…we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him. – 1 John 5:15, Amplified Bible

On Christmas morning when I was growing up, my mother did not allow my sister and I to enter the living room – where the tree and the presents were – until we woke her up and gave her time to settle in the living room recliner with her camera in hand. She wanted to capture the looks on our faces as we rounded the hallway corner – the looks of joy signaling that our Christmas morning expectations had been fulfilled!

If you are like me, the joy of Christmas morning as a child was preceded by days – sometimes weeks – of expectant anticipation. Why were we so excited? Because we knew we had presents coming our way. Let’s face it: kids wouldn’t be bursting with excitement in the days and weeks before Christmas if they didn’t know that they had presents coming. When you could see those presents under the tree, and when the boxes were just the right sizes to hold what you had asked for, it was kind of hard not to get a little spring in your step. You knew those presents were yours for the taking; you just had to wait a little while to claim them.

There are four main reasons why our prayers are not answered: 1) we ask for things to consume upon our own lusts (James 4:3), 2) we ask for things that contradict God’s will (1 John 5:14), 3) we don’t have the faith that God can or will answer our prayers (Matthew 17:20), and 4) there is unconfessed sin in our lives (Psalm 66:18). If, however, we don’t commit any of these errors when we pray, then we have the promise of God Himself that He will indeed answer our prayers.

1 John 5:14-15 (Amplified Bible) promises us the following:

14 And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. 15 And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.

Just like those Christmas presents under the tree were already ours before we could claim them, so, too, are the answers to our rightly-prayed prayers. The answers are ours already; we just have to wait for the proper time to claim them.

A telltale sign that our prayer life is right is that, when we pray, we have a giddy expectation that God will be delivering our gift-wrapped presents soon. A telltale sign that our prayer life isn’t right is that, when we pray, we don’t experience any giddy expectation. We may experience nothing at all. Or, worse yet, we may experience a sinking feeling that our prayers never got past the ceiling. It is a horrible thing to be without hope in prayer, simply going through the motions out of a sense of duty. It is also a horrible experience for our Savior to have a prayer session with someone who has no more conviction than a bedpost. You had faith in Christ to answer your request for salvation. Now He wants you to have faith in Him to answer your requests for sanctification, provision, and purpose.

Examine yourself. Are you expectant in prayer? Are you sure in your heart that your presents are gift-wrapped, awaiting you to claim them at the appointed time? Or, is your heart barren because you do not expect to find any presents under the tree?