How to get Answers to Prayer (#1)

A "No" today means a better "Yes" in future

Isaiah 65:24

Magenta,
Thanks for reading and replying. I always try to read your replies because you almost always answer with compassion.

I think we've all experienced asking for something and not getting it. And your post helps us see that type of response in light of God loving us.

What I really hope to do here is to teach people how to ask in such a way that allows that same loving God to actually do the things we ask. Part of that can be in what we ask. Some in how we ask. And some in what we do once we've asked. That's why I will try to guide all postings towards that end, if possible .

I didn't see that aspect in your post so far but also haven't been able to read the images you included. I will when i get to a bigger screen. Thanks again for reading and posting.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

Tinkerbell725,

Would you be willing to share an example where that model of prayer produced the intended result?

And like Magenta's post, I appreciate your response in the thread but can't seem to enlarge the view to where I could read the finer print.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

The result I want is just to praise, thank and worship the Lord. I don't really ask for much these days except for healing and protection for all from Covid.

I know that the ACTS prayer is effective because God is glorified. If what you mean by results is answers to supplication, it is not a guarantee that God will answer them but I am ok with that because God knows what He is doing.

Many of my personal prayer requests and also for others, have been granted by God. For example, I prayed for my friend who's marriage was under spritual attack. God did something to stop the fights. Hopefully her marriage was completely saved.

Very interesting idea for a thread.As I am sure everyone already knows everyone has different ideas about prayer, what it is meant for and how to ask and receive. Personally I think there is no one right way to get answers. I know that some believe and receive simple as that, others ask and ask and ask and eventually receive. Others say it has to be according to his will not ours and others still can ask their entire lives and never receive it.

Everyone has had different experiences, different out comes and different ways of doing it and I think that is the entire point from God's perspective. We all are a part of the body of Christ and just as the body has different parts that function for something and not the other so is it for prayer. Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can pray for something and receive it yet if you ask for something else it never happens? For instance if I pray and beg for healing for someone no matter how badly I pray it never happens there is a blockage of some kind and I don't feel the spirit flow into the prayer.

However there are times when I am just sitting there and sudden;y out of nowhere I can feel there is asoul in misery hurting and alone, a heart so damaged unloved and shattered and my heart is as if it can feel everything they are feeling and I am in tears for them. I don't know who it is or where they are I know nothing about them and yet somehow I am connected to them and I simply cannot help but pour every fiber of my being into that prayer and the spirit doesn't just flow into that prayer he absolutely drowns it. When it is finally over I feel a comfort in my heart that my prayer was heard and answered.

Certain prayers like that I somehow know it was answered but if I say pray for physical healing no matter how much I pray or how badly I want people healed even before I ask I know the answer and I try to rebel against that answer anyways but it is like tring to move forwards with your tongue it simply won't happen. I am a sensitive emotional and tender person so I think I was not made for physical healing but intercession and inner healing.

