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GOD ANSWERS ALL OUR PRAYERS

SCRIPTURE READINGS

2 KINGS 4:42-44
EPHESIANS 3:14–21
JOHN 6:1-21

REFLECTION

“God answers all our prayers” is the theme for reflection. An answer is a solution to a problem. Prayer is an offering of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgement of His mercies. The theme can be rephrased as God is the solution to our petitions or desires. Apart from praising God and confessing our sins, our petition to God has two important needs. These are material or physical and spiritual needs. We shall, therefore, reflect on the fact that God answers all prayers including our material or physical and spiritual needs.

Firstly, God answers our material or physical needs. Material or physical needs are things we require for our existence on Earth. These are the basic necessities of life, such as air, water, shelter, clothing, and food. In  2 King 4:42-44, we see the power of our prayer-answering God feeding a hundred men (100) through the ministry of Elisha with just “twenty loaves of barley bread baked from the first ripe grain, along with some heads of new grain” (2 Kings 4:42). Again, we are told, “They ate and had some leftover, according to the word of the LORD.” (2 Kings 4:44). Beloved in the Lord, in John 6:1-21, Jesus also demonstrated that God knows our physical or material needs when he fed about five thousand (5000) people with just five loaves of barley bread and two fish. John wrote, “Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” (John 6:11-13). Dear friend in Christ, Jeremiah confessed, “Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17). Truly, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? (Genesis 18:14) We are greatly encouraged by Paul, ” do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). When we “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) to God who answers all prayers, He “will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19“. We must never stop praying and relying on God for our physical and spiritual needs, for Jesus has revealed to us, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26). It is for this reason that Jesus assured us, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:7-11). Indeed, through the gift and power of prayer and faith, we experience the providence of God through His prayer-answering ability in our lives.

Firstly, it is important to note that God does not only answer prayers that concern our physical or material needs but He also answers prayers concerning our spiritual needs and salvation. It is, for this reason, that Paul prayed for spiritual strength to the Christians in Ephesus, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19) In other words, apart from our physical or material needs, our spirits need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to be able to reflect the perfect image of Christ in pleasing God. Without the enablement of the Holy Spirit, we shall lack the fullness of God in our lives. As we pray for our needs, we must first desire the needs of our salvation and spirit by praying to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33). When we have attained the saving knowledge of Christ and the fullness of God, we shall learn to pray “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) because we believe that God answers all our needs according to His perfect will.

In summary, we have discovered and learnt that God answers all prayers including our material or physical and spiritual needs therefore let us have faith and always rely on Him through prayer for our needs according to His will for our lives. May the Holy Spirit empower us to pray without ceasing even as God answers all our needs.