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Prayer » Principles Of Prayer

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Question:

The Scripture says, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you.” But the Amplified says, “Ask and keep on asking… and keep on seeking… and keep on knocking.” I understand that when you ask God to do something, you should believe He heard you and don’t ask again. Please explain.

Answered on 03/20/06:

Why does the scripture in the Amplified Bible say, “Keep on asking and you shall receive. Keep on seeking and you shall find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened?” Why does the Amplified put it that way? Well, the reason why the Amplified positions it that way is because God is saying we need to be persistent. We need to never give up. The reason why He says to keep on asking is because in the context, He was talking about the persistent widow that went up to the judge and kept asking for legal protection, kept asking for legal protection. And He’s saying that if that widow is that persistent with an unrighteous judge, how much more will our righteous God respond to our persistence? And there is something about our being shameless, being persistent in what we ask God for, being unafraid and unashamed.

A lot of people ask God for something and then they back away because they think "Well, maybe I shouldn’t have asked that. Maybe that was selfish. Maybe that wasn’t right. Maybe I have the wrong motive". God is saying, “Don’t be like that. Don’t have a mealy-mouthed, begging, ‘Lord, if you could be so kind as to do this, please do this, but I understand if you won’t.’” No, He’s saying, “You've got to keep asking. You've got to have an attitude of, ‘I’m going to get the answer that I’ve come to get. I’m going to get this door to open. I’m going to keep on knocking. I’m going to keep on knocking. I’m going to keep on seeking. I’m going to keep on asking.’” It’s a spirit and an attitude of persistence that God is saying that we need to walk in and that we need to experience in our lives. An attitude of persistence.

It’s not that God won’t hear you the first time. But the fact is that when you really are persistent and you really know that you know that you know that you know that this is something that God wants you to have, you’re going to get it right away. You’re going to believe you’ve received it when you pray and if you believed you’ve received it, then you step into a mode of thanksgiving. You’re no longer in a requesting mode. Philippians chapter 4 says, “With everything that you desire with prayer with supplication with thanksgiving, make your request made known to God and the peace of God will guard your heart and mind.” So you have to compliment your request with the giving of thanks, believing that you’ve truly received it. When you really believe that you’ve received it, the door is going to be opened. You are going to receive. Whether you see it our not, when you know that you have it, then you don’t need to ask any more. That’s when you step in to thanking God, not just asking God.

Prayer » Waiting For Answers

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Question:

Sometimes I get discouraged because my sister passed away from cancer at the age of 32 and for a whole year I prayed and prayed and prayed and then she passed away. It just sometimes makes me question if God is really listening. Why would He not listen to my prayer but maybe listen to someone else’s?

Answered on 05/11/06:

First of all, I’m sorry to hear about your sister. I think that one of the most discouraging things in the whole Christian life is praying for something and then not seeing it happen and not seeing the answer. What do you do in a situation like that, especially when it’s somebody as close as your sister; somebody that you’ve loved and prayed for.

Where I find comfort in a situation like that is in John chapter 20. When Jesus came to appear to his disciples, there was one of the disciples that said that he didn't believe that Jesus appeared. He wanted to see the nail prints in His hands and the spear in His side and before he would believe. Jesus appeared to Thomas and He said, “Behold, Thomas, look at my hands and look at my side. Now, don’t be unbelieving, believe.” Then of course, Thomas fell to his knees and fell at the feet of Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God.” What did Jesus say? He said, “Thomas, you’ve seen and you have believed. But blessed are those that have not seen and yet, they have believed.”

I think that though I want to see and believe, I want to see your sister healed so I can believe and I want to see other things happen to help me believe. I want to see the dead raised so I can believe and I want to see the lame walk so I can believe. Jesus said the greater blessing is when we can believe Him and believe His Word and believe His promises even when we haven’t seen the manifestation of those things. The greater blessing is to keep believing even when it looks worse and even when it looks like it failed or even when it looks like God didn’t answer our prayers.