Don't think it's God who withholds it since He already provided salvation, healing and deliverance for us all 2000 years ago. It's a matter of learning to appropriate this by faith into our own life and the lives of others, just like we did with our salvation. We did not go by feelings the next day but stood on the Word. Here is a short video from Dan Mohler that helped my wife and I a lot. It took me years to realize why I couldn't heal my kids in Jesus Name, until I saw that I should not let my love and emotions (because there was so much at stake) overshadow my ability to take authority over it by faith. Faith works through love for sure but fear can also pop up with too much emotions. I have seen some amazing miracles with my kids. I remember the first time that my eight year old (now 21) had a massive painful 3" x3" plaquard of thick eczema in between his top legs that was very painful. I withdrew myself emotionally and just did like he was any other boy and then hit in by faith. Next morning it was gone. Still remember when he was 2,5 year old that he laid hands on my wife's tummy and just said: "Owie - Go! - Jesus" and her pain was gone. We were amazed lol. The faith of a child. Such unbelievers. Or the time when my 1 year old fell of the table on his head and a massive swelling on his forehead started that looked like those kids that have water heads. For a second I was intimidated but realized I couldn't give into that. I laid hands on his head, commanded the swelling to go down and thanked for the healing paid for by Jesus considering it done and it shrunk under our eyes in 30 seconds or so. Most of the time I find that I had so much love but also righteous indignation seeing it from Gods perspective and then when I commanded healing and considering it done because I know it's always His will to heal (I often end saying "He said it, we believe it, that settles it"), that is when I saw most of the miracles manifest. if you never command healing just like Jesus, Peter and all the disciples did. They spoke to the "mountain" and often gave a command or action to obey:" Silver and gold have I not etc "stand up!" or "Lazarus "come out! etc. It's great to believe in healing but we cannot belief without works. Jesus healed, all the disciples healed and so should we as sons of God. Now I have to say that when my wife got cancer five years the pain left almost every time we rebuke dit including when my seven year old daughter took authority but...it kept multiplying and so we chose a plan B and reversed it naturally since we had several friends who had done the same. After my training in radiation protection and taking out the WiFi and ELF's in the bedroom wall, she healed up in weeks but since I started working in this field but by studying natural healing, I have to admit that I have lost a lot of my oomph when I pray, as the natural mind so easily takes over from the spirit man. Anyway, hope this video blesses you.

I'm sorry you will have to forgive me I tried to read your post but my eyes are still trying to heal so could you repost it in paragraphs for me? A wall of words are to much of a strain on my eyes to read

Hope this is easier for you to read. I edited it a bit as there were mistaken in there.

I don't think it's God who withholds it since He already provided salvation, healing and deliverance for us all 2000 years ago. It's a matter of learning to appropriate this by faith into our own life and the lives of others, just like we did with our salvation. We did not go by feelings the next day but stood on the Word if we doubted our salvation.

Here is a short video from Dan Mohler that helped my wife and I a lot. It took me years to realize why I couldn't heal my kids in Jesus Name, until I saw that I should not let my love and emotions (because there was so much at stake) overshadow my ability to take authority over the sickness by faith. Faith works through love for sure, but fear can also pop up and override faith. Faith in practive is simply believing that you have received when you ask for according to Mark 11:24.

I have seen some amazing miracles with my kids. I remember the first time that my eight year old (now 21) had a massive painful 3" x3" plaquard of thick eczema in between his top legs that was very painful. I had prayed several times and nothing worked. Then I went through the traning from John G Lake Ministries and learned about this obstacle to faith. I withdrew myself emotionally and just did like he was any other boy and then hit in by faith. Next morning it was gone. Still remember when he was 2,5 year old that he laid hands on my wife's tummy and just said: "Owie - Go! - Jesus" and her pain was gone. We were amazed lol. The faith of a child. Such unbelievers.

Or the time when my 1 year old fell of the table on his head and a massive swelling on his forehead started that looked like those kids that have water heads. For a second I was intimidated but realized I couldn't give into that. I laid hands on his head, commanded the swelling to go down and thanked for the healing paid for by Jesus considering it done and it shrunk under our eyes in 30 seconds or so.

Most of the time I find that I had so much love but also righteous indignation seeing it from Gods perspective and then when I commanded healing, and considering it done, because I know it's always His will to heal (I often end saying "He said it, we believe it, that settles it"), I saw most of the miracles manifest. Jesus, commanded healing and so Peter and all the disciples did. They spoke to the "mountain" and often gave a command or action to obey:" Silver and gold have I not etc "stand up!" or "Lazarus "come out! etc.

It's great to believe in healing but we cannot belief without works. Now I have to say that when my wife got cancer five years ago that the pain left almost every time when we rebuked it, including when my seven year old daughter took authority (still have that on video as were expecting a miracle) but...the tumors in her back kept multiplying and so we chose a plan B and reversed it naturally since we had several friends who had done the same. I just could not withdraw myself enough emotionally.

