How to get Answers to Prayer (#1)

… Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven... It's not that he dosn't want to keep his promises. It's that he knows what is good for us far better than we do and he may have a better idea. I've been very involved with television ministries and that included 'the name it and claim it' doctrines that would lower the Lord to filling our requests, rather than us seeking his infinite knowledge and wisdom. Remember, He is Lord we are not. Jesus said in the garden "thy will not my will."

Guojing,

Thanks for sharing that. I had to read it more than once before actually grasping how it applies.

"Plead together" implies hashing something out more or less as equals, which sounds like heresy to some, but shouldn't surprise us considering that God refered to Abraham as "my friend" (Isaiah 41:8) and that "the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" -(Exodus 33:11).

As we draw closer to God more often I think we discover that God is loving and approachable, as long as we're willing to lay down our sins.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

Your last paragraph reminds me of Hebrews 4:14-16, God sees Jesus in us.

To him, we not only have the garment of salvation, we also have the robe of righteousness. Isaiah 61:10

I shared that last piece of the story because I want everyone to start thinking about the importance of the statement "I set before you life and death. therefore, choose life" which is contained in the following bible passage (among others):

Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV
... I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

If you've prayed for much of anything, you have answered prayers and you have what seem like unanswered prayers. (Effective and not effective.) You have areas where you sin... and areas where you do well. Areas of belief, and other areas of unbelief. Areas of confidence, and areas of doubt. We ALL do (because we're all still learning). My posting demonstrated one such example from my own life.

Whatever we focus on tends to fill our thoughts and influence our actions. It starts to permeate our lives. (Think: "The light of the body is the eye: if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light".) That's why I ask everyone to seek, find, and share those areas where God has indeed answered a prayer, no matter how small or how much we figure it might have just been a coincidence.

That focus on a positive leads to thankfulness, joy, hope, etc., as well as it helps us remember other areas where God has done things for us...increasing again the tendency toward thankfulness, joy, hope, etc. That is an example of having life and having it more abundantly.

And if we remember how we prayed (mindset, attitude, reasons, words used, etc) we can share that with everyone else...as a reminder to ourselves, and good information for them. "Everyone wins"

If we instead focus on an area where we were unable to achieve the desired result through prayer, or areas where the answer seems unexpectedly or uncomfortably delayed, ... that leads to thoughts of disappointment, continued pain & sorrow, feelings of betrayal, etc., And that increases the likelihood of remembering other disappointments, pains and sorrows, etc, etc. Soon we can find ourselves beginning to have a miserable day. The focus on negativity leads to negativity permeating our lives.

And which piece to focus on is something we CHOOSE.

I’ll share an example of how choosing the negative can interfere with (delay, obstruct) our answers to prayer... And how removal of that negativity allowed the answer to come, but that will be in another post. There's something else I have to do for now.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

there are at least two factors that influence the effectiveness of prayer. These two factors are faith and a pure heart. The more faith we have the stronger our message is delivered and a message from a pure heart will travel a long way and likely reach the person who it is intended to reach. But we should still pray without ceasing with the measure of faith that we have and give as much of our heart as we can.

RevelationMan,
Amen! And I'm glad you said "at least two", leaving the door open for others to be brought to light.

Would you be willing to point out one thing a person could do to increase their faith? And do you know of a way for a person to improve the pureness of their heart? Thanks.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

Our help comes from the Lord. We surely need help that is why we pray. Not only for praise, thanksgiving and physical needs but more importantly for our spiritual needs. When I pray and confess about something that I am struggling at, like bitternesss or unforgiveness, I feel the Holy Spirit helps me feel better by easing the burden in my heart. When I am facing danger, praying for protection makes me feel less afraid. I have faced critical situations before and God always protected me.

