ANSWERED PRAYER – PART TWO
From The HeartPublish date: 10/27/2002
The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. James 5:16b AMP
When a righteous man prays a continued, earnest, heartfelt, prayer, there is a tremendous power that is released – a dynamic active power that effectively goes to work - producing the desired result. If you want our prayers to be answered, there are a few things that you must do to ensure the desired result – you must walk righteously before the Lord, you must pray sincerely and fervently - and very importantly - you must pray according to God’s will. As a Christian, yielded to the Spirit of God, you have the right to represent yourself in God’s presence and ask for the things you need. Because you have the right to come boldly, you can approach God with confidence.
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:13-15 NIV
The Bible says that if you ask God for anything - according to His will - you can have absolute confidence that He is hearing your prayer. Some people pray as if God isn’t even listening, but the Bible says that if you ask anything according to His will, He does hear you. The Bible says that if you know that He hears you, you also know that He gives you whatever you asked for. Obviously that means that if He hears, He answers and if He does not hear, He does not answer. It is not hard to receive from God those things you ask for as long as you know that He is actually hearing you. Therefore you need to pray in such a way that you know that He will hear your prayer – your prayer must be in line with His will. His will is His Word. You must pray the way that the Word tells you to pray and you must pray the things that the Word tells you to pray, because God will only give you the things that He has already promised that He will give you.
The Lord says that His people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). People are generally misinformed about God – He is not looking for an opportunity to punish you or deprive you of anything – He is looking for an opportunity to bless you, but there is a process that you must go through. You must purify your heart and come both humbly and boldly into His presence to ask according to His will - which is already revealed to you in His Word. He has shown you how to ask – you need to get the revelation of it and do as He says if you want to see a result. If you are not going to pray properly, according to God’s guidelines, then you are basically wasting your time. It would be better to find out what He wants – do it – and reap the blessing!
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:26-28 NKJV
If you want God’s best for your life then you should spend time praying in the Spirit. When you pray in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit within you prays through you. The Holy Spirit prays the perfect will of God for you through your own mouth. The Spirit stands before God and makes intercession for you, praying God’s will over you on your behalf. You must open your mouth to pray and the Spirit of God will give you the utterance and pray through you. He will pray things through you and over you that only the Father, Jesus, and He (the Holy Spirit) understand and know about. The Holy Spirit asks God for things we cannot ask for, or do not know what to ask for, or do not know how to ask for. Remember, God always speaks things before He does them. He always speaks His will into existence. You are made in His image. If you want to see results, then you must do things the way He does. If He speaks things into existence, then you must also speak things into existence. When you pray God’s will, you are speaking God’s will for your life into existence. God has good plans for us – to give us hope and a future.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV