our prayers and cries to Him? Therefore, we must deal with our stingy heart according to God’s pleasure so that our prayers can be heard and answered by God.
1. “He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, / Even his prayer is an abomination” (Prov. 28:9).
If we do not listen to the word of God’s command, or if we hate the word of God’s command, He will not hear our prayer to Him. Our prayer will be an abomination to Him. Not listening to God’s word prevents our prayers from being heard and answered by God.
2. “As He called and they would not hear, so they called and I would not hear” (Zech. 7:13).
If we do not listen when God speaks to us, God will not listen when we speak to Him. Not listening to God’s word prevents our prayers from being heard by God.
1. “Whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 John 3:22).
When we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight, we receive what we ask from Him. If we do not keep His commandments or do the things that are pleasing in His sight, we will not receive what we ask from Him. If we are not willing to keep God’s commandments, God will not be willing to answer our prayer. If we are not willing to do what is pleasing in His sight, God will not be willing to accomplish the things that we ask. Not keeping God’s commandments or not doing the things that are pleasing in His sight prevents our prayers from being answered by God.
1. “There they cry, but He does not answer, / Because of the pride of evil men” (Job 35:12).
God hates pride; pride prevents God from answering our prayer.
2. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
God’s grace is given to the humble. The proud cannot receive God’s grace; they only encounter God’s resistance. Therefore, when the proud pray, they should not expect to receive God’s answer. Pride hinders us from receiving an answer to our prayers.
1. “He struck the ground three times then stopped. And the man of God became angry with him and said, You should have struck it five or six times” (2 Kings 13:18-19).
A cold heart, rather than a burning heart, can prevent our prayer from receiving an answer. The prophet Elisha told the king of Israel to strike the ground with some arrows. The king of Israel was not burning enough concerning this matter, so he struck the ground only three times. Elisha became angry with him and said that he should have struck the ground five or six times in order to completely defeat his enemy. Since he struck the ground only three times, he could strike the enemy only three times. Sometimes our prayers do not receive a complete answer from God because we are not burning enough and do not pray enough. God’s answer corresponds with our prayer. The extent to which we pray is the extent to which God answers. How much we pray determines how much God answers. Since coldness causes us to pray less, it also causes us to receive less of an answer from God.
1. “Clear me of my secret faults. / Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins... / May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart / Be acceptable before You” (Psa. 19:12-14).
We should pray for our condition before God and for our spiritual life. We should ask God to forgive us of our sins, especially our secret faults which have not even been exposed to us. We should ask God to keep us from sins, especially presumptuous sins. We should ask God to let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable before Him. We should pray this kind of prayer daily. Newly saved brothers and sisters should especially pray this way every day.
2. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; / Try me, and know my anxious thoughts; / And see if there is some harmful way in me, / And lead me on the eternal way” (Psa. 139:23-24).
We should frequently pray for God to search us, to know our heart, and to try us and know our anxious thoughts. We should ask Him to see what evil is within us, what idolatrous way is there, and to lead us in the eternal way (in verse 24 the phrase harmful way can also be translated “idolatrous way”).
3. “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ” (2 Thes. 3:5).
We should ask the Lord to direct our hearts into the love of God and into the endurance of Christ so that we would have the love of God and the endurance of Christ.
4. “Give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him” (Luke 11:13).
We should particularly ask God to give us the Holy Spirit. Although we have already received the Holy Spirit, we should ask God to give us more of the Holy Spirit so that we can experience the Spirit more.
5. “That...the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know” (Eph. 1:17-18).
This is a very spiritual prayer that we should pray. We should ask God to give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him and to enlighten the eyes of our heart that we may know the hope of His calling, the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.
6. “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:16-19).
This is a very spiritual prayer that we should pray. We should ask God to grant us, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in our hearts through faith, that we may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints the breadth and length and height and depth, having tasted His love and being rooted and grounded in love, and that we may know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ in order to be filled unto all the fullness of God.