After my training in radiation protection and taking out the WiFi and ELF's in the bedroom wall, she healed up in weeks but since I started working in this field now five years ago, and started studying a lot into natural healing, I have to admit that I have lost a lot of my oomph when I pray, as the natural mind so easily takes over from the spirit man. Last year June for example my fifth son got half paralized after a panic attack and hospital prepared us for the worst, death or a wheel chair. We of course rejected those words and replaced them with the Word of God instead. While I kept praying and believing, nothing manifested and noticed that I really had lost my oomph through delving way too much into natural approaches to health. I wanna get though and start building my faith again. Our friend came to lay hands on and two days later Samual was completely healed. The hospital still cannot believe what happened. He had to stay longer as they were in denial and looking for a bacterial or viral cause but there was none. Anyway, praise God. I hope this video blesses you.

Thank you for answering my request without feeling attacked. Sometimes I feel I can speak fairly well and with diplomacy...other times not so much.

I like your reply because in your first example you more or less stated that your intent matched the outcome. "God is glorified". That is one of the things people should be going for, and I use it to categorize prayer as successful or unsuccessful. In so much as your outcome matched your intent, your prayer was successful.

My definition of "effective", however, might be a little more stringent. By effective (or effectual) I mean: producing the desired effect; causing the desired outcome; or causing a desired thing to actually happen.

Your second example about the marriage fits my definition of "effective" as well as successful. You prayed for something to happen, and God caused it to happen. You may not exactly know how or why, so it might not be something you feel confident trying to repeat, but in this case it produced the effect that possibly would not have occurred had you not prayed. Learning what aspects of your prayer made that particular prayer effective, and how to repeat those aspects to create other effective prayers is what this thread is for.

I discovered a while back that God is more reliable than mathematics. God makes some promises along the lines of "If you do "A", then I'll do "B". What I'd discovered is that if you keep your end of the bargain, God ALWAYS keeps his. That led to some very effective prayers as I learned to line up with the requirements...but those were often only in areas affecting me personally, and it began to feel self-serving.

One of my sisters-in-law I've sometimes described as "If you have an injury and want to keep it, you'd better not go around Debbie". She has learned a way of interceding that produces results. What amazes me in her cases is that she manages to do it where other people are involved...Other people who might not be keeping their end of the equation.

My description of this may sound clinical and unemotional because I'm simply trying to break it down in a way that shows it is possible to repeat... so that people can understand that it is indeed repeatable...but that's not to say that deep emotional involvement is unnecessary. Those who learn to intercede "effectually" seem to also learn how to connect with the burden of the other person in order to actually help carry it to the foot of the cross. They don't do it lightly or without emotion. But as @planitsoon pointed out, a person also must know that strong emotions need to be kept in balance if the prayer is to work.

Perhaps that's enough for one post.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

Thanks for sharing. I've experienced some of what your describing. I think sometimes our personal thoughts about a loved one can get in the way of praying effectively for them. Thank God for prayer in the spirit! And thank God for having us pray for other people's loved ones and vice versa.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

I just re-read this post and thought it worthy of a positive reposting. Thanks.

Love in Jesus,
Kelby

Fear is just doubt and unbelief. This is not a one time event, we have to continue to have faith and believe. Some people would question why people have an accident in the first place. Sort of like we would not need healing if we walk in divine health. Then there are others that know the edge of a table can be a hazard and you should have had a protective cover on the edge of the table so they could not get hurt in the same way you would not let a child play with knives. My dad was a pediatrician so he saw all the accidents and he saw what we needed to protect our children from. We run into cancer from the HPV virus. This is the one that Michael Douglas had. This does respond to prayer and they are able to recover. I know of three situations in the Bible where someone had faith for the person. The Soldier had faith for his servant. The parent had faith for their child. The friends that cut a hole in the roof had faith for their friend to be healed. Then you talk about a child having faith for their parent. This happened for me. Around 15 years ago I was on a respirator in a coma. So I was not able to pray for myself. My wife and son prayed for me for healing. I think that really built up the faith in my son as to what he is able to do. The doctor told me later on that the reason he put me on the respirator was because he felt my son needed a father so he thought he would do what he could for me. People made a decision to revive and resuscitate or we would not be having this conversation. God keeps telling me that I need to walk in divine health so I do not need to be revived and resuscitated. That is something I do not need to put myself through. But it is still my choice.

