How To Get Your Prayer Answered By God: Answered Prayer is Just the Starter!

God has given you the ability to get anything you want…

But it has to be Biblical!

Over the last 12 months or so my prayer life has changed. Many of my prayers have been answered and the rest are on the way to being added to the list.

For example…

In the last 15 years I’ve probably tried to lose sizeable amounts of weight multiple times and there were times when I was in the gym 3+ times a week. Or eating to a specific calorie amount every day religiously (or doing both together). And although I may drop about 10-15 pounds at best in any of these attempts over the last two decades, I always let go of the rope. It always came back. Each time it was less surprising.

About 12 months ago that all changed. Without exercise, without scales!

Want to know how?

The short answer is, follow one passage of scripture in the Bible and it will happen. Let me explain further,

One day sitting in my house a “random” scripture popped into my head. I knew what it was, but it seemed like it just clicked. It was a scripture in Luke which talked about praying, and how to get God to really move on your prayers. And before even going to open my Bible and read it, I realised that there was a reason why God was not answering some of my prayers.

I wasn’t serious enough!

The scripture reference we will discuss next explains why.

Jesus said “There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

Jesus used a parable to teach you to never stop praying. He told you to hold on when it’s extremely hard. Even if it means praying to God over and over again. And he concludes the parable by saying, if the woman received what she wanted from persisting the unjust king, then how can you not get what you pray for, if you pray to him about it day and night? I want to continue to preface these comments, because I do not desire for you to waste time praying for things you never should pray for, in the first place (examples and more on this topic to come).

This is such a powerful statement by the Lord, because it gives us insights into so many different areas.

As I thought about this more and more, one of the first things I thought honestly was “I can’t be bothered to pray for something every single day honestly, thats a lot of work”. But then I began thinking, this is exactly why many of the prayers I make are not answered. A point raced to top of mind, I advise you to think about this too if you’re reading this and in need of answered prayers. “If you can’t pray everyday for something you say you want, you don’t truly want it!

And this was the moment I realised, If I do not start praying everyday, I cannot complain about anything. I will explain how to do this easily in a little while, and give you practical examples. But before I go there I want to tell you what committing to this does to you personally.

It Sky-Rockets your faith, it moves your faith from a potential wavering faith, to a confident (it’s only a matter of time) faith. I remember growing up, being out with my dad and brothers and we would hound him for Mcdonalds. The days he would say OK, we are going to go later were much more powerful, than the days he said maybe we might go. The point is, God is saying, We’re going xyz, or I will do x,y,z for you, but you have to do your part first. Not only do I enjoy praying more, I’m an evangelist for prayer sort of. This is why you’re reading this. I can’t say I would have written this topic in this issue if prayers were not helping me transform the prayer life I had over the last 12 months. I knew it was a weakness in my faith and God helped me fix it. 

It encourages you to pray. It encourages you to pray more. It encourages you to tell others to pray.

The Two Big Objections…

The two things I worried about mainly were:

1. How am I going to make time to pray everyday?

 

2. How do I keep myself from vain repetitions (praying the same thing everyday)?

PRAY FOR ONE MINUTE…

I give God the glory, I will not take credit and I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me so far, and will help going forward as well.

Who says it has to be some long prayer for 30 minutes or anything like that? I said I was going to pray for one minute about these prayer points (whatever it was) for just 60 seconds (I even set a countdown timer in some situations). Why should you do this? Because 60 seconds is better than 0 seconds right? But is also you praying every day too isn’t it? You think, 60 seconds, and you say, “I actually could do 60 seconds, even with my busy schedule” right? I do it first thing in the morning when I wake up, or when I go to bed. I do it all day at different times. It’s so simple, it’s like, it forces you to do it more than once.

I used this app on my iPhone called Echo Prayer App to assist me with reminders. You can set an alarm to remind you to pray at certain times, or certain days. And you can even save a list of all your answered prayers (this will definitely help when feeling weak in faith to look over). As I write this I’m not sponsored by them in any way or in any planned ongoing discussions. I’m just giving them credit where credit is due. And i’m sure it works on Apple or Android devices. You could use your phone alerts if you want to because I truly believe, once you start and are committed, it doesn’t matter what tool you’re using in a lot of cases.

