What’s Love Got to Do With It?

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.  And this is his command:  to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.”

I John 4:21-23

Getting our prayers answered depends on so many factors!  It is not just about saying the right prayer, at the right time and in the right position. We have to pray according to His will.  We have to make sure that our hearts are not condemned because of sin.  If we have unconfessed sin in our hearts, that can cancel out the effectiveness of our prayers.  But not doing wrong is just one part of getting our prayers answered.

Doing right is also a big part of getting our prayers answered.  So often we think of our relationship with God as being something between us and Him.  But a lot of it has to do with our relationship with others.  According to today’s passage we can have confidence and receive the answer to our prayer when we obey his commands and please him.  Doing so involves loving one another as he commanded.

This is not a teaching that I have heard very much in my life in regards to answered prayer, but makes perfect sense.  How can I expect God to bring healing to my body while I am rude to the slow clerk at the grocery store?  How can I expect God to hear me when I am angry and unforgiving toward a fellow Christian?

It is always a good practice to pray for forgiveness and to pray to forgive prior to bringing our petitions or requests to God.  We must do heart maintenance often to get rid of all the things that creep into our hearts on a regular basis.  Anger, unforgiveness, spite, resentment, revenge… these are all poison to our heart and to our prayer life.

Dear Lord, help me to walk in love toward others today.  Show me where I am falling short so that I can please you and so that you will be able to hear and answer my prayers.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Sherri