(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hello everybody, it's MrTol23 back with another video. In this video I want to talk about the subject of prayer, particularly about how to get your prayers answered. Some people think that no matter what, anything that you ask of God, regardless of how you make the prayers or what you say or what you're even doing in your Christian life, that they're just always going to be answered. I'm going to explain in this video that that's not the case based on what the Bible says, that it's more nuanced than that, that there's some requirements that God gives of having an effective prayer. So first of all, the Bible does tell us that we should be praying all the time. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5.17, pray without ceasing. The Bible says to be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests, or with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. So God wants us to pray about everything. God wants us to continually pray to Him to make supplication to Him. That is something that we should be doing. But the Bible makes it clear that not every single time you ask something of God, or make a petition of God, which is what prayer is, that that will always be given to you. It says in James chapter 4 verses 2 to 3, He lust and have not, He kill and desire to have and cannot obtain, He fight and war, yet He have not because He asks not. And some people will quote this verse and say, well the only reason why you don't have anything is because you don't ask. But let's keep reading, verse 3, He ask and receive not because He ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. So He's writing to these people who in the context He says that there's fighting and wars among you, He says that they're friends with the world, which according to the Bible if you're a friend of the world you're an enemy of God, and He says because of these lusts that you have, because of these fighting and these strifes that you have, you ask and you receive not. So it is possible to ask something of God and to not receive it. As it talks about here, and one of those reasons why is because you ask for the wrong reasons and you ask for wicked things that you may consume it upon your lusts. Like people asking for God to give them a bunch of money to win the lottery, that kind of thing. That's lusting after money, that's the love of money, which the Bible says is the root of all evil. So God's not going to answer that prayer because that's not according to His will. I'll come back to that concept a little bit later in the video, but one thing I also want to talk about is when you pray, you should pray with faith. That's another thing that is required, that you can't ask of God and not be sure that He's going to give it to you and doubt in your mind and not have faith and not believe that you're going to receive it and have it answered. God expects faith because as the Bible says, without faith it is impossible to please God. So Jesus said in Matthew chapter 21 verse 22, in all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive it. So if you believe, He says you shall receive, which implies that if you don't, you won't receive it. And He even tells us that in James chapter 1 verses 5 to 7, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and it breadeth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that waveth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed, for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. So for somebody who doubts whether God is going to provide and somebody who does not have that faith, who is not believing what they're asking for, who the Bible says is somebody who wavers as opposed to having faith, that means like you're double minded, you're not sure of what you want, you're not sure God is going to give it to you. The Bible says let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. So don't expect God to answer your prayer if you're lacking in faith, if you lack the belief that he's going to provide. So you have to actually be sure of what you want and the fact that God is going to give it to you in your prayers. You have to have faith, you have to ask in faith and believe in it. Another thing it says in James chapter 5 verses 14 to 16, it says, is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick. So again, faith is a requirement when you make your prayers and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another and pray one for another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And this leads me to my next point, which I kind of alluded to at the beginning of James chapter 4 where it talks about people asking for the wrong reasons, asking out of lust for bad things, for wicked desires, that you have to be righteous in order for God to answer your prayers as well. And obviously there's two aspects of this, that of course you need to be saved because if you're not saved, God is not your father. There's imputed righteousness, but the Bible also makes it clear that there's actual righteousness in the sense of living right and doing what's right in the sight of God in order to have your prayers answered as well. Because it says in 1 Peter chapter 3 verses 10 to 12, for he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it, for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are opened unto their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. So the Bible says that if you eschew evil and if you put off wickedness and you seek peace and you do that which is right, then the Bible says the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are opened unto their prayers. But as opposed to that, those that do evil, the Bible says the face of the Lord is against them. So if you're a Christian who is doing evil, who is not eschewing evil, but you're doing evil, and you're not living a righteous life, the Bible says, as it's said in other places, you know that you ask and you have not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lust. If you're not living a righteous life but you're doing that which is evil, the Bible says the face of the Lord is against you. You're not going