We don’t know all the answers behind why your sister died. You’ll never know until you stand before God and until He shows you in heaven. We don’t know why certain tragedies happen in our lives and in our loved ones’ lives but we do know this; we’ll be blessed, we’ll be happy, we’ll be prosperous and we’ll be successful heart and in our minds when we believe even when we have not seen.

There’s nothing wrong with having questions. What you have to realize is that none of those questions are going to get answered by other people, none of those questions are going to get answered by your own heart, those questions are only going to be answered by God. What we find is that the Bible has the only answers that we can count on having for sure in this life, but when we get to heaven, whatever is missing, whatever we didn’t understand, whatever we didn’t know, we’re going to know then.

The good news is, if your sister was a believer (she was) then you need to look at her life on the side of eternity. Once she fought and you fought for her, you both did all the fighting you could but yet, she went home to be with the Lord. Now, there’s nothing to fight. There’s no cancer in her body, there’s no sickness in her body, she is completely healthy and completely healed and she has an immortal body that will never be sick again and you should rejoice in that. Rejoice in the hope that you will see her again.

It won’t be long because even though you might live 40 or 50 more years, it’s but a twinkling of an eye in the face of eternity. I pray that God will comfort you by the Holy Spirit in the absence of your sister and that He’ll be more to you than a sister or a brother could ever be. He’ll be a friend that sticks closer than a brother like it says in Proverbs chapter 18.

Question:

Sometimes I get discouraged because my sister passed away from cancer at the age of 32 and for a whole year I prayed and prayed and prayed. And she passed away. It just sometimes makes me question, “Is He really listening?” And why would He not listen to my prayer but maybe listen to someone else’?”

Answered on 03/21/06:

First of all, I’m sorry to hear that. I think that that can be one of the most discouraging things in the whole Christian life is praying for something and then not seeing it happen and not seeing the answer. And what do you do in a situation like that? Especially when it’s somebody as close as your sister, somebody that you’ve loved and somebody that you’ve prayed for.

Where I find comfort in a situation like that is in John chapter 20. When Jesus came to appear to his disciples, there was one of the disciples that said, “I don’t believe that He’s appeared. I’m going to have to see the nail prints in His hands and I’m going to have to see the spear in His side and then I’ll know. And Jesus appeared to Thomas, appeared to the disciples a second time with Thomas standing there and He said, “Behold, Thomas, look at my hands and look at my side. Now, don’t be unbelieving, be believing.” And then of course, Thomas fell to his knees and fell at the feet of Jesus and said, “My Lord and my God.” And what did Jesus say? He said, “Thomas, you’ve seen and you have believed. But blessed are those that have not seen and yet, they have believed.”

And I think that though I want to see and believe, I would want to see your sister healed so I can believe and I want to see other things happen. I want to see the dead raised so I can believe and I want to see the lame walk so I can believe, but Jesus said the greater blessing is when we can believe Him and believe His Word and believe His promises even when we haven’t seen the manifestation of those things. The greater blessing is to keep believing even when it looks worse and even when it looks like it failed or even when it looks like God didn’t answer our prayers.

We don’t know all the answers behind why your sister died. You’ll never know until you stand before God and until He shows us in heaven. We don’t know why certain tragedies happen in our lives and in our loved ones’ lives, but we do know this; we’ll be blessed, we’ll be happy, we’ll be prosperous, we’ll be successful heart and in our minds when we believe even when we have not seen.

There’s nothing wrong with having questions. But you need to realize that none of those questions are going to get answered by other people; none of those questions are going to get answered by your own heart; those questions are only going to be answered by God. And what we find in the Bible are the only answers that we can count on having for sure in this life, but when we get to heaven, whatever is missing, whatever we didn’t understand, whatever we didn’t know, we’re going to know then.