Peeling off The Layers On Your Prayers…

Now Jesus also said the hypocrites like to pray openly and create long prayers also, so I was mindful of that and this is another benefit of praying without ceasing every day.

You become better at prayer.

When you pray more with an intention not to just make vain repetitions, it forces you to develop your prayer muscle. If you do this right, your prayers are more direct.

Let’s go back to my weight loss from earlier, to show you how to pray everyday without vain repetitions…

Why did I want to lose weight?

• I wanted to lose weight this time because the Bible teaches us not to give-in to gluttony.

 

• I wanted to be disciplined which is also encouraged in the Bible.

 

• I wanted to put no god or idol before my relationship with God (food was a clear idol in honest evaluation).

 

• I wanted to appreciate food more.

 

• I wanted to have complete control of my body.

 

• I wanted to be healthy so I could do more of what God wanted me to do.

 

• I wanted to give my children a good example so they do not have to make the same changes in their adult life like I did.

These are just a few reasons. But notice, I didn’t really want to lose weight. Notice how all these things are Biblically sound? I did not want a six-pack. Or to look good in the mirror. I actually just wanted to be healthy.

I would pray for all things around the goal which always provided good prayer points.

So if you wanted more money for example.

I would not pray. “God I pray you bless me with more money” many times if at all.

• I would pray the money I’m spending right now, that I utilise it wisely.

 

• I would pray for the things I’m buying which are wasting money.

 

• I’d pray about the habits which lose me money to get them out of my life.

 

• I would pray for guidance in financial decisions going forward.

 

• I would pray for people to come into my life to help.

 

• I would pray for my heart to be soft to hear the message they have.

If you are making prayers like the former, there will only be a handful of ways to pray for the same thing. But as I’ve just described, there are multiple dimensions to every prayer. And as you pray more, you will realise how many holes have been in your prayer points and why it is likely many of your prayers feel like they are not answered.

A lot of the time we are praying the wrong prayers (not always), but a lot of the time. Prayer done Biblically works! You will be surprised, I’m telling you. When God starts moving, you will think “wow, this works”. But God will show you things you may not like but if you want to make those changes, it’s better to listen.

So if you are praying about losing weight, if someone sends you a video “out of the blue”, about this highly dangerous ingredient (which happens to be in your favourite meal), it should not be a surprise. Or if “randomly”, frequent supermarket purchases you always get on sale are no longer on sale anymore (things you know are bad for you and shouldn’t be eating or buying, but only buy because of this special deal).

I do not believe in chance, coincidence or any such thing for the record, but I hope you get the point.

This teaching by Jesus recorded by Luke applies in all areas. Even areas hard to discuss sometimes. Think about the original context deeper…The widow wanted vengeance.The ultimate context Jesus was teaching would be God avenging those who trust in him. It’s a powerful hope in times of distress. Don’t mistake a lesson vital in Christ’s teaching. Persecution and trials may come (you may be already in long term trials). It’s easy to overlook this point (especially when there are some preachers promising an unscriptural lifestyle).

You may be going through trials, tribulations and persecutions, but be confident, no matter how hard it seems, God will avenge you speedily. But God said vengeance is his. This means leaving God to fight for you and not taking vengeance yourself.

A hidden benefit those suffering trials may not want to hear is, the power of prayer for your enemy or adversary. I would also encourage you to pray for those in opposition to you, that you can influence them positively. Pray the same love you exhibit can transform them to do the same. Our faith we have is the ultimate form of forgiveness so we must forgive too.

Luke’s account detailed a valuable lesson for you and me. A lesson of faith. A lesson of hope. There is nothing which can harm us who believe ultimately. NOT EVEN DEATH.

So I pray this can bless you and you will start to enjoy more prayer time and ultimately more answered prayer starting today.

…Even if it is only 60 seconds today.

God Bless,

Israel Ikhinmwin