Day Eleven: What’s prayer got to do with it?

Scripture: 1 Kings 8:25–26 

Principle: Pray for God to keep his promises.

Advertising makes many promises. Promises to get rich, lose weight, live longer, be happier. But these promises are just general promises for anyone and everyone. It isn’t until one of these promises captures our attention and inspires us to act that it becomes personal and has any chance of becoming a reality.

In Solomon’s prayer, he prays for God to keep his promises. Why? Do we need to remind God of his promises? No, absolutely not! Are God’s promises dependent on our prayers? Again, absolutely not! Solomon asks God to keep his promise to make that promise his own and to make it a reality. E. M. Bounds says

“Prayer and the promise are interdependent. The promise inspires and energizes prayer, but prayer locates the promise, and gives it realization and location.”23

The promise Solomon is praying about was not a promise made directly to him. It was a promise God made to David. But this promise inspired Solomon to pray and claim it as his own. There are many promises in the Bible, but until you are inspired and energized by one, they remain unrealized and impersonal. The clearest example of this is the promise of salvation. It is out there for anyone and everyone but remains unrealized until it grabs a hold of you and energizes you. Inspired to pray, you confess your sins and ask for the promised forgiveness. Then, and only then, does the promise become personal and a glorious reality. God’s promise which Peter calls, “precious and very great” requires our prayers.

“How large are the promises made to the saint! How great the promises given to poor, hungry-hearted, lost sinners, ruined by the fall! … How great the encouragement to all souls, these promises of God! How firm the ground on which to rest our faith! How stimulating to prayer! What firm ground on which to base our pleas in praying!”24

Application: Find a promise in God’s word that energizes and inspires you and begin to make it a reality in your life by praying.

23 Edward M. Bounds, The Possibilities of Prayer (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2004), 6.
24 Bounds, 14.