Careful reading of the New Testament shows conclusively that Christians cannot always successfully ask God to meet their requests, without certain conditions being fulfilled. This earthly time is for testing and sanctification, not gratification.
What are these conditions? Examples are:
(1) Devotion to respect for God.
"Your name be hallowed!" (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2).
A Christian seeks for his or her heavenly Father's name to be hallowed.
(2) Devotion to leading holy lives.
"Your kingdom come! Your will be done, as in Heaven, also on earth!" (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2)
Christ Jesus teaches that Christians have a duty to do good works and to overcome the power of sin (Matthew 5; Revelation 2-3, 21-22).
(3) Forgiveness for all.
"And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that also the Father of yours, who is in the heavens, would forgive you the transgressions of yours." (Mark 11:25, CFB)
"And forgive us the sins of ours, for also we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us." (Luke 11:4, CFB)
(4) Requests that agree with God's will.
"And this is the boldness that we have before Him, because if we request something according to His will, He listens to us." (1 John 5:14, CFB)
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Notes
CFB: Scripture quoted from the Christ Family Bible. Copyright © 2017 by J.J. Thomas. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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