And the good news is, if your sister was a believer then you need to look on the side of eternity; that once she fought, once you fought for her, you did all the fighting you could, she did all the fighting she could, but yet, she went home to be with the Lord. And now, there’s nothing to fight. There’s no cancer in her body, there’s no sickness in her body, she is completely healthy and completely healed and she has an immortal body that will never be sick again and you should rejoice in that. Rejoice in the hope that you will see her again. And it won’t be long because even though you might live 40 or 50 more years, it’s but a twinkling of an eye in the face of eternity. I pray that God will comfort you by the Holy Spirit in the absence of your sister. And that He’ll be more to you than a sister or a brother could ever be. And He’ll be a friend that sticks closer than a brother like it says in Proverbs chapter 18.

Prayer » General

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Question:

What’s the difference between asking a friend to pray for me and asking a “capital-s” Saint to pray for me?

Answered on 07/21/06:

That’s a great question. The reason is because the Bible clearly teaches us to pray for one another, but it doesn’t teach us to request the prayer of somebody who is already home in heaven. The fact is, is to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, and it says that we have only one intercessor and only one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Jesus Christ, in 1 Timothy 1.

So that’s the difference between asking a friend to pray for you, which is clearly validated in the Bible, and asking a Saint that is already home in heaven to pray for you, because there is no one in heaven, the Bible says, that will mediate for us and no one in heaven that will pray for us, except Jesus Christ himself, Hebrews 7 declares. And so that would be how I answer that question. But it’s a great question.

We have to make sure, again, that we go to the Bible. Man, I grew up Catholic. I love some of the Catholic tradition and some of the Catholic faith—the whole concept of family, and the whole concept of communion, and the whole concept of the holiness of going to church. I think it’s fantastic and I urge people to embrace those elements.

But not everything that is taught in the Catholic church, and not everything that is taught in any church is right. That’s why we have to always go back to the Bible as the foundation for what we believe. Let us not offend the Catholics, but let us not offend God. Okay? Let us go to the Bible, let us make sure that we honor God, not man, not a pope, not me, not anybody. But God himself is to be honored. And the Bible is to be honored. And when man adds to the Bible or takes away from the Bible, then we put ourselves in a position where we are making ourselves equal with God. And we must not do that. We must humble ourselves and accept what God has given us. God has given us the Word of God.

Question:

Jesus said, “Ask my Father for anything and He’ll give it to you in my name.” So, do I pray to God or do I pray to Jesus and is there a big difference on that?

Answered on 05/11/06:

First of all, we pray to God as our Father and we go to Him through Jesus Christ; through the blood of Jesus. Hebrews chapter 4 and Hebrews chapter 10 tell us that we come into His presence by the blood of Jesus Christ. We come to Him in the name of Jesus Christ but we are coming to God as our Father. We’re coming to our Father. Jesus came to introduce us to the Father and to bring us to the Father.

The relationship between us and God is a relationship between us and our Father. Jesus is our Savior, He’s our Lord, but He brings us to the Father so that we can have close fellowship with God as our Father just like Jesus had close fellowship with God as the Father. That’s not taking anything away from Jesus. He truly wants us to go to the Father through His blood and in His name. So, that’s how we pray. We pray to God, coming to our Father through the name and through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Question:

I’ve been feeling that the Holy Spirit is moving me to pray for a friend of my husband’s and mine who has a third recurrence of cancer. I don’t know where to go from here. I don’t know what I should do.

Answered on 04/26/06:

First of all, we need to always be motivated by compassion to see healing manifest in a person's life.

I want you to go to our website, changinglives.org, and there is a place under both Confession Sheets and Life Solutions where you can click to access healing Scriptures. What I would encourage you to do is take those healing Scriptures and pray those verses over this person. Take those healing Scriptures and thank God that the Word of God works. You then pray with authority. Where our authority comes from is from the Word of God. Take those Scriptures, pray with authority and it’s going to work. And don’t be shy and timid; be bold.

Question:

If you are praying for and believing in something, what are you supposed to do once God has actually answered your prayers?

Answered on 04/26/06:

We’re always going to be excited about receiving something from God. But the point I want to make is that when Jesus performed a miracle in the Bible, whether healing the sick or casting out demons, it wasn’t something that surprised Him. He didn’t act as though He was suddenly surprised by the power He had. It’s the confidence and faith that He had empowered Him in the first place.