This is why we have an old and a new covenant. This is what covenant theology is based on. All of the promises of God are conditional. Some have as many as 3 or 4 conditions. If we do our part then we can be sure that God will do His part. He watches over His word "I am watching over My word to accomplish it.” (Jeremiah 1:12)

I think it is also important to always remember the most important kind of prayer as well. If someone else has said this already then my apologies but there is prayer when asking for something but the most important and vital kind of prayer is constant communication.

After all how do you grow close to someone and get to them? by being with them and constant communication. I love to talk with him about anything and neverything he is my personal diary and I think that is why he and I are so close. And he wants to be our personal diary he loves to hear from his children no matter what it may be about. You can be talking to him about anything and his heart leaps with joy, even if it is just to express your hardships he wants to be the one place we can speak our hearts freely.

Even in my frustration and anger I am completely open with him I find no reason to try to hide how
I really feel because he sees the inner depths of my heart anyways. It is that openness and that constant communication that I think is the most vital kind of prayer and I think people would be surprised how quickly it brings us closer to him

I think our prayer must be based on getting to know, intimately, the God we are speaking to and listen to this God. Scripture tells us God's character and ways he speaks. Christ told us about the language and thoughts of God when he gave us the Lord's prayer.

Christ said to address our prayers to a holy God our creator, and that God is interested in supplying our needs both materially and spiritually, forgiving our sins, and in having us respond to His teachings like accepting others and in our realizing that God is the power and glory, and for us to be sincere with our speaking to Him.

We are not to order God around, but follow how our creator works. We must know God knows our needs, we don't have to keep repeating them to Him. God is listening and we are to have faith in His response and accept it without giving God a time schedule for responding. We are to understand that God is living in a world without sin, and our sin separates us from Him. For a person who is holding onto a resentment learning to accept with love can be part of prayer as it gets rid of something that separates from God. Someone said that if you can't do this, then acting as if you truly do, that will often really heal the resentment.

One lady was living with a mother in law she resented. She was told to act as if she loved her, and with the mother in law's response to these love acts, love actually happened. That got rid of the stress of living with resentment and being separated from God, and her prayer for her health was answered.

Well said indeed

Relationship through intimacy is everything. There is prayer (speaking) to God but we can be persistent just like in the parable of the unrighteous judge and when we are diligent, it says that He will be our rewarder. Next to that there is a whole different type of "prayer" which is actually nothing less than commanding the "mountain" (sickness or demons); as "the righteousness that is of faith speaks" it says and "faith speaks to the mountain". It has nothing to do with ordering God around and everything with believing by faith that we have received before we actually have. (Mark11:24). When ministering for healing or deliverance I always apply Mark 11:24 and consider it done and have fallen for the trap before to just hope and never saw results just like the disciples who could not heal the boy and Jesus rebuking them for their unbelief. We know that no one in the NT ever prayed to God for healing but instead used their authority just like Jesus did, who gave that same authority to us to heal the sick, set the captives free from the demonic and even raise the dead. Two of my friends saw someone raised when they prayer but then, David Hogan has seen these last 20 years over 500 raised from the dead from what I remember. Though sin should not stop the healing flow of God, it will affect the faith of the person praying because the person knows his conscience is not cleansed and it will as a burden on his heart. I always say that if sin can stop you from getting healed than we woud have never been saved as we were full of sin.

But even so I think I stand by what I said, I believe just as we are all called for different things we all have a different calling in prayer. Of course this is just my own personal beleif so as always take it with a grain of salt but I only know to follow my heart and so if I pray for something over and over again my spirit feels drained and just doesn't feel right.