7. “That you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding...by the full knowledge of God, being empowered with all power, according to the might of His glory” (Col. 1:9-11).
We need spiritual wisdom and understanding to know the will of God so that we can walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God, being empowered with all power according to the might of His glory unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy. We should thoroughly pray for this and ask God to give us this experience.
8. “That you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12).
Understanding and keeping the will of God are the most important matters for a Christian. Therefore, we must pray that God would enable us to stand mature and fully assured in all His will.
9. “Perfect you in every good work for the doing of His will, doing in us that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ” (Heb. 13:21).
God causes us to do His will through Jesus Christ by doing in us that which is well pleasing in His sight. We should pay attention to this matter, pursue it, and even more, pray for it.
The previously quoted verses relate to our condition before God and to our spiritual life. We must pay attention to these matters in our prayer. These are the prayers that we should pray related to ourselves. However, we also need to pray for the kingdom of God and His work, for the church and the saints, for all men, and for Israel, and so forth. These matters are considered in the following verses.
10. “Your name be sanctified; Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth” (Matt. 6:9-10).
This is the prayer that the Lord taught us to pray. It is the greatest prayer in the Bible. This prayer touches God’s eternal plan: It asks that God’s name be sanctified on earth; it asks that the kingdom of God come to earth to rule, and it asks that the will of God be done on earth. We must realize that these three matters are not a problem in heaven; heaven does not need our prayer. However, these three matters are a big problem with man and the earth because Satan captured man and usurped the earth. We need to pray that these three matters would be on earth as they are in heaven.
11. “Beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:38).
The condition on the earth today is in desperate need of God’s thrusting out of workers into His harvest. We see this problem before our eyes, and according to God’s principle, we must pray. The degree of our prayer is the degree of God’s work. The extent to which we pray is the extent to which God will work. I hope that many among us will pray to the Lord concerning this matter.
12. “Petition concerning all the saints, and for me, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth” (Eph. 6:18-19; see also Col. 4:3-4).
We must pray for the saints and the apostles. To pray for the saints is to pray that the saints would know God’s plan for the church in Christ as recorded in Ephesians, to know the salvation that God gave the church through Christ, and to grow up and mature by this knowledge to the fullness of the stature of Christ so that we can express Christ and deal with the enemy, Satan. To pray for the apostles is to pray for God’s workers and to ask God to give them utterance so that they can clearly speak the mystery of the gospel. This opens the door of the gospel so that they can preach the mystery of the gospel. We should have many among us who pray for these two matters. May the Lord truly raise up such praying ones among us.
13. “That the word of the Lord may run and be glorified” (2 Thes. 3:1).
We should pray for the word of the Lord. We should ask the Lord to open a door for His word so that His word may run and be glorified in order to spread His kingdom.
14. “Concerning My sons, / And concerning the work of My hands, command Me” (Isa. 45:11).
We should have desperate and high prayers for the children of God and for His work. Our prayer should be so desperate and high that we command God in specific things.
15. “Revive Your work” (Hab. 3:2).
We should pray for a revival of the Lord’s work, asking God to revive His work.
16. “Turn us back to You... / Renew our days as before” (Lam. 5:21).
We should pray for God to turn the church to the way of His recovery and to renew the days of the church so that the church may be as the church in apostolic times.
17. “Keep them in Your name...that they may be one” (John 17:11).
We should pray for the oneness of the church.
18. “Petitions, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men; on behalf of kings and all who are in high position” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).
We should pray for all men, asking God to save them. We should also pray for those who are in high positions in the government, asking God to bless them and give peace.
19. “My petition to God for them is for their salvation” (Rom. 10:1).
We should especially pray for the salvation of the Jews. They are God’s chosen people and are loved by God. He desires that they repent and be saved. We should be sympathetic to God’s heart and pray much for them.
20. “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).
This is the last prayer in the Bible, and it should be our final prayer: “Lord Jesus, I want You to come quickly!”