Ok, here's the example I promised:

I was working at a local factory and had become quite skilled at the decorative processes we employed (semi-automatic pad printing, & screen printing) as well as being skilled in other departments. However, opportunities for advances in pay and/or position were not forthcoming. It seemed I was in a holding pattern despite efforts to improve the value I provided to the company. I remember one particularly desired position that had to be given to another individual simply because my position in the company was indeed valuable and there was no one qualified to fill the vacancy my transfer would create. (at least that's how I remember it.. lol) By this time I'd started praying about it. This went on for quite some time with negligible improvement.

Eventually I started looking outside the company. Each time a new job was available or even offered, I'd pray if it was OK to take it and God would pretty much flat up tell me no, or make it impossible for me to take the new position; it was not his will. I'd been trying harder and praying harder and now I was growing frustrated. This went on for a few more years.

Finally, I received a call specifically requesting me to initiate and oversee a new pad printing department for Oriental Trading Company in Omaha, Nebraska. It was a big enough change that I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it without God's approval. So I took it to prayer, fairly resigned to the idea that God was not going to grant his blessing to this one either. He did not. He also didn't tell me no. He didn't say anything. And I got the impression it was basically, "You already know my will in this matter. I don't need to say it again. It's up to you now. If you're going to be hardhearted and go your own way, you don't need me to say anything at all." I knew that I was at a proverbial fork in the road.

By natural measurements this was exactly what I was looking for. And it wasn't passing me by. It was knocking on the door and asking for me by name. But I had to decide how I was going to make my life decisions...Go after what I think looks good fleshly?...or give up trying to manipulate situations and resign myself to whatever God is willing to do for me? The question that I had to answer before choosing was "Can I be honestly content and thankful if my current situation doesn't improve?." That took some soul searching.

When I realized the true answer, I took that answer to God, and said "I'm not going to fight you on this, trying to get what I want or think i deserve. If you never improve the situation, I will still thank you and give you praise, (without expectation of improvement... and basically starting now)." And I meant it.

So, I returned the call, thanked the party who'd called me, asking him to pass on the message that I would not be pursuing the position. And I was at peace.

Within 6 months, there was a radical change to the situation with my then-current employer, and God has been blessing my employment arrangements ever since.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

I noticed that too in my own life.
Makes me think of Daniel and his friends in the fiery furnace.

16Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” - Daniel 3:16-18

Brings Jesus' words to mind:

"1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. " - Luke 18:1

I want to share, but I'm reading through this thread so I don't reiterate what others may have said already, and I'm trying to remember the six conditions for answered prayer that I shared with a Pentecostal pastor years ago in a forum. He resisted the idea of there being conditions. And if I remember correctly, I think the number jumped to nine in my own studies soon after that. Let's see if I can pull those together again.

The formatting was messed up, so I apologize if you aren't actually the one who is being quoted here.

We can learn a lot about holding God to his promises in the example of salvation itself. He said he will save everyone who comes to him and will not turn them away.

"11As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” e 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” - Romans 10:11-13

That's a promise. And you can stake your life on it. It isn't in doubt as to whether or not he will answer the person who calls on him for salvation. It is in this same vein of faith that we can hold God to his other promises. Like this one:

"11“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for f a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” - Luke 11:11

But, surely, there are conditions for other aspects of our relationship with God, but clearly there are promises you can take to the bank, no matter what, period.

Praying for the salvation of others is a sticky point for me. We can be as sure as we want about God answering those prayers, but I don't think the Bible gives us any indication that people we pray for will without doubt be saved. It actually tells us we don't know that for sure.

"16How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?" - 1 Corinthians 7:16

But I see no reason to not fervently pray for the salvation of others. I think just the burden to do so may be an indication that God is impressing it upon you to do that. Just as the lack of a burden or the word of the Lord may indicate he is not going to answer your prayer:

"16“As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. " - Jeremiah 7:16

"16If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. " - 1 John 5:16

When he has judgment planned for someone there is no prayer that is going to change that, which is associated with one of the six conditions for answered prayer - he must hear you...

"if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him." - 1 John 5:15

Exactly!

Believe the desired result is Christ using whatever it is as a medium for Himself, and have faith that He will provide. secondly you have to see that result in your mind constantly, and use that as a point of reference even when the natural world, or even logic says otherwise.

