There are many reasons why God wants us to receive answers from Him when we pray. Here are five biblical reasons:

 1.  God has made it our nature to ask in prayer in order that we may receive. When we received Christ God gave us a new nature, a nature that desires prayer and that wants to receive from Him in prayer. In fact, when Jesus came into us, at the time of our conversion He made the temple of our bodies a house of prayer—so that we naturally cry out to God for all the things we need (Matt. 21:13). Indeed, prayer is the most natural thing for a Christian to do.

 2.  It is God’s nature to hear and answer prayer. God is our creator and the creator of the entire world. It is natural for Him to hear the cries of all His creatures and to tend to their needs. He answers the prayers of Christians in particular because we are His own special people whom He died for and whom He has adopted into His family (1 Pt. 2:9; Eph. 1:5-7).

He cares for all our needs as a faithful gardener cares for His garden. I am making reference to John 15. Here God is pictured as a gardener and we are grape branches growing out of the vine (which is Christ). God wants all of us to bear fruit and to be able to ask in prayer and receive from Him. If we don’t bear fruit, and if for some reason we don’t receive from Him in prayer (which I think is part of the fruit), it is His nature as a gardener to care for us and prune us so that we will grow and abide, hence, so that we will, in due course, bear fruit and receive from Him in prayer. Yes, God desires that all His children abide in Him, so that He can answer their prayers.

 3.  God’s answers to prayer show evidence of His existence and give us proof of our right relationship with Him. Anyone who comes to God in prayer must believe, at least a little, that He exists (Heb. 11:6). But when He rewards us with an answer, we have unmistakable evidence of His existence.

And our answers also serve to help others believe in Him. Isaiah knew this, and so at Mount Carmel he prayed before the people, “Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God…” (1 Kings 18:37).

Answers to prayer not only prove God’s existence, but they also give us confidence that we are growing in our relationship with Him and that He is pleased with our prayers. If we rarely receive answers it probably means that there is a sin problem and that we are not abiding in Him (Jn. 15:7). But if we do receive answers it gives us proof that our relationship with Him is going well.

 4.  When we receive His answers we share in His work and will. Prayer is not just for our own personal needs. Prayer should be mainly for others, for God’s work of saving the lost and for the growth of the church. Therefore, when we pray for the lost and for the ministry that God has called us to, and He answers our prayers, we can be glad that we have a part in His work.

 5.  Answers to prayer bring God glory and us joy. In John 14:13 Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” Then in John 16:24 Jesus said to His disciples (and to us), “Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” When we are used in the service of God to bring Him glory by our prayers and by answers to our prayers, the Holy Spirit will always fill us up with joy. That is what will naturally happen. It is the joy of the Holy Spirit bubbling up in us. It is the overflow of the glory of God in us.