91. 4 KEYS TO ANSWERED PRAYER. Psalm 37:8.

Just as the right key opens the right door, there are Scriptural principles that act as keys in prayer; Let us take a look at them.. 1. FAITH, In the book of Hebrews (11:6) we read “Without Faith no one can please God. We must believe that God is real and that He rewards everyone who searches for Him” God doesn’t necessarily respond to your need. Look around and you will see that everyone of us have unmet needs. So what does God respond to? Your Faith! But beware; Satan will fill your mind with doubts. And when he does, you need to examine your heart and see what it says. You can believe God’s word in your heart, even when your mind questions it. So stand on what’s in your heart , instead of what’s in your head. Sometimes doubts begin with distraction. When you are distracted from God’s promises, you start to doubt. And that makes you focus more and more on your problem and your faith begins to waver and get less and less. When that happens, you have to refocus like a laser on God’s promises and just merely glance at your problem, don’t try to deny it just don’t give it undue attention According to James (1:6-8) “When you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect The Lord to give you anything at all.” Stay anchored to God’s Word and don’t drift all over the place especially when your circumstances begin to change. 2. KNOWING GOD’S WILL: John writes; (John 5:14-15) “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him”. Now, one of the surest ways of knowing you are praying according to His will, is to pray according to His word. Use the Scriptures to back-up what you are praying for. Say “Lord, You promised in your Word and I am believing you for it.” Sometimes there are things we want to pray for, but we are not sure whether those things are God’s will for us or not, in that case we need to ask God to give it to us only if it is His will for us, and to help us to be satisfied with His decision. Saint Augustine prayed “Lord grant that I may do Thy will as if it were my will, so that You may do my will, as if it were Thy will.” D. L. Moody put it this way: “Spread your petition before God, and say “Thy Will, not mine, be done.” The sweetest lesson I have learned in God’s school is to let Him choose for me. There will be times you will have to wait, because God’s timing is part of His will, be patient it will happen. You may not see it yet, but God has promised and it’s on the way. Now, remember if He doesn’t give you what you asked for, He will give you something better when and while you walk in faith and keep a good attitude 3. RIGHT MOTIVES: The reason you pray is much more important than the words you say, The reason is the why behind the what. Having a pure heart that loves God and loves people is always acceptable to the Lord. On the other hand, selfishness, revenge and manipulation are unacceptable to God, also control, jealousy and pride are unacceptable to Him, and praying to win the lottery isn’t acceptable to him either, in fact anything that is selfishly based or motivated is not acceptable. Somebody once asked a little boy if he said his prayers every night. He thought about it for a second then replied “No, some nights I don’t need anything.” Does that sound familiar? Think about it! The first and foremost reason for praying is to develop an intimate relationship with God. To achieve that, I personally believe, we must be in constant communication with Him. prayer is the fuel that maintains that communication and relationship through every hour of every day, How long do you think your marriage would last if you only came home to collect your clean laundry, or a home cooked meal and a little loving, not long eh! The same principal applies to prayer. Jesus said in (John 15:7) “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.” Take note of that little word (IF) that whole verse is predicated on it. If you focus on abiding in Christ, you will get a response to your request. If you don’t Your expectations may be flawed. God will go as far as you want with you, because he knows that without Him we can do nothing, that’s why He must be the silent listener included in our every conversation and the unseen guest at our every meal. That’s what a prayer relationship with God is all about, there should be no place in your life where you can’t take Him, no friends or acquaintances that don’t know that you belong to Him and will not be part of anything that is contrary to His will. James writes in chapter 4, verse 3 “Your prayers are not answered, because you pray just for selfish reasons” The truth is we are innately self centred, that’s why we need to purify our hearts on a regular bases – which calls for the examining of our motives. That may be painful at first, but you must do it if you want to see your prayers answered. 4. BOLDNESS: Boldness at least in this case, isn’t arrogance, presumption or a sense of entitlement. It’s confidence in who you are in Christ. Paul writes in (Hebrews 4:16) Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy and we will find His grace to help us when we need it most.” As God’s redeemed child you have the right to approach Him at anytime. Understand that and it will enables you to overcome Satan’s attempts to make you feel unworthy, It will removes your natural inclination to say, “I know God can do it, but it’s hard to believe God will do it for me.” That’s how we all think when we feel unworthy. But the wonderful truth is – Jesus has made you and me worthy, see (1 Colossians 12)! Note also “We will find grace to help us when we need it most.” And grace is simply undeserved favour. That means God will give you what you don’t deserve when you are confident enough to ask Him for it, plus, you are asking in Jesus name not your own. By doing so you are presenting to the Father all that Jesus is, not all that you are. And here is another thought: When you have hidden sin in your heart, you are unable to pray with confidence, Unconfessed sin, locks you in and shuts God out; see (Psalm 66:18). But the Good News is, when you ask God to reveal your sin, He will, and when He does, you must deal with it if you want to keep the lines of communication open. If God reminds you of a situation when you didn’t do the right thing, Don’t try to sweep it under the rug, acknowledge it and receive His forgiveness and then you can pray with confidence. Thank you for reading these thoughts on “Answered Prayer”. God does answer prayer. This is achievable and can be done. My family, even my parents family and siblings can testify to the many, many miracles God has performed for us through prayer. We have survived 2 World Wars, a huge famine, the break-up of our berth country and being brought safely to a new land, where a fifth generation is now flourishing. And all that by abiding in Him through Faith and trusting prayer. Thank you Lord. God Bless. Phaline.