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Leaning on God’s Promises With Prayer

Scripture makes it clear that the answer to everything in our lives is prayer mixed with faith. The apostle Paul writes, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). 

Paul is telling us, “Seek the Lord about every area of your life and thank him ahead of time for hearing you!” Paul emphasizes that we are always to pray first and not as a last resort after going to our friends, then to a pastor or counselor, and finally ending up on our knees. Jesus tells us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). We are to go to the Lord first! 

Our ministry receives heartrending letters from multitudes of broken Christians. Families are breaking up; people who walked faithfully with Christ for years are living in fear and defeat. Each of these people has been overcome by something—sin, depression, worldliness, covetousness—and year after year, their problems seem to get worse. 

Yet, what shocks me most about their letters is that very few of these Christians ever mention prayer. They turn to tapes, books, counselors, call-in radio programs, therapies of all kinds, but rarely to prayer. 

Why is it so hard for Christians to seek God for their desperate needs when they are in times of crisis? After all, the Bible stands as one long testimony that God hears the cries of his children and answers them with tender love.

• “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry” (Psalm 34:15).
• “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles” (Psalm 34:17).
• This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). 
• "Whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). 

These promises are overwhelming evidence of God's care.