Answered Prayer...Guaranteed?

Would you like to be guaranteed answered prayer??

You CAN!

How?

Pray the Word of God.

Praying Scripture is powerful. Why? Because you know you're praying within God's will.

1 John 5:14-15 says:

And this is the confidence that we have toward him [God], that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

People often wonder why their prayers go unanswered when the Bible is full of verses that seem to indicate we have whatever we ask for. The key is found in the above verse. I've underlined the important bit.

We have to pray God's will!!

When we do pray according to God's will, He not only hears but He also answers those prayers.

And how do we know God's will? He has revealed it in His Word. That's why praying Scripture is so powerful. You are guaranteed answered prayer.Now, we have to be careful here. We can't just pick a Bible verse we like and pray it willy nilly. There are things which much be considered.

1. Context--We all know too well from media/social media that you can make anyone say practically anything if you take their words out of context. Be sure that you understand from the context exactly what this scripture is promising.

2. Personal vs. principle--Is the verse you are praying a general principle for all of humanity, all Christians, or just one group of people or one individual? For example, God promised to make Abraham a great nation. That doesn't mean I can claim that verse for myself.

3. Heart attitude--God looks at our heart intent. Am I praying a verse for financial blessing with an attitude of greed? God's probably not going to answer that prayer. Why? Because even though I'm praying Scripture, I'm still out of alignment with God's will. His will is that I be conformed to His image, and greed is not consistent with His character.

But if the Scripture you am praying can pass the above tests, chances are it is something close to God's heart, something He will delight in answering. God will still have His perfect timing in when He answers that prayer (which is a whole other post!), but He will answer it--because it's within His perfect will!

So, my challenge to you this week is to pick a Scripture that speaks to an issue in your life. Pray that Scripture every day this week over your mind, heart, relationship, finances, health, whatever it may be. And rest in the fact that God will answer your prayer!