Lesson 24: The Will of God in Prayer (Part 1)

Lesson 24: The Will of God in Prayer (Part 1). THE WILL OF GOD CONCERNING SALVATION: first of all, we know that getting the lost to accept their salvation is the will of God, because that is why Jesus came to earth and God and rose again. (John 3:16) "for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." However, their salvation has to be an act of their will, and God will not come against the will of any human being. Yes, Satan will for it is written in (2 Corinthians 4:4) "For the God of this world has blinded the unbelievers minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the gospel of the glory of Christ [the Messiah], who is the image and likeness of God." The amplified Bible. In, (2 Peter 3:9) "The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people's conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering [extraoredinarily patient] towards you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance." The amplified Bible. Also in (Acts 16:31) "And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and the house." I don't know of any who would pray for a lost loved one by saying, "Lord, if it is your will, save him or her." However, much of our praying for the laws is not effective. Why ? Because we do not come with confidence and boldness on their behalf. Our text says if we come with confidence and boldness, asking according to His will, we know that God hears us and we have the petition we desire. This agrees with what Jesus said in (Mark 11:24) "For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe [trust and be confident] that it is granted to you, and you will [get it]." That should be clear enough. However, our praying is too often in the natural realm rather than in the spiritual realm. We pray, "God save our love ones," and then we wait to see if God has answered our prayer ! If the person gets saved immediately, we believe God heard us. If he or she doesn't--- if we see no change in his or her life-- we think God didn't hear us. This is walking by sight, not by faith, and it brings only confusion. You might say, "I have prayed and prayed for my unsaved love ones, and it seems as if my prayers don't work." Return to God's Word and you;ll discover why your prayer on answered: "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will. . ." There's no question that it's God's will to save the lost, as we just saw from the Scriptures. The Word of God is the Will of God. Therefore, if our request is in accordance with his Word, we know we have the petitions we desired of Him.