Some things to understand is that not every result is instantaneous, some take some time. I have seen some that have taken a few weeks and i have seen some work in the time span of 24 hours. But through it all you shouldn't go looking for results, just trust and have faith and most of the time it will appear when you least expect it.

According to Matthew 6:33 you have to seek the kingdom first, so that whatever it is you are asking for shall be added unto you... The Kingdom of God and His righteousness is Christ Himself, and when you are believing in Christ to use (desired result) as a medium for Himself to provide for you, you are literally fulfilling the scripture's requirements. And just as you believe In Him, you have to believe in Him coming through, revealing Himself through that desired result and providing.... Because of your faith the desired results are " additions" added unto you. They are the byproduct of YOUR faith in Christ and what He will do....A lot of believers put miracles before faith, they have to see something happen before they can believe, and because of this Christ calls those people wicked, and these people will never get any results Ref- Matthew 16:1-4.

You have to be hardcore persistent, but you only have to pray it one time, but believe it, affirm it constantly daily. I recommend getting a journal and writing down the things you pray so you can remember and stay consistent with it.

K, now i guess i can give a testimony that happened a month ago. A month ago since i am an investor, i decided to make
a huge personal investment on some stuff, believing on a specific return in profit. I believed that Christ would use that as a medium for Himself to provide. So i just made my investments... Immediately after the stuff i bought crashed hard, and i don't mean hard but like hard, hard. Like in the ground hard, buried 6 feet in the ground and poured some cement over it hard. Looking at the chart, seeing how far it dropped i knew logically there would be no way in hell it would ever rise to where my projection was. But instead of checking on the graph i decided within myself to just let it be, and trust in Christ, because i knew that looking at the graph decline further and further down would just negate what i hoped for, and probably put me in a bad mood. I had to maintain this faith
and keep myself from logging in to check on the progress for about 3 weeks. Finally i decided after 3 weeks to just check on the graph one more time before bed. I looked and yep, still was failing, still falling, still depressing to look at. But rather than get into my feelings about it, i actually didn't but i had faith in Christ still. I just looked at it and went " wow dang that sucks, but i still trust you (Christ) though." And i went to sleep. For some reason i woke up early 6 hours later after looking at that fail graph decline, and i logged in to check again... Literally all of my offers were sold. The moment i saw it, i was floored because that increase was completely illogical. There was no way something could be that deep in the ground one moment then be way up to where it was that fast in the span of 6 hours without even causing or following a trend.

I have many testimonials like this though. Healings, manifestations, additions being added, provision when there was absolutely
no way it could have been had.. I have seen it all and they still floor me every time. But anyways that is how i pray and probably
one of the reasons why i get results. I have learned to control my doubt, by controlling my actions to faith, and i have
removed doubtful questions like " is it your will if...", because there were never any answers for those. Answers only
came when i started to believe.

well here's how not to receive what you ask for in prayer:

don't ask all, or ((worse?)) ask in order to spend what you receive on your lusts. i doubt i need to give any kind of concrete example for anyone reading..

but i put this, because a thing is often well-defined by what it is not.
i do not like the phrasing 'answered prayer' vs 'unanswered' to describe receiving what you ask and not, because even the prayer of these written to in James' epistle were 'answered' -- with a divine 'nope!' but can we say, a petition to God that is met is one that does not ask to spend on your own passion, rather, on the opposite of that? those things that glorify His Name, rather than ours? because He says also, He gives the desire of my heart to me when my delight is in Him.

what an excellently pertinent question!



behold!! we are blessed to have the record of the disciples asking the LORD this question in person, along with His reply!



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that is how faith is increased

He's a 'Who' not a 'what' and His name is JESUS OF NAZARETH

duh?

if we had an answer we could not understand it until we have an answer to this - how does God measure?

There are two instances in the Bible where Jesus was amazed by great faith. They were the faith of the Canaanite woman and the faith of the Centurion. They both have something in common. They both humble themselves.



Matthew 15:21-28

Matthew 8:5-13