In Proverbs 15:8 the Lord declares, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord; but the prayer of the upright is His delight!” Our Lord and God takes great pleasure in the prayers of His ‘twice born’ children. You may ask, “How could we do anything that could possibly delight the God of the universe? The true and living God is a consuming fire! The Bible declares in II Samuel 6, ‘Who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God?’ We know that God is so Holy that the seraphim must hide their faces in His presence. He is so holy, that when Job, (the most godly man of his era), encountered the Lord God, he cried, ‘I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes.’ God is so holy that when the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord in His sovereignty and sanctity, he called out, ‘Woe is me, for I am undone!’ Our Creator is infinitely set above us, in our humanness; our fallenness; and our sinfulness. So, how could we possibly do anything that would delight this Holy Lord God?” 

Well dear friends, God is delighted in ‘one thing’ that we can possibly offer him. That is the personal realization of, and a sincere declaration of: our total neediness of Him; our absolute dependence on Him; our complete confidence in Him; resulting in a diligent seeking of Him in prayer; and an assured personal expectation of Him to hear and answer that prayer, according to His perfect will and in His perfect timing! “God does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him; in those who hope in His mercy.”- [Psalm 147:10-12] Why does God delight when one is ‘seeking and believing’ in prayer? I believe that it is because our Lord delights in meeting needs, more, than in making demands! So fellow disciples, should we not also find delight in spending quality time, priority time, and consistent time in communion with the Lord in prayer, since our Father so delights in it?

While many in the contemporary church are looking for new ‘humanly concocted’ techniques and tactics, in attempting to accomplish His mission; our God is looking for faithful soldiers, who will seek Him in believing prayer! The Holy Spirit does not flow through religious gimmicks and gadgets. The Holy Spirit flows through men and women who are committed soldiers in the warfare of prayer!

I believe that effective prayer is that majestic transaction in which the infinite wealth of God’s provision is magnified; and the needs of God’s people are satisfied! Consider the wonderful promise the Lord Jesus gave to his disciples, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son!” God the Father is perfectly pleased with the Son; and by His grace, we become friends of the Son. We are now accepted in union with the Beloved One, the Lord Jesus Christ! We are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ! And our King and Master has authorized every one of His disciples to ask, seek and knock at the door of His Father; so that, the Father, through His answers, might be glorified in His Son! Oh dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the glory of our God is put on display, in the joy that we experience, when we receive His mighty answers to prayer! 

If the prayer of the upright is His delight; then the delight of every child of God should be to engage in intimate prayer with our Father. The great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon has well said, “To pray is to enter into the treasure of God and to enrich one’s self out of God’s inexhaustible storehouse”. Our Great High Priest ever lives to make intercession for us. We have ‘open access and freedom of speech’ to pour out our hearts to our God. Think of it, Friends! We can come to the King of the universe, without hesitation; and with sweet assurance, that our prayers will be heard and answered, according to God’s will and in God’s timing! For God is not only the Creator and Sustainer of the universe; He is not only the Alpha and the Omega; He is not only the omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent Lord of all; He is also our Heavenly Father! Our ‘Abba Father’ delights to answer the ‘faith-filled’ petitions of His frail and needy children, which are being perfumed by the sweet incense of the mediation of our Great High Priest! This is exactly why the apostle John proclaims in 1 John 5:14-15, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask; we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him”. Oh, that there might be a ‘mighty revival of fervent and believing prayer’ among all of us. Yes, we need a revival of powerful preaching; however, we also need a revival of passionate praying. May we ask the Lord to bestow a spiritual hunger in His people; and draw them to fervent and faithful intercession! May our Lord, once again, pour out the spirit of grace and supplication, into the hearts of the bride of Christ!