The Prayer God Hears

 We have many admonitions in the Bible about how to pray. Prayer is not complicated, but we do need to understand what God is looking for when we pray to Him. Then, we can pray faithfully, and He will hear us and respond favorably. The most important factors in the prayers God answers have to do with our heart. We see a great example of this in the life of King Josiah of Judah. He was a very righteous king, so when a Book of the Law was found in the Temple, as they repaired it, Josiah had the book read to him. (II Kings 22:19) His reaction was to cry out to God for mercy, because his people had not been keeping the law of God. The young king prayed so sincerely that God heard him and spared him from seeing the destruction of Jerusalem. Let's see what we can learn from Josiah's heart when he prayed.

King Josiah was heard by God because he had a tender heart. He was not so hard that when he heard God's law that he was not moved by it. He did not make excuses, but he took it very personally. God loves to see us have a tender heart before Him, and He is also looking for us to humble ourselves before Him, like Josiah did, also. When we acknowledge that He is the Master, and we are obedient to Him, He is much more inclined to answer us. Another reaction that God noticed was that Josiah tore his clothes in anguish. That was a sign of true contrition and sorrow over the sins that were committed. We need that type of willingness to be serious about our sins and the sins of those around us. Finally, Josiah wept. He was touched and moved to sincere tears by what he heard. See what I mean? Our hearts need to be very engaged when we pray to the Lord. This should be true even to the point we have a physical reaction to show our sorrow and repentance. When we pray like that God sees we are taking His words seriously, and He is very inclined to answer our prayer quickly and completely.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read II Kings 23-25.