to have those prayers answered. So you have to have faith and you also have to be living righteously, the Bible says, because it says it's the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man that availeth much. So if you're wicked, if you're not doing what's right in the sight of the Lord, don't expect God to answer your prayers. It tells us this also in Psalm 66 verse 18, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So again, if you're holding on to some sort of sin and you are regarding iniquity in your heart, if you've not confessed your sin, if you've not restored that relationship with God by confessing and forsaking your sins, then the Bible says that the Lord will not hear you. The Lord won't listen to your prayers. In order for him to be open unto your prayers, you have to be righteous, 1 Peter chapter 3, right? Another thing it says is in 1 John chapter 5 verses 14 to 15, and this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us, and if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him. And again, you can compare that with the previous verse, Psalm 66, where it says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So we know that the Lord will hear us if we don't regard iniquity in our heart and if we actually ask in faith, if we don't waver in our faith. But if we are sure, if we believe, if we have faith, and we are living righteously in doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord, the Bible says that God is going to grant our petitions, our prayers. Another thing that the Bible says is required for God answering not just some, but all of your prayers. It makes it clear that if you do this next thing, that no matter what, everything that you ask, if you're asking of course in faith, God will answer it, is that you have to abide in Christ. It says in John chapter 15 verse 7, if ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. So Jesus Christ says, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, that's when your prayers are for sure going to be answered. What does it mean to abide in Christ? I don't have time to explain it in this video, I want to make a different video in the future explaining the concept of abiding in Christ, but in a nutshell it means to basically read the Bible and continue in the Bible and continue in his word. Jesus said, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. The Bible said in 1 John 2, I think I'm just paraphrasing, I think it's verse 24, something along the lines of, let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you. It says if you do that, you will continue in the son and in the father. So how do you continue in Christ? Which means to abide or to remain in, right? To abide in Christ means to continue in that which you have heard from the beginning, the word of God, right? So he says if you abide in Jesus, meaning you're reading the word, and his words abide in you, meaning you're meditating on it, you're thinking about it, you're memorizing the scriptures, then the Bible says that shall be done unto you, right? And that's also associated in the context of John chapter 15 with bearing fruit, right? He said also that if you abide in him, you shall bear much fruit, right, in the previous verses. And then it says later in the chapter, John chapter 15 verse 16, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit shall remain, that whatsoever ye shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it you, right? So Jesus says if you go and bring forth fruit, that whatsoever you shall ask of the father in my name, he may give it unto you, right? So if you abide in Christ and his words abide in you, you will bring forth fruit, and as a result of bringing forth fruit, when you go to God and you ask him in prayer of anything, as long as it's to the father in the name of the son, Jesus Christ, and it's in faith, then he will give it unto you, right? That's a guarantee, that's a promise of the Bible, okay? So a Christian who's not reading the word of God, who is not bearing fruit, meaning they're not getting people saved, they're not preaching the gospel, a Christian who is doing that which is evil, a Christian who when they pray are not praying in Jesus' name, or maybe they are praying to the father in Jesus' name, and maybe they're doing these other things, but they are not asking in faith, right? They're wavering in their faith. They're not going to have their requests granted or their prayers answered, right? In order to receive these things of the Lord, you have to follow the biblical formula and the biblical principles of what a prayer is. You pray to the father in Jesus' name, and you have to pray in faith, and you have to be living righteously, abiding in Christ, letting his words abide in you, and bearing fruit, okay? If that's a good description of you, then anything whatsoever you ask when you pray is going to be granted, okay, is going to be answered, right? But some people are wondering, like, why isn't God answering my prayer on this subject or that subject? Well, are you asking in faith? Are you asking in Jesus' name? Are you living righteously? Do you have some unconfessed sin in your life? Are you abiding in the word of God? Are you bringing forth fruit? Okay? If you are doing those things, then the Bible guarantees that God will answer your prayers, and I've seen that personally in my life. I've seen that in other people's lives. You know, I see when I'm backslidden, and there are times when I'm backslidden, and maybe I'm not reading the Bible, or I'm not living the best life as a Christian that I should be, and God's not answering my prayers, because that's what he said is going to happen. Or if I doubt, you know, if I pray, but in my mind I'm thinking, well, I'm not sure, you know, that happens sometimes. We all have doubts as Christians because of our flesh, right? If you are wavering in your mind or you're lacking faith when you ask for something, he's not going to give it to you. That's what the Bible says. So these are all requirements when it comes to prayer and receiving things from prayer. So I hope this video helps. Thank you, buddy, for watching. God bless you and goodbye.