If He did not have confidence and faith, He would not have been able to produce the results and the miracles that He did throughout his life. According to Mark 11:23, “All things that you pray for, believe you have received them and they shall be granted to you.”

So when we pray and ask God for something and believe we have received them, that’s when we should be rejoicing and praising God. You need to be really convinced that you have those things in your life – that’s when faith is really at work and when things will really begin to be manifest in your life. When you do see the things of God manifest in your life, you won’t be so excited because you were confident all along that your faith in God would make them happen.

Question:

The Bible says that we should pray for our enemies. But what if you feel that they are possessed by the devil? I do not think that we should be praying for these people who love Satan. Please give me some direction.

Answered on 04/25/06:

Normally, if you have a true enemy that is truly against you, chances are that that person is possessed by the devil. So, that’s the very person that the Lord is telling us to pray for. God tells us to pray for our enemies, to bless our enemies, to do good to our enemies and to love our enemies.

How do you love an enemy? How do you pray for an enemy when they’re demon possessed? You pray that the devil would be bound. You pray that the devil would stop influencing them. You pray according to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 because the Bible says the god of this world has blinded their minds. Satan has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.

So our prayer ought to be that Satan would no longer blind their minds; that Satan would be bound; that he would be forbidden from blinding their minds; that he would be forbidden from controlling them; that he would be forbidden from directing them in their life and that their eyes would be opened. Pray that their eyes would be opened and that their heart would be enlightened to Jesus Christ. Pray that God would draw them closer to Him.

That’s how you pray for your enemies that are demon-possessed. Because even if they’re not demon-possessed, you probably feel that they are. If they’re your enemy, you probably feel that they are demon possessed. Whether they truly are demon-possessed or not, pray that God would draw that person to Him and would lead that person closer in their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Question:

You’ve been teaching on intercessory prayer. I’ve been interceding for someone for some time. I’ve been giving them Scriptures about their actions. They have confessed Jesus Christ as Lord over their lives, but they’ve continued to go in the same circle. I’m still standing in agreement with them and I speak with them and their response is always, “I know. I know. I know I need to. I know I need to.” I’m not going to stop praying, but is there a point that I need to just back off and ask the Holy Spirit to send someone else to intercede and continue in agreement with me to intercede for them?

Answered on 04/25/06:

That’s a great question. I think you are probably already sensing in your heart that you’ve done everything that you can for them and the words that you speak are falling on deaf ears. Even though they agree with what you’re saying, they’re not doing anything about it.

So, yes, I think that it is time, at this point, to begin to back away from them. Pray for them, yes, but distance yourself a little so that they realize that you’re not just going to cast your pearls before swine, the Bible says. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, “If someone does not receive you, shake the dust off your feet and go on to somebody else.” It doesn’t mean that you should stop praying for this person, but it does mean you should stop approaching them and stop trying to win them because you’ve done everything you can.

It’s in the hands of God. Cast the care of it over on the Lord, and of course pray for them in private, but don’t spend any more time chasing them down or following up with them. It just seems like you’re at the point where the Lord is already showing you that it’s time to move on and it’s time to believe God for somebody else to come along and crack that nut.

The Bible says that one of us plants and another waters but God gives the increase. So, you’ve done your planting. Now ask God to send somebody else to water the seed that has been sown in that person’s life.

Question:

Should prayer be reserved for Jesus and God the Father or can we pray to the Holy Spirit?

Answered on 04/13/06:

Ultimately, everything is to the Father, and the role of the Holy Spirit is to bring us into intimacy with the Father, just as the role of Jesus is to introduce us to the Father. It’s not bad or wrong to pray to hte Holy Spirit, it’s just not necessary. We pray to the Father in Jesus’ name through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit helps us to pray and prays for us and through us. That’s the biblical answer from Romans 8 . . . He prays for us and through us. So to pray to Him is a little superfluous because He’s the one doing the praying, interceding for us, “with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).

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