God’s Promises: He Answers Prayer

By Elizabeth Prata

How many promises of God are in the Bible? Some say 7,487. Others say 8,000. Still others say there are too many to count. In any case, whenever God makes a promise, it is sure to be fulfilled.

“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel in accordance with everything that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant.” (1 Kings 8:56).

You just need to trust this. Trust in God, who does not fail.

God is a good God. He engages with His people, He protects, He corrects, He teaches, He reveals, and He promises. Throughout the Bible God has made promises to His people. One of the first was the promise to send a savior in Genesis 3:15, called the proto-evangelium, or the first Gospel. In it, we learn that satan will be defeated and God’s people will triumph over the serpent.

Throughout the Bible God has told us to pray to Him for all things in His will. All things. Our cares, concerns, our children, His glory, the nations, enemies, friends, one another…He said to pray.

See this verse, we are told the specific reason they prevailed: they prayed to God and trusted Him. One of the things God’ promised is that He will hear and answer prayer.

And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.” (John 14:13-14)

And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in the battle, and he was intreated of them; because they put their trust in him. (1 Chronicles 5:20)

Matthew Henry comments on the verse: “We are told what success they had: God was entreated of them, though need drove them to him; so ready is he to hear and answer prayer. They were helped against their enemies; for God never yet failed any that trusted in him.” Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 564). Peabody: Hendrickson.

“The report of military victory in verse 20 is typical of Chronicles. No military explanation is given; the reason for the victory is an act of piety, a prayer.” In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 268).

Now more than ever is a time for us to pray. First, pray to Jesus in repentance of your own sins. Pray unto salvation if you’re not saved, and unto forgiveness of daily sins if you are. Pray for your church leaders/elders/pastors. Pray for one another. Pray for this nation, and even for enemies, foreign and domestic. Pray for the Kingdom to come, and His will to be done. Pray the BIBLE.

Some of the most powerful prayers in the Bible are (from this source)

1. The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15). Jesus taught this classic lesson in prayer to his disciples. We’ll consider the Lord’s Prayer phrase by phrase as a pattern for our own praying.
2. Moses’ Prayer for Israel in the Wilderness (Exodus 32:9-14). Incredible examples of Moses pleading with God to preserve his own name and character and not destroy Israel. We examine the question: Does prayer actually change anything?
3. Abraham’s Prayer for Sodom (Genesis 18:16-33). An example of intercessory prayer which finds its basis in God’s character.
4. David’s Prayer for Pardon and Confession of Sin (Psalm 51). When we sin against God, how can we pray to restore our fellowship? David’s prayer is a classic prayer of repentance.
5. David’s Prayer at the End of Life (1 Chronicles 29:9-20). A short psalm of praise and David’s prayer for his son Solomon to build the temple.
6. Hezekiah’s Petitions for Deliverance and Healing (2 Kings 19:14-19; 20:1-7). Here’s a godly king about to see his nation conquered and destroyed by the mighty Assyrian army. Then he who has just heard from a prophet that he should prepare to die soon. How does he pray? 
7. David’s Psalm of Surrender (Psalm 139). David struggles with God’s intense knowledge of him, marvels at God’s intricate formation of him in his mother’s womb, and then prays a prayer of surrender to God’s searching, knowing, probing, and refining.
8. Daniel’s Confession on Behalf of His People (Daniel 9:1-19). When Daniel realizes the 70 years of exile are ended, he offers a prayer of confession in which he (though personally a righteous man) identifies with the sins of his people and asks for God’s mercy.
9. Nehemiah’s Prayer for Success (Nehemiah 1:1-2:9). Nehemiah hears of the suffering of the returned exiles. After grieving in fasting and prayer, Nehemiah prays for success — and commits himself to God’s will for his life.
10. Jesus’ Prayer of Submission at Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-46). Jesus asks for the cup (crucifixion) to be bypassed, but then prays for the Father’s will to be done most of all.
11. Paul’s Prayers for the Ephesian Believers (Ephesians 1:15-23; 3:14-21). Here are Paul’s prayers for the Ephesian Christians — and for us — to really understand the heights and depths of Christ’s love for us.

Further Resources:

How to Pray, essay from Ligonier

The Purpose of Prayer, sermon from John MacArthur

Praying the Bible, 5-min video with Don Whitney

Praying the Bible, book by Don Whitney