From Prayer To Answer: The Journey of Faith

From prayer to answer is a journey of faith. Before a prayer is ever offered up to God we oftentimes have thoughts like:

“I should be able to handle this issue on my own. I don’t want to rely on Jesus like a crutch.”

OR

“God knows what I need, He will help if it’s His will.”

OR

” I don’t need to pray about this illness. That’s why doctors exist, right? Besides, would God actually intervene when treatment is available?”

OR

“This is a normal part of life, prayer is not going to change things”

These thoughts may sound logical but they stem from human reasoning and are limited by what we can see and explain. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts far exceed our own (Isaiah 55:8-9). If we could fully comprehend and manage life apart from Him, we would have no need for a Savior.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”(Is 55:8-9)

Prayer Is More Than A Last Second Hail Mary

Many people think of prayer as a last resort, a last second “hail Mary.” But it’s so much more than that. It’s the intentional use of Scripture to pray the blessing God offers us into our lives. Our spirits are positioned in the throne room in Christ, next to God the Father. Every prayer based on the Word of God, asked from a life that follows Jesus is heard and answered in God’s timing if we do not give up.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”(Gal 6:9 NIV)

Well doing, as mentioned in the verse above includes prayer. This can be prayer for ourselves, prayer for others, prayers for our nation and the world. We will reap if we do not give up.

We Can Control Our Time In His Presence

Spending time in God’s presence through Bible study and meditation on Scripture, is essential to answered prayer. As we read, the Holy Spirit within us will attempt to wake us up to a Truth that will guide our life. We can hear these nudges best when we are quiet, focused and not in a hurry to finish our time in study. We can either ignore or heed these promptings- this is our free will choice. But ignoring them will lead us into unnecessary struggles, the very things He desires to spare us from. He doesn’t force our choices but desires we listen to Him. The Lord also tells us, that as we daily spend time reading the Word, meditating and praying throughout the day, our prayers become powerful.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”(John 15:7 NIV)

We are God’s creation, His children, and He desires the very best for us. However, in order for us to be showered with blessings and direction it is imperative we follow His teachings.

God’s love is not controlling. He doesn’t demand that we come to Him for help. He also doesn’t command us to do anything- that would override the free will He gave us. Instead He patiently waits, willing to step in, yet honoring the freedom He has given us, as He longs to be invited into even the most insignificant decisions.

I have learned much over the last few decades about how to receive answered prayer. And have been privileged to gain a deeper understanding of the part we play. A life founded on prayer means we are in a constant dialogue with the Lord throughout the day.

It’s Our Move

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts you double minded.”(James 4:8 NKJV)

This verse gives us immediate direction. It tells us that we must make the first move, we must draw near to God and then He will respond. He will draw near to us, listen and offer guidance. But as we learn in the second part of the above verse, we cannot come into the presence of God if we are wavering between God’s wisdom and the world’s wisdom. This is being double minded.

We must be at a point where we feel no one can help us except supernatural help from the Lord. When this happens we have immediately gained the Lord’s ear. We don’t have to clean up our act before we come to the Lord, that’s the Holy Spirit’s job. We simply come running to our heavenly Father. He has been waiting with open arms to be reunited with us to give us peace, comfort and guide our next steps.

Ask And Receive

Many people don’t ask for anything from God because they feel their needs are unimportant. But if we look to Scripture to see if this logic is correct, we will find we are misguided.

The first miracle Jesus performed was to satisfy a practical need. He attended a wedding in the town of Cana and His mother noticed that the wine had run out. Jesus’ mother presented Him with this problem in full assurance He could help. Not only that, she instructed those in Jesus’ presence to do anything He tells them to do.

His mother said to the servants,“Whatever He says to you, do it.” (John 2:5) Mother Mary knew that Jesus was the Messiah and He was more than powerful to solve this problem.

Jesus immediately instructed those in His presence to fill up large barrels with water. When they were all filled, He dipped a tasting utensil into the water and the water turned into wine.

Running out of wine at a wedding would have been uncomfortable and deeply embarrassing for the hosts. Yet Jesus stepped in and removed that possibility, moved by His mother’s unwavering confidence in His ability to help. In the same way, we receive answers to our prayers, not through hesitation or doubt, but through wholehearted trust. When we place full faith in Jesus and follow His instructions we position ourselves to receive His provision and power.

It is Finished: Sin Removed, Blessings Released and Christ Has Drawn Near

As Jesus hung on the cross, He declared, “It is finished,” announcing the victorious completion of His mission to redeem humanity from sin, fulfill Old Testament prophecies, and bring the Old Covenant to an end. Jesus overcame death and therefore there is nothing He has not overcome. Jesus gained back access to the earth from Satan. Now the church is positioned to storm the gates of hades through knowledge of God’s Word, and bring to earth all the blessings of abundance Jesus won for us.

