Praying According to God's Will


"I (the servant) said to my master (Abraham), ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’ But he (Abraham) said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and prosper your way." Gen 24:39–40

In I John 5:14 we are given an incredible promise, “this is the confidence we have toward the Him, if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.”  Here the Apostle is trying to help us understand an incredibly important principle, that when we pray according to the desires of God, He listens.  Then John extends this promise in I John 5:15, “And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests asked of Him.”  This has to do with a confidence that God will answer when we pray. 

 

This leads us to a two difficult questions.  The first is this: how do we know that we are praying according to God’s will?  Many people become confused on this point.  For if we are praying and uncertain of God’s will, then it would be impossible to have confidence when we pray.  So it is imperative for us to have a robust prayer life, to understand the will of God. 

 

A second question that naturally follows is this:  if we then have confidence we are praying according to God’s will, then would our expectations and attitudes be impacted?  Expectations have to do with how I think God will answer and attitude has to do with my hearts condition when I receive the answer, whether it be yes or no. 

 

In Genesis 24, when Abraham sent his servant on a mission to go back to his place of birth and find a wife for his son Isaac, we see several clues about how he prayed according to God’s will and the attitude and expectations he carried with it.  The first thing that we see is Abraham prayed according to the Word of God.

 

In Genesis 24:6-7 we see Abraham answer a concern of his servant who reasonably had doubts about the journey that Abraham was asking him to make.  “Perhaps the woman may not follow me.”  To which Abraham then rests his prayer on the Word of God, “The Lord, the God of heaven… spoke to me and swore to me, ‘to your offspring I will give this land, He will send His angel before you and you shall take a wife for my son from there.” 

 

What was the confidence in Abraham’s prayer for a wife for His son?  God’s Word which was spoken to him many years before in Genesis 12:1-3, where God swore to Abraham that through his offspring there would come a great nation and that through that nation all the nations of the world would be blessed.   The confidence that Abraham had with sending his servant on an incredible journey was God’s Word, “the Lord spoke to me and swore to me.” 

 

This is where we see an attitude that also emerges with Abraham in prayer.  After the servant expresses his concern that the plan may not work, Abraham says this in vs. 8, “if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath.”   In other words, Abraham was surrendered to God here and was willing to receive a no on this plan.  He knew that God would provide a wife for Isaac and that through Isaac the promise of become a great nation would come.  But Abraham was surrendered on the particulars. 

 

What is the application here?  The first is this, when we pray we need to learn to pray according to God’s will and we learn to pray according to God’s will when we become knowledgeable and familiar with God’s Word.  One simple example, God has already told us He would provide for our needs.  But He did not give us the particulars.  One answer may be to work harder, another may be to change my spending habits, and still another may be God providing an unusual way.  But if I am surrendered in prayer on His promise to provide, then I will be surrendered in the way God answers?

 

How will that impact my attitude?  A simple way is that instead of worry and anxiety about my circumstances, I may have peace along the way that God will provide in His time and in His way.   This is the idea of the Apostle Paul’s guidance in prayer in Philippians 4:6-7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”