How to pray and be heard
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Last time we talked about going to God in prayer with everything, in every circumstance and every situation. We worked on making it a habit so that whenever something comes up, we go to our Heavenly Father first.
Some of you may be wondering, “What should I say when I go to God in prayer?” “Does He really hear me?” “Is He going to actually answer my prayer?”
Let’s address some of those questions shall we?
Before we begin, I’d like to share a key scripture with you that changed the way I thought about prayer.
1 John 5:14-15 Amplified Bible (AMP)
14 This is the [remarkable degree of] confidence which we [as believers are entitled to] have before Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us. 15 And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him.
Question: What should we say when we pray?
Answer: Pray Gods Will
Verse 14 says, “…if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose]…”
This scripture explains to us that we should pray consistent with His will, His plan and His purpose.
What is God’s will then? His will is His Word.
Now, I’m not suggesting opening the Bible randomly and picking any scripture to pray and that’s God’s will.
God gave us the power of choice; because of that, much of what happened in scripture was because of choices regardless of what’s best for them. Like when our kids choose candy over broccoli because it tastes better but has no nutritional value. (Well, let me be honest, that’s me too sometimes…ok, ok, a lot of times.) 😉
Some of what makes up scripture is people crying out to God, lamenting over their circumstances, but it doesn’t mean God caused or wanted them to experience those circumstance.
Why do I say all that? Because we need to pray the promises that God gave us by interpreting the scriptures accurately. (If you’d like to learn how to study your Bible, check out a series of posts on just that right here.)
So if being able to pray God’s will is based on His promises for us.
What are His promises?
God’s promises are the blessings that Jesus paid for on the Cross for us to have. Scripture calls it our new covenant.
Hebrews 8:6 AMP
But as it is, Christ has acquired a [priestly] ministry which is more excellent [than the old Levitical priestly ministry], for He is the Mediator (Arbiter) of a better covenant [uniting God and man], which has been enacted and rests on better promises.
Covenant here means a promise or undertaking on the part of God.
These promises are not based on our performance–it’s that great news! They are based on Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross and through His resurrection.
Here are just some of the promises Jesus provided for us (and a small list of scriptures for each promise):
Salvation (Romans 5:9-10; Ephesians 2:5)
Peace (Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13,
Healing (Isaiah 53:5, 1 Peter 2:24)
Provision (Luke 6:38, Philippians 4:19)
Purpose - A good plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11, 1 Corinthians 12)
Joy (Act 13:52, Romans 14:17, Romans 15:13, Galatians 5:22-23)
Love (John 3:16, John 15:9, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Galatians 5:22-23)
Patience (Galatians 5:22-23)
Protection (Ps 91:11, 2 Tim 4:18)
Many of these blessings come directly from the word salvation, which is sozo in the Greek.
Sozo means many things including:
to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction
to save a suffering one (from perishing), i.e. one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health
Question: How do I pray these promises?
Answer: Personalize it
One of the best ways I’ve found that helps me pray these promises is to pray scriptures that talk about the promises.
And, I’ll take it a step further and change the scripture to first person, so it’s personalized to me.
“My God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory not mine. Thank you Lord, that you provide for me not because of what I’ve done, but because of what Jesus paid for on the cross.” (Based on Phil. 4:19)
Question: Does God really hear me?
Answer: Yes He does Hear you!
Back to our key scripture –
“14…if we ask anything according to His will, [that is, consistent with His plan and purpose] He hears us. 15 And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask…”
He doesn’t just hear; He’s listening.
Question: Is He going to actually answer my prayer?
Answer: Absolutely
Verse 15 says, “And if we know [for a fact, as indeed we do] that He hears and listens to us in whatever we ask, we [also] know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted to us] the requests which we have asked from Him.”
So, when we’ve prayed God’s will, He hears us. And, when we know that He hears us, we know we have what we’ve asked Him for! Wow! That’s a powerful position Jesus gave us!
It’s time for us to stand up and come boldly to our Heavenly Father’s throne of Grace!
Hebrews 4:16 Amplified Bible (AMP)
16 Therefore let us [with privilege] approach the throne of grace [that is, the throne of God’s gracious favor] with confidence and without fear, so that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find [His amazing] grace to help in time of need [an appropriate blessing, coming just at the right moment].
Now I know some of you are thinking I’ve prayed, but I don’t see an answer. There’s a myriad of factors why or why not, including God’s timing, which we'll touch on a few in a future post. But, I do know there’s a proper way to wait and a poor way to wait so we going to delve into “how to wait for the answer to our prayer” in my next post.
In the mean time, you can follow Paul’s instructions in Philippians 4:6, “by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving…”
Philippians 4:6 New King James Version (NKJV)
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God...
Once you pray, it’s time to start thanking Him.
Thank Him for the answer, thank Him for wisdom, thank Him for what He’s already done for you. I promise you’ll be much happier in the wait.