Becoming More Effective in Prayer预览

PRAYER: A COVENANT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Many people have misunderstood this passage to mean that you just stand there and keep asking until God is fed up and then gives you what you desire just to get rid of you. That’s not what He’s saying. Remember, He said, ‘There’s a relationship.’ Prayer is always based on a relationship. It’s a communication between two people in a relationship.

He is using the relationship between two friends to typify and exemplify prayer between God and His children. Our relationship with God is superior to that of a friend to another friend. We are sons and daughters of a Father- that’s what He’s saying. There are things that you will demand of your friend that you won’t demand of your son, and there are things that you do for your son just because he’s your son. God answers prayers because we are in a relationship with Him. He relates with us in power because of a relationship.

You have a covenant Partner, you have a covenant Father and you have a covenant relationship with God. Prayer recognises that without God you are sunk. This man recognised that he had a friend. He knew that he had to give to his friend. Prayer is with God. It is a covenant relationship. The man in the passage went with his request to a friend, not a stranger or a neighbour. He didn’t go to an acquaintance, but a friend, and you must know that prayer is going to a covenant Father, a covenant Partner, and a covenant Friend; the Bible calls Jesus our friend. It is important that you understand that you have a basis to come to God.

PRAYER: LORD, I take hold of the advantage of the covenant relationship with you and reject every ignorance and blindfold that makes me come before you as a stranger in Jesus’ name. Amen!