How to get your prayers answered
In this world there are many gods, and many beliefs about god. So God gave us a way to identify who He is and which God we should be praying to. See, you can call God, Hashem, Jehovah, or Elohim. But He gave us a name that will get His undivided attention.
Prayer is a mysteriously wonderful gift that we have been given by our creator. Prayer allows us to commune with God in an intimate way. In our carnal mind, prayer doesn’t really make sense.
Sometimes we relegate prayer to just the mumbling of a few words followed by “Amen.” But Prayer is far more than that. Prayer is more than speaking words. Prayer goes deeper than mere verbal communication. The moment you engage in prayer, you are actually connecting to another realm, that the Bible calls the spiritual realm. It is the realm where God is clothed in His full power and glory. See, prayer transcends the physical natural realm that we see, feel, touch and taste. It goes far beyond our natural dimension.
See, as of now we can only physically operate in this 3rd dimension… But with prayer, its like a telecommunication line that can break through all known dimensions and connect us to the very throne room and heart of the Almighty God. In short, the moment you engage in prayer, you are connecting directly to the creator God Almighty the source of all life. The wonderful thing about prayer is that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the confidence in knowing that He hears every word you speak, and every thought you have. See, the Bible says in Ephesians 3:20 that we serve a God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can ask or even think.
So what is prayer? How do you do it? Prayer is simply you humbling yourself to communicate with God. It all starts with you recognizing that there is someone way bigger than you who has the power to alter time and space and matter. But there are rules. So lets go over #___ basic rules of prayer.
The first rule is found in John 15:16 where Jesus the Christ says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”
The first rule is that you must ask the Father -who is God- in the name of Jesus. You might be wondering, WHY does it have to be in the name of Jesus? The short answer, is because God said so. The long answer is because as you know, in this world there are many gods, and many beliefs about god. So God gave us a way to identify who He is and which God we should be praying to. See, you can call God, Hashem, Jehovah, or Elohim. But He said that whatever you ask of him you must do it in the name of Jesus. That name will get His undivided attention. But let me also say that the name of Jesus is not some majical word or name that you just blurt out at random and expect an intelligent God to ignorantly and blindly respond. NO!. The name of Jesus on works when it is spoken by faith. Which leads into the second rule.
The second rule is found in Romans 5:1, where the Apostle Paul teaches, and I quote: “Therefore, having been justified BY FAITH, we have peace with God THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, through whom also we have access BY FAITH into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” This second rule is simple. You must have faith in Jesus Christ. You must believe that He is who He said He is. He is the savior of all mankind. Without him, the world would be hopeless. Lets go down a quick rabbit trail… Can you imagine what the world would be like if Jesus had never come? Whenever you have time, I want to research how cruel the world was before Jesus came. The earth was not a very benevolent place. … But any way, lets get back on track…
The third rule of prayer is found in James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” Simply put, don’t ask or expect God to answer selfish greedy prayers. God is not stupid. You cannot fool him with your words. He knows your thoughts and the intent of your heart. He can tell when you are praying out of selfishness or greed.
For example, I was watching a video where a young man was trying to get this girl to come home with him, and he said a quick prayer, “Oh please god, let me get this girl tonight. Amen” Even though it was humorous, it was a bit sad how the world portrays prayer as meaningless babble for ones desires to be fulfilled like the wishes from a genie. Let me just say this right off the cuff… GOD IS NOT YOUR GENIE IN A BOTTLE! HE IS NOT HERE TO GRANT YOU WISHES! WE DO NOT TELL HIM WHAT WE WANT HIM TO DO! HE TELLS US WHAT HE WANTS US TO DO! HE IS GOD! WE ARE NOT! And we simply obey Him!
The forth rule of prayer is found in James chapter 1 verse 6, where it reads, “ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
This forth rule is connected to the second rule. See the second rule states that you must have faith In Jesus Christ, but this forth rule take it one step further in that if you want your prayer to be received by God, you must not be double-minded. See, the biggest reason that many of our prayers are not being answered, is because we are being too wishy-washy with our faith in Jesus. One moment, we believe in Him, the next we doubt and even deny Him. Oh how easy it is for some of us to turn our backs on the God of salvation when trials and troubles enter our lives.
See, we have to learn to be steadfast in our faith in Christ. We have to get to the point that we become a Romans 8:38 Christian, where it states, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Once you solidify your stance, that no matter what happens- you wont turn your back on your faith in Christ, then and only then will you see the power of your prayers increase.
