Good Morning Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
There is a protocol to successful prayer life. We all want answered prayers. Answered prayer is a huge boost to our faith in Christ’s faith to get things done for us in His Name.
For Believers, there are four steps in the protocol to successful prayer according to God’s Word:
- We must come boldly to The Throne of Grace.
Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto The Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find Grace to help in time of need.
If God said “boldly,” He means boldly. Coming any other way will result in an unanswered prayer. How can we come boldly? Through what Jesus Christ, our Lord, King, Savior, Redeemer, Great High Priest, Elder Brother, Faithful Witness, The First Begotten of The Dead, The Prince of the kings of the earth, etc., accomplished for us through The Redemption. If we try to come under our own power, under our own merit or works, we will come cowardly, fearfully, whining, begging, etc. We are in the flesh. When we come with Christ (“Let US therefore come boldly), we can come boldly because of what He has done. Not what we’ve done. Our righteousness (self) is as filthy rags in the sight of God. If we don’t come boldly, we will not receive an answer to our prayer.
- We must come speaking The Truth.
Psalm 145:18
The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in Truth.
Notice The Holy Spirit tells us God is near to them that call upon Him in Truth – not just call upon Him, but they call upon Him in Truth. What is Truth? God’s Word.
John 17:17
Sanctify them through Thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth.
John 17:17 makes it perfectly clear God’s Word is Truth. So, when we come to The Throne of Grace, we are to come speaking God’s Truth to Him. God knows we have a problem, but He doesn’t want to hear our problem from us. He wants to hear His solution to our problem. We have to speak God’s Truth to Him about our sickness, our financial struggles, our struggling marriage, our wayward child, our failing business, etc. If we speak and whine about our problem, we are just building up the strength of our problem within us and repressing God’s faith in us. There is NO life in the words of the problem. There is Spirit and life in The Word of God (John 6:63). There is curse and death in the word of the world. Stop speaking Satan’s words and speak God’s Word to Him (Isaiah 43:26). If we don’t, we will NOT receive an answer to our prayer.
- We must believe that we receive.
James 1:6-7
6 But let him [us] ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of The Lord.
Mark 11:24
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
In James 1:6-7 and Mark 11:24, it is made clear by both James, the half-brother of Jesus, and by Jesus Himself in Mark 11:24, that we MUST ask in faith. We MUST believe what we ask for will be done. Otherwise, it is NOT happening. God makes it clear we shall not receive anything of The Lord without speaking The Truth to God in faith. Without asking in faith and continuing to believe the prayer is answered, our prayer will not be answered.
- We must not harbor unforgiveness.
Mark 11:25-26
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.
We must ensure we are not harboring unforgiveness toward anyone. It doesn’t matter what they did to us. God is not going to relieve us from His commandment to forgive. We don’t forgive, we don’t get our prayers answered. It is this simple.
This may be new to many of us. Many of us were simply not taught this in our denominations. However, it doesn’t change The Word of God. And God is not going to bend His Word to a denomination or to any man or woman. He loves His children dearly. God is doing everything He can to get His Word to us, to get us to read, to study, to meditate, and to apply His Word to our lives. God wants us to live at His very best for us. And God’s best for us IS WELL ABOVE that which we can think. My Father is a Father of Abundance. If you doubt this, go read about your Spiritual forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Study them and you can see how we are to abound in this earth to be a blessing to others in Christ. Why did Jesus always refer back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Because He wants us to go and study them to see who we are and what we have in this earth through Christ. And we even have a better covenant than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did. So, whatever they accomplished, we are to accomplish greater in Christ – our new covenant.
Have a blessed and wonderful week in Christ. Expect for you and your children to increase more and more every day in The Lord (Psalm 115:14). If you don’t, it surely won’t happen.
In Christ,
Larry