What kind of life does a person have to lead to pray and see God answer prayers? Is there something a person has to do to receive what is prayed for?
Here’s the short of it. Power in prayer depends on the life we live. When our life is in line with God’s Word our ways are pleasing to Him, and the Holy Spirit will teach us how to pray. We will see answers to prayer. The scriptures are all to familiar:
“If you stay joined to me, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted” (John 15:7). And in James, it is the prayer of a righteous man that “has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16).
So, what must we do? The answer is as unassuming as it is guileless, we must live as a branch totally depending on the vine for our strength. All power comes from the vine. You see the branch has but one purpose, to produce fruit. Followers of Jesus live to bear fruit and bring glory to God. With this life of abiding comes the grace to pray in the spirit and receive whatever we ask.
The Father seeks fruit from out lives. He is the vinedresser. God Himself takes on the responsibility to see that we are all we should be. He is the one who prunes so more fruit will be produced. Pray and let the Holy Spirit take the snips to your life.
My earthly father taught me that no fruit-bearing plant like the grapevine produces so much “wild wood”. It must be pruned severely every growing season. Any branch that desires to bring glory to the Father and produce much fruit must submit itself to the vinedresser. All this wild wood pulls away the strength of the vine and hinders the growth of fruit. It is the luxurious, good for nothing wild wood that must be pruned and thrown away.
What is it in your life that saps away your strength and produces ornamental trappings good for nothing? It must be pruned! It is abiding in the vine and seasonal pruning that produces a life that can pray.