How Effective is Prayer? Part 2: What God Expects

"Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results."
-James 5:16

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God loves to hear from His children. But I believe He loves more for us to lavish our love on Him, to praise and Him and adore Him, not just talked to Him when we need or want something. He desires to give us things, He is our provider. Before I go into all the theology, I want to share from my heart what God has taught me personally about prayer. As I talk to God, my Father, I realize there is so much to adore about Him, so much to thank Him for...and not necessarily possessional things, but just for who He is. The more I praise and adore Him for who He already is, the more I realize I don't need all the little things here on earth. He is more than enough for me, he gives me things that HE knows I need. And like we discussed in the first part, prayer affects the pray-er. We receive joy, peace, love, understanding, faithfulness, He feeds us till we are full with Himself, He fills our cups when we are empty. Those are the things that really matter. But we have earthly needs too. We request jobs, a place to live, a good car, help with finances, we pray for our friends who are hurting and sick. Sometimes we believe that God didn't hear our prayer, or that He never answered it when it doesn't turn out the way we thought it should. God does say "no" you know.
For what reasons are requests sometimes refused? Plain and simply, sin, but there are many more reasons. Sin offends our Holy God. Because God is holy, he cannot ignore, excuse, or tolerate sin as though it doesn't matter. Sin cuts people off from Him. Psalm 66:18 says "If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." God does not listen to our prayers if we intend to go back to our sin as soon as we get off our knees. If we want to forsake our sin and follow Him, however, He willingly listens-no matter how bad our sin has been. What closes His ears is not the depth of our sin, but the shallowness of our repentance. Other reasons God doesn't grant our requests, is because of our self exalting attitude(Matthew 6:5-6) our pride, our lack of faith, our doubting Him, and even our lack of respect for our spouse(1 Pet. 3:7).
However, since prayer is not effective by its own virtue, what conditions contribute to a favorable hearing of requests?
1. Giving of yourself and what you have.....Isa.58:6-9
2. Have faith.....Mk.11:22-24
3. Be forgiving toward others.....Mk.11:25-26
4. Worship Him.....Lk.11:5-10
5. Being persistent in what you ask.....Lk.18:1-8
6. Pray all prayers in Jesus' name.....Jn. 14:13-14
7. Stay in the Word.....Jn.15:7
8. Stay alert and pray always.....Eph.6:18
9. Obedience.....1 Jn.3:22
10. Be confidant He is listening.....1 Jn.5:14-15

Check out this passage of scripture about Jesus:
Matthew 26:36-44
36 Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said, “Sit here while I go over there to pray.” 37 He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. 38 He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”

42 Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away[a] unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

44 So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.

Did Jesus display all the virtues listed above? Of course! He was Jesus! But did God answer His prayer? No. So are the requests of the righteous which would apparently meet all the conditions of answered prayer necessarily granted? Did you notice Jesus prayed for God's will? "If it is YOUR will, FATHER, take this cup of suffering from me." Sometimes it is God's will that we are weak and suffer that His power and mighty strength may be seen through us(2 Cor. 12:8-9). Jesus died on the cross because it was God's will, but He, God the Father, raised Jesus up showing the World His power. It's incredible!!
Should we insist on our own way even if God says no, and even when we are convinced of our own integrity in meeting all the conditions of answered prayer? If we are smart we won't insist on our own way, and I would think if you really possess all the virtues that are listed above you would have the fear of God in you, and learned by now that you don't insist on your own way anymore. And he may end up giving us what we want but He will also send a plague to zap the enjoyment out of what you wanted(Psalm 106:15). And even Job, my hero! He was known as a man of integrity, and during all that he went through He asked God to kill him. But God did not grant Job's request. He did allow testings though that nearly ended his life, but he kept him from death.
Prayer is such a beautiful thing. It's something that you continue to learn to do. God will teach you how to pray. The more you do it, the more full your heart will become. I don't even believe you have to only pray once or twice a day. I believe you should stay in prayer the whole day. You wake up, Good Morning God, thank you for another day, thank you for the new work you are going to do in me today, that you that your mercy and faithfulness is new each day. Talk to him as you drive to work or school, talk to him when someone asks you to pray for them, talk to Him when you are alone. Then at the end of the day, you thank him for being there with you all day, thank you that I lived another day....fall asleep talking to Him. He's your dad. There isn't anything he doesn't know about you. Nothing is a secret.
In conclusion, think about these questions this week, and try to memorize James 5:16, the verse I posted at the beginning.
Questions to ponder:
1. To an omniscient God is there any such thing as an unanswered prayer?
2. What would happen if all requests were granted as asked?