ANSWERS TO PRAYER IN CHRIST JESUS - PART A

The Prayer of Faith - 1


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Answers to Prayer
- Part 1


KEY SCRIPTURES:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, BELIEVE that you HAVE RECEIVED it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:24)

A. Answers to prayer in Christ Jesus: Introduction

Many believers pray to God daily but do not seem to receive the answers they want.
To many believers, the answer to their prayer is a very uncertain things, depending, (according to their theology), on the whim and fancy of God.
To such believers, the answer to our prayer is like playing the lottery - sometimes you win, most times you lose.
With such an attitude, their lives never see consistent victory and joy in the Lord.

However, God is not capricious in His response to our prayer.
We serve a faithful God who keeps His word. Our God does not lie.
Whatever He has promised concerning pryaer, God will do.

The promise of God to answer all our prayers is one of the most miraculous blessings that God has given to each of His children.
In Christ Jesus, whatever we ask in Jesus' name, our Father in heaven will do for us, if the prayer is a PRAYER OF FAITH in His will (John 16:23; James 5:15; 1 John 5:14-15).

However, in order that a believer may always pray the PRAYER OF FAITH, he must know the following basic truths. There are no shrt cuts.
God's blessings do not come to believers who will not take time to study God's word.
Take time therefore to study these turths and to practice them, and your life will be an unending stream of miracles.
God wants to answer all our prayers so that our joy may be full (John 16:24).
These truths are as follow:

  • Know that all the blessings of God are available to you through prayer.
  • Know that God longs to lavish His blessings on you
  • Steps to follow in order to receive the answers to your prayer
      Step #1: Meditate on the promises of God concerning prayers.
      Step #2: Meditate on the promises and will of God concerning the area of your prayer need.
      Step #3: Ask God specifically for the blessing that you need.
      Step #4: Receive your answer by faith through thanksgiving.
      Step #5: Establish God's blessings in your life by exercising your kingdom authority through commands and declarations (binding and loosing).
      Step #6: Never doubt that God has answered your prayer.
      Step #7: Wait patiently for the answer to manifest before your eyes.
      Step #8: Do not keep on asking God again and again.
      Step #9: Repent of sin (all unrighteousness) in every area of your life.

    1. Know that all the blessings of God are available to you through prayer.

    Jesus promised us that God will give us everything that is good, when we awk for such blessings through prayer.

      Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your childre, how much more will your Father in heaven give GOOD GIFTS to those who ASK them.
      Matthew 7:9-11

    God loves you more than an ordinary earthly fahter loves his children.
    All His blessings belongs to us in Christ Jesus.
    However, we have to ask God for what we need.
    God wants us to ask Him.

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    2. Know that God longs to lavish His blessings on you

    God is not poor or stingy.
    He created the universe and all the walth in it (Psalm 50:10-2; Haggai 2:8).
    He is an extravagant and generous Father to you and to all His children (Luke 15:21-24).
    He longs to bless us with His love, wisdom, power, guidance, health, wealth, etc., so that we can live life worthy of our calling as sons of God (Isaiah 30:18).
    He is waiting to pour out his blessings on His children as soon as we call upon Him.

      Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
        He rises to show you compassion.
      For the LORD is a God of justice.
        Blessed are all who wait for Him
      Isaiah 30:18

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    3. Steps to follow in order to receive the answers to your prayers

    These steps are simple to understand and follow.
    God has made His grace and mercy freely and readily and easily available to you and to me through the cross of Jesus.
    All we have to do is to came boldly before Him, ask for what we need and by faith receive.
    There is no mystry to receiving miracles from God through prayers.

    (a) Step #1: Meditate on the promises of God concerning prayer.

    To "meditate on God's word" means to "speak God's word loudly to yourself," and to "ponder or imagine" according to what God has promised and revealed in His word (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2-3).

      Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; MEDITATE on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
      Joshua 1:8

    We must meditate on God's promises concerning prayer in order to develop the FAITH to ask an dreceive from God what we need.
    As we meditate on God's word continuously concerning prayer, faith in God's word will arise in our heart, because "faith comes from hearing and hearing the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

    Meditate therefore on the following promises concerning prayer until you believe God absolutely:
    In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you WHATEVER you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. ASK and YOU WILL RECEIVE, and your joy will be complete.
    John 16:23-24

    Therefore I tell you, WHATEVER you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
    Mark 11:24

    (b) Step #2: Meditate on the promises and will of God concerning the area of your prayer need.

    You must meditate on the promises and will of God concerning the area of your prayer need in order to develop faith for receiving the answer to your prayer.
    If you do not know God's will for a certain area, you will not have the faith to believe God for the answer.

    This step is very vital for receiving answers to your prayer.
    Therefore spend time meditating on the promises and will of God concerning the area of our prayer need.
    Only in this way will faith be built up for the answer to that need.

    Example:
    If you desire to receive HEALING for you sickness, no matter how incurable or hopeless, you need to meditate on the following healing scriptures:
    "Surely He [Jesus] has born our SICKNESS;
    and carried our PAINS;
    and with His stripes we are healed."
    Isaiah 53:4-5

    He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;by His wounds you HAVE BEEN HEALED.
    1 Peter 2:24


    Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the Church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith WILL MAKE THE SICK PERSON WELL; the Lord WILL RAISE HIM UP. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
    James 5:14-15

    (c) Step #3: Ask God specifically for the blessing that you need.

    God wants us to ask Him, to petition Him, to request of Him whatsoever we need.
    And He wants us to be specific in our prayer request.
    Jesus had to ask two blind men what they wanted specifically before He could heal them (Matthew 20:1-33).
    Asking God for mercy is not enough.
    God wants us to be specific when we ask Him for His mercy and grace.

    The crowd rebuked them [the two blind men] and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"
    Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" He asked.
    "Lord," they answered, "we want our sight."
    Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed Him.
    Matthew 20:31-34

    Jesus has promised us that when we ask, we will receive (Matthew 7:7-8; John 16:23).

    ASK and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who ASKS receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
    Matthew 7:7-8

    I tell you the truth, my Father will give you WHATEVER you ASK in my name.
    John 16:23

    Example. If you need healing for a sickness, you can pray as follows:

    Dear Father God, I ask you to heal me right now of my infection and fever. In Jesus' name. Amen.
    John 16:23

    (d) Step #4: Receive your answer by faith through thanksgiving.

    Jesus teaches us from His word that after we have asked for something in prayer, we must believe that we have received it (Mark 11:24)

     Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, BELIEVE that you HAVE RECEIVED it, and it will be yours.
    Mark 11:24

    In other words, as soon as you asked God for something, you must believe that God has given it to you at that very instant.
    Therefore, as soon as you have asked God for something, believe that it is already yours.
    The answer is already given to you in the spirit.

    You show your belief in the answer by thanksgiving.
    Begin to thank God for the answer that you have received by faith.
    Keep on thanking God everyday in prayer, even when your eyes have not seen the answer manifested yet.
    As you keep on thanking God, the answer will manifest physically and will be yours to enjoy in the physical realm.

    We can paraphrase the above verse as follows:

    Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, BELIEVE that you have received it [in the realm of the spriit], and it will be yours [in the physical realm].
    Mark 11:24

    EXAMPLE:
    After prayer for healing, begin to thank God for you healing as follows:

    Dear Father God, I thank you that Jesus has borne away my infection and fever.
    Thank you that by his wounds I have been
    Isaiah 53:4-5; 1 Peter 2:24

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    Your thought:

    1. Why is meditation on God's word so important in receiving answer to our prayer? (Joshua 1:8; Romans 10:17)

    2. When does God give us the answer when we ask Him for something in prayer? (Mark 11:24)



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