\u00a0“He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, even his prayer is an abomination<\/em>” (Proverbs 28:9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It must be offered in faith.\u00a0Genuine prayer is expressive of a belief that God answers prayer, for one cannot truly pray to God who does not believe that his prayer will be answered. God will not answer any prayer unless it is offered to Him in faith (Matthew 21:22, Mark 11:24).<\/p>\n Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n After James exhorts those who lack wisdom to request it from God, he designates faith as the absolute requirement for God to answer such a request (James 1:6, 7). The Christian whose life is victorious through Christ is one whose life is supercharged with faith, for “this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith<\/em>” (I John 5:4).<\/p>\n Let us be certain that our prayers are offered in faith, nothing doubting, for without faith they will fail to reach the throne of God’s grace.<\/p>\n It must be offered in sincerity, humility, and fervency.\u00a0“I will pray with the spirit <\/em>…” (I Corinthians 14:15). The word “spirit” refers here to the correct attitude: sincerity. humility, and fervency, important characteristics of every acceptable prayer. “Hear a just cause, O Lord, give heed to my cry; give ear to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips<\/em>” (Psalms 17:1).<\/p>\n Humility and sincerity in prayer involve a strong sense of our sins and unworthiness. This is taught in the Lord’s parable of the publican and Pharisee, revealed in Luke 18:10-14.<\/p>\n The need to draw near to God with a deep, sincere sense of our shortcomings is further stressed in James 4:8-10. When one prays to God in humility and sincerity. It will necessarily be single-minded, intense, and fervent, not halfhearted, listless, and lethargic. His whole being will be projected toward the mind of God. “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly<\/em> …”(James 5:17).<\/p>\n “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bond slave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers <\/em>…”(Colossians 4:12). Must be offered with understanding. “I will pray with the spirit: and I will pray with the mind also<\/em>” (I Corinthians 14:15). Even after we have earnestly applied ourselves to the search for divine truth, the fallacy of our beings keeps us from knowing perfectly what we should pray for, and we must rely upon the aid of the Holy Spirit. “And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God<\/em>” (Romans 8:26-27).<\/p>\n Must be offered in the name of Christ. Our Lord declared “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me<\/em>” (John 14:6). Jesus here affirms that He is the sole access that men have to the presence and blessings of God This truth is also revealed in the relationship of the Lord to us as our high priest (Hebrews 4:14-16).<\/p>\n Prayers to God which are not offered through Jesus Christ, our high priest, are uttered in vain (Colossians 3:17; John 14:13-14).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Jeff Wolverton Sentry Magazine, September 2002 Acceptable prayer must be preceded by faithful, righteous living. Many Christians live spiritually indolent, impure lives, and expect the mouthing of a few words of prayer from time to time to make all things right between them and their Creator. Needless to say, they pray in vain. If…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1510],"class_list":["post-30756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-prayers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56009,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-pray\/","url_meta":{"origin":30756,"position":0},"title":"Do You Pray?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Hall in The Bulletin of the Church of Christ at New Georgia, September 30, 2007; via The Gospel Observer, December 30, 2007 The worshiper who would pray in the assembly must do more than bow his head and close his eyes. He must pray. \"Otherwise, if you bless\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29528,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-and-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":30756,"position":1},"title":"Jesus and Prayer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeff Wolverton Sentry Magazine, December 2002 Jesus as Our Intercessor The intercession of the Holy Spirit does not set aside the intercession of Jesus Christ. \"And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38053,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preaching-and-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":30756,"position":2},"title":"Preaching and Prayer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dennis Allan Christianity Magazine March 1989 Considering the role of prayer in the life and work of New Testament preachers will challenge us to greater devotion and closer communion with God. The significance of prayer among early saints can be traced to Jesus, where we will focus our attention\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-god-answer-every-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":30756,"position":3},"title":"Does God Answer Every Prayer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Clem Thurman via Gospel Minutes; Vol. 56, No. 3; Jan. 19, 2007. Question: \"I believe that when we pray for something, in faith, God will give it to us. If we are sick, we can pray and God will heal us. He is able to do all things. So,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/prayer-2-1-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24310,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sinners-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":30756,"position":4},"title":"The Sinner’s Prayer","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob Myhan The so-called sinner\u2019s prayer is the prayer of an alien sinner for the forgiveness of sins. An alien sinner is one who has never been saved and is not yet a citizen in the kingdom of God. The sinner\u2019s prayer has had many incarnations over the years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/prayer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":88905,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-heaven-really-hear\/","url_meta":{"origin":30756,"position":5},"title":"Does Heaven Really Hear?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Dan Gulley Charles Swindoll tells about a Ziggy cartoon. \"Ziggy is standing, looking up at a mountain. The sky is dark, and there's one cloud up there. Ziggy says, 'Have I been put on hold for the rest of my life?' \" Swindoll continues, \"Sometimes prayer feels like that,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/patrick-fore-b_SHPU5M3nk-unsplash-300x200.jpg\")