Necessary Conditions For Prayers to Be Answered 

I was recently discussing with a friend ways to improve our prayer life.  In doing so, I reviewed Matthew 7: 7-12 and some other verses.

Matthew 7: 7-12  - "Ask and it shall be given to you..." 

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Necessary Conditions For Prayers to Be Answered 

I was recently discussing with a friend ways to improve our prayer life.  In doing so, I reviewed Matthew 7: 7-12 and some other verses.

Matthew 7: 7-12  - "Ask and it shall be given to you..." 

Matthew 6:7 - do not abuse prayer. do not seek to glorify yourself, and draw attention to your 'holiness', prayer is not about you but God. concentrate on God's goodness
Matthew 7:11 - we give gifts to our children because we love them, and God loves us even more than that, so He wants to give us good things.
John 15:7 - to receive gifts from God, we must obey Him and His word. disobedience prevents God from helping
1 John 3:22 - please God and He will help you, again obeying is a necessary condition to receiving aid in prayer

So some necessary conditions to having a good prayer life are:

• Not seeking your own self-agrandizement
• Understanding that God loves us and wants to give good things to us
• Obeying God