How Can We Get Our Prayers Answered?
1. You must decide what you want from God. Get into the habit of writing these things down in your prayer journal. This helps you to know when your prayer was answered. If you are just praying for no specific reason, then you will get nothing from God. You are not really praying. Even when you are just wanting to fellowship with God, you have some sort of desire in mind when you approach him in prayer. So know what you want from God before you pray to him. Be very specific about what it is that you want.
2. Once you decide what you want, you need to get three scriptures that relate to what you want to receive from God. God’s word covers all that we need for life and godliness. 2 Peter 1:1-4, and God’s word is his will. 1 John 5:14-15. An example of how to do this, would be if you were asking for healing. You would find three scriptures that dealt with healing. You could use Isaiah 53:4-5, Psalm 103:3 and 1 Peter 2:24 as your scriptures.
3. You need to start meditating on the scriptures that you chose for what you want God to give you. By meditation, I don’t mean clearing your mind and focusing on nothingness, while doing deep breathing. What I mean by meditation on the scriptures is, to read the scripture with the idea of chewing on it. Musing over the passage over and over again. Taking it in word by word and pondering it and what it means. You are purposing to hear from God, what he is speaking to you from that passage. This practice, will allow the scripture to become a part of you, burying it deep in your spirit man and igniting faith and belief in what it is promising. You want the Holy Spirit to make that word a reality to you.
4. Once you have really chewed on the scripture passages and gotten them deep in your spirit man, you will want to ask God boldly and confidently for what it is that you want to receive from him, because it is already promised to you in the scriptures, and then believe that you have already received it before you get it, because it is yours to receive. To receive it, means that you take it by faith. Mark 11:24. Our “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1
5. Refuse to doubt to enter your consciousness. You must make a stand to only believe that you will receive what you’ve asked for from God. Satan works in the arena of suggestions, dreams and visions. He will try to get you to cave into unbelief and doubt, in order to undermine your faith. He will also use other people to try to get you to doubt. You need to stand your ground in your belief. The word is true, so you are standing on something solid. Any thought that comes to mind that is opposite of the scripture promise, cast it down as a vain imagination. Immediately replace that thought with the promises of God that you are using to receive what you want.
6. Make statements of faith. Speak these scriptures out of your mouth. 2 Corinthians 4:13. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. Romans 10:17. That will help you to stand in faith. When you do this, you are speaking to your circumstances expecting them to change. Speaking faith thoughts, and saying faith words, leads us out of defeat into victory. Once we pray the prayer of faith, we do not need to pray it again. Remind God of his promise. Isaiah 43:26, and wait for it to be fulfilled. If we pray again for what we already prayed for, it’s like we are digging up our seed that we planted.
7. The last thing that you do, is to praise and thank God, and do it as if he has already given you what you’ve asked for. Be in a continual state of thanksgiving and praise throughout the day. Psalm 34:1. Allow your heart to become full of praise and thanksgiving. This will enable you to be patient in waiting for your answer from God. It will also cause you to become more intimate with God, because you are in a constant state of gratitude towards God. Praise and thanksgiving rout the enemy. 2 Chronicles 20:5-22
These are seven steps to getting what you pray for from God. If you will put these steps into motion and practice them regularly, you will see God answer your prayers on a regular basis. This is not a formula, but a way of life. Do it and reap the rewards, don’t do it and your on your own.