The Holy Spirit is our interpreter of the Bible and reveals what belongs to us and what we can fight for through our prayers. Daniel prayed and his prayer request was held up for three weeks by the powers of darkness. Therefore we should be encouraged to pray without ceasing.

“Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. “But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”(Dan 10:12-13)

Prayer Is Laboring With God

We must actively pursue the blessings that come to us through answered prayer, as we see in this verse from Colossians: “Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ… is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.”(Col 4:12 NIV) Wrestling in prayer is the perfect statement. It takes effort to turn our eyes away from the world and pray two times a day. But it seems, according to the verses below, that God the Father grants justice from our adversary and grants us our heart felt requests.

“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? He will see that they get justice and speedily.”(Luke 18:7 ESV)

God owns the world and He rules through His Laws. Jesus didn’t come to abolish the moral Law or the teaching of the prophets, but to fulfill them when we transgress them. When we accept Jesus and follow Him, it’s God’s law that we receive what we ask for.

“Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.” (Is 43:26 NKJV)

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”(Ps 100:4)

Jesus died on the cross, what more can He possibly do for us? Through His sacrifice He has given us access to the Father, who holds all the answers to our prayers. Christians know that “All God’s promises are yes and Amen!” And this is true, but in order to receive them we must put God in remembrance of what He promised us. And if we are aligned with the conditions of His promises we can sucessfully plead our case with Him and receive what we have asked

We find our healing, financial and relational breakthroughs, vindication when falsely accused, and power to overcome all addictions through Bible reading, alignment with the Word, repentance and prayer. This develops a relationship with Jesus. When we have Jesus’s Words dwelling richly in our memory, we start to think like Him rather than in the logic of humanity.

“We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.”(John 9:31 NIV)

The Components of Breakthrough Prayer

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”(John 3:36)

This verse is clear, if we believe in Jesus we will go to heaven when we die. But, those who don’t OBEY the Son will never receive their breakthrough while living on this earth. They will receive salvation at the end of life, but disobedience to the Word will prevent them from experiencing Jesus’ forgiveness for sin and saving power now. This is not a punishment. It’s due to the fact their belief in God’s Word is not built up. If a person doesn’t believe God’s Word to follow it, then they cannot believe it to receive answered prayer. We are in the drivers seat.

Pray Without Ceasing

As we commit more Scripture to memory, we learn to stand in unwavering faith because Jesus’ very DNA forms within us. “The Word became flesh.” (John 1:14) If the Word created Jesus, then the Word “devoured” by us, spoken by us in prayer will also form our bodies- namely our heart will change from stone to flesh. I’m sure you have heard the term “he/she is a voracious reader.” This is the attitude we need to take about Scripture. This does not mean to read Scripture quickly. Devouring Scripture means to read it, meditate on it and let it change our thinking and thus our behavior. This means we believe it. The food we consume changes our cells. God’s Word consumed changes our thinking and later our behavior, because it literally changes our heart-what we love.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17 ESV)

Exceeding And Precious Promises Are Available

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” (2 Peter 1:4)

This verse says “might be partakers.” This means not everyone will attain God’s precious promises – in other words, the ability to overcome everything that comes against us. And we know this is true because we see Christians all over the world succumbing to illness, disease, depression, addiction, financial problems, divorce and all manner of problems that overtake them.

We will face problems in this world, but Jesus came to give us power and authority to overcome them. This power is manifested when the Holy Spirit within us causes us to believe what we read in the Bible.

The Aggressive Take The Kingdom Blessings

We must be aggressive in our prayer life. We must be aggressive in our dedication to the Word, giving it our number one priority. It is only through this posture, that we will step into the abundant power and blessing Jesus won for us. And thus, we must carry our own cross.

Only God’s plans lead to breakthrough without painful labor and extended labor. Only God’s plans are perfect. Christ followers work by praying and standing on the Word of God. This is when we breakthrough and experience everything Satan has exhaustingly tried to keep us from.

The Christ Follower’s Calling to Pray

A Christ follower must be willing to pray as our daily work. We must also align our lives with Scripture, confessing and repenting daily in order to remain close to the heart of God. Through prayer, we continually realign ourselves with the Lord. Prayer should become part of our daily routine, morning and evening and eventually, we are conscious of God’s presence all day long.

Jesus modeled how to come against the daily struggles we have. He never fought against His accusers with earthly power. He responded with surrender, and prayer and we respond with surrender to God and prayer. We are soldiers in God’s Kingdom, not advancing through anger or violence speech, but through faithful obedience and persistent prayer.

“Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

God will never fail His people. He gave us Jesus Christ, and by choosing to model our life the way Jesus taught, with the Holy Spirit’s empowerment, we can conquer and live victoriously through all the evil that attempts to reduce our faith so we stop praying.

When we align ourselves with the Word and remain faithful in prayer, we become vessels through which Heaven touches the earth. Our prayers based on God’s Word releases Kingdom blessings in God’s timing. And our life of prayer will reveal the power of God to the world around us. To God Be The Glory!!!

Food For Thought,

Lisa