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The God Who Answers Prayer: The Work of the Father, Son, and Spirit in Prayer
God was willing, resolved, and determined to hear your prayer before you were willing to ask. He decreed it from eternity. In fact, He was willing before you even had a will or existed. Furthermore, He was not only willing before you asked, but He is the cause why you are willing. You must not think that your prayers move God to be willing; His will is the same forever, not subject to the least motion or alteration. Prayers are a sign rather than a cause that God is willing. He is not made willing because we pray, but because He is willing, He stirs up our hearts to pray. “Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear” (Ps. 10:17). He first desires to do us good and then makes us desire it and pray for it, that we may have the mercy in His own way—a clear evidence that He is more desirous to give than we are to receive because He makes us willing to ask.
- GenresPrayerChristian Living
80 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2016
3 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 30, 2022
Fantastic! So much encouragement in this book to help us grow in our prayer life. Highly recommended.
July 17, 2021
Did the Puritans ever know how to pray! Along with
The Return of Prayers
by Thomas Goodwin, The God Who Answers Prayer has completely refreshed and energized my prayer life. It is brimming with heady truths. I could read only a few pages at a time before setting it aside and tottering off to let it all sink in.
God hears us. He wants to hear us. He is able to give us far above all we ask or imagine: "He can do the greatest thing you ask more easily than you can do the least thing you think" (9) and "He is as willing as He is able" (10). Indeed, "prayers are a sign rather than a cause that God is willing" (10).
If we feel unworthy of His love and attention, remember that He hears us because of who He is: "He is gracious, and grace expects no motive from without. Free grace will move itself and will not be stopped by any hindrance from within. Unworthiness cannot hinder, for then it is most grace when it rests on the must unworthy" (68).
If we ever doubt that God cares about our requests, consider this---that He Himself writes our petitions on our hearts (19). He puts those desires there. He stirs our hearts to pray. And He is willing to give us good things because "He has infinite treasures and a large heart" (25).
How should we pray? Like Jacob. With weeping and wrestling. "By his strength Jacob had power with God... That strength was weeping and supplication.... The Lord may seem to wrestle as thought he would give a refusal to prayer, but this is only to exercise the strength of this princely champion" (26).
Do not draw back from bold prayers. Ask for impossible gifts, because whatever you ask for, you know that God has already granted you the greatest and most impossible gift: your salvation. "I can ask nothing so great but the Lord has already granted greater.... The greater it is, the more encouragement to ask it and the more hope God will grant it. It becomes the great God to grant great things" (28).
What if God takes months or years to answer? "Delay itself is something a gracious answer, a sign of love rather than anger. To bestow mercies when petitioners are unfit for them is to answer prayer in anger, but to defer till then is love" (32). "Delay is no denial.... Delay is sometimes a mercy. He never defers when it is seasonable to grant" (55).
What if God says no? Don't insist on your own wishes. Once you know and believe that God is more willing to give than you are to ask, you will trust Him when He declines your dreams. He always, always has something better in mind. "You shall receive what you pray for or something better in reference to God's glory and your happiness" (37).
So pray with all your might. "Prayers must be strivings... Give the Lord no rest" (41). But wait God's time, and wait God's gifts. Prepare to be overwhelmed with mercies far, far better than you asked for. "It is a sweet answer to prayer when He gives that which is better than what we desire" (58).
God hears us. He wants to hear us. He is able to give us far above all we ask or imagine: "He can do the greatest thing you ask more easily than you can do the least thing you think" (9) and "He is as willing as He is able" (10). Indeed, "prayers are a sign rather than a cause that God is willing" (10).
If we feel unworthy of His love and attention, remember that He hears us because of who He is: "He is gracious, and grace expects no motive from without. Free grace will move itself and will not be stopped by any hindrance from within. Unworthiness cannot hinder, for then it is most grace when it rests on the must unworthy" (68).
If we ever doubt that God cares about our requests, consider this---that He Himself writes our petitions on our hearts (19). He puts those desires there. He stirs our hearts to pray. And He is willing to give us good things because "He has infinite treasures and a large heart" (25).
How should we pray? Like Jacob. With weeping and wrestling. "By his strength Jacob had power with God... That strength was weeping and supplication.... The Lord may seem to wrestle as thought he would give a refusal to prayer, but this is only to exercise the strength of this princely champion" (26).
Do not draw back from bold prayers. Ask for impossible gifts, because whatever you ask for, you know that God has already granted you the greatest and most impossible gift: your salvation. "I can ask nothing so great but the Lord has already granted greater.... The greater it is, the more encouragement to ask it and the more hope God will grant it. It becomes the great God to grant great things" (28).
What if God takes months or years to answer? "Delay itself is something a gracious answer, a sign of love rather than anger. To bestow mercies when petitioners are unfit for them is to answer prayer in anger, but to defer till then is love" (32). "Delay is no denial.... Delay is sometimes a mercy. He never defers when it is seasonable to grant" (55).
What if God says no? Don't insist on your own wishes. Once you know and believe that God is more willing to give than you are to ask, you will trust Him when He declines your dreams. He always, always has something better in mind. "You shall receive what you pray for or something better in reference to God's glory and your happiness" (37).
So pray with all your might. "Prayers must be strivings... Give the Lord no rest" (41). But wait God's time, and wait God's gifts. Prepare to be overwhelmed with mercies far, far better than you asked for. "It is a sweet answer to prayer when He gives that which is better than what we desire" (58).
September 5, 2022
God--Father, Son, and Spirit--wants to hear your prayers, helps with your prayers, and delights to answer your prayers. And all for your good and His glory (our ultimate good). Powerful exposition on prayer.
January 18, 2024
This is the most encouraging book on prayer I have ever read. It made me more excited to pray and increased my faith in Christ.
December 30, 2022
Very helpful explanation of prayer and how it's related to each person of the trinity, will need to revisit
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews