Are there conditions to prayer?

from the old testament

• Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” When we delight in the Lord, our will aligns with His.
• Prayers can be hindered by unconfessed sin. The psalmist writes, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened” (Psalm 66:18).

from the new testament

• Jesus gave us a solid model to shape our prayers after in the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13). He also instructed us to pray with an emphasis on God's kingdom (Matthew 6:33) and to pray for our "daily bread," meaning our needs for today.
• God knows what we need and can provide it (Matthew 7:11), but He has ordained that we seek Him in prayer (Matthew 21:22).
• Jesus prayed for God’s will to be done even when He struggled with what that would mean for Him (Luke 22:42). We should seek God’s will in our prayers no matter what the outcome. Ultimately, doing so is evidence of our trust in God’s plan over our plan.
• We must direct our prayers to God—the one true God of the Bible. First Corinthians 8:5–6 says, "For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many 'gods' and many 'lords'—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist."
• Our intention in prayer should be to honor God and bring Him glory (Colossians 3:17). Part of bringing Him glory is sharing our desires with Him in prayer and gratefully receiving all that He gives.
• We are to pray continually and with thanksgiving (Thessalonians 5:16–18).
• Our faith is in God, not in how we want Him to answer our prayer or in the amount of faith we have. The faith to which God responds is faith that believes Him and trusts Him to do what is best. Faith is essential to pleasing God (Hebrews 11:6).
• Having faith in God is vital when we are seeking Him to fulfill prayer requests (James 1:6). Of course, even the act of praying to God and believing He hears our prayer takes a certain measure of faith.
• James 4:3 cautions against praying for things simply out of selfishness. To clarify, this does not mean that we are not allowed to pray for things that we want.
• When our prayers are aligned with God's will, He will answer them (1 John 5:14–15).

implications for today

If you’ve ever called someone only to immediately be connected to voice mail or gotten no response after texting, you understand the frustration of being ignored. But God doesn’t ignore His children when we pray in His will. And when we don’t? He answers us—but maybe not in the way we want.

Believers can boldly approach God in prayer at all times because Jesus has made a way for us to do so (Hebrews 4:14–16). In fact, we are told to pray continually (Luke 18:1; Philippians 4:6; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18). But we should have the right motives, such as seeking His kingdom first (Matthew 6:33) rather than asking for Him to grant our selfish desires (James 4:3). God wants us to pour our hearts out to Him, draw closer to Him, and find our solace and provision in our relationship with Him. Prayer is a vital part of fostering this type of relationship with God. It is not merely a means to an end, but our line of communication with He who formed us, loved us enough to send His Son to die for us, and invites us into a life-transforming relationship with Himself.

No matter what God’s response is to our prayers, we can know that His goodness, generosity, and good purpose for our life stays the same: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).