How To Get Answers To Prayer

Everyone knows how to pray to some degree, but not everyone knows how to pray and get results on a consistent basis. Our God is a God of order and principles. If we follow the order in which he tells us to do things and apply the principles he suggests we will get answers to prayer. I have identified and applied several principles in my prayer life that I believe will revolutionize the prayer life of every believer if applied consistently. Here are those principles:

1.    We Need to Learn How To Pray

It is important to notice that even Jesus’ own disciples realized they needed to be taught to pray. In Luke 11:1, His disciples made a request to learn how to pray.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

The first thing we have to realize in order to get answers to prayer is we have to learn how to pray. Once we become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we should enroll in his school of prayer to learn the principles necessary to have a consistent, successful prayer life.

2.    We Pray Based on The “Family Relationship” Principle

When we believe in Christ, we also receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and witness to our spirits that we are children of God. We have entered into the family of God. As children of God, we can pray knowing God is our Father, and He will answer our prayers.

All our prayers have to be based on the principle that we are children of God who is our heavenly Father. Any good earthly Father attends to the needs of his children. Our heavenly father will attend to our needs because we are his children and members of his family.

       “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him.” Matthew 7:11 NIV

3.    We Must Believe

We must believe to get answers to prayer. But what do we have to believe? To get answers to prayer, we must believe at least the following four things:

• That God exists.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6NIV

• That God rewards those who diligently seek Him.

  • It is important to remember this very important during prayer. First and foremost we are seek to get to know God not seeking things from him. If we want answers to prayer we have to remember this important principle: “Don’t seek His gifts, seek Him.

” The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Psalm 14:2 NIV

• We need to seek Him first.

  • That Jesus is the Son of God and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. The prayers we are discussing here are prayers of a Christian who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. Some call this being “born again”. In order to get consistent answers to prayer we must come in the name of Jesus.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 NIV

“In that day You will no longer ask Me anything. Very truly I tell you, My Father will give you whatever You ask in My name.  Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about My Father.  In that day you will ask in My name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” John 16:23-28 NIV

• That we have what we ask God for before we see it.

  • When we pray we have to believe that God has answered our prayers if we are praying according to the will of the father.

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24 NIV

4.    We Have to Pray According To God’s Will

Prayers are answered when we pray according to God’s will.

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. 1 John 5:14-15 NIV. However, in order to pray according to God’s will, we need to find out from Scripture the answers to the following two questions:

• What is God’s will for who and what to pray about?

• What is God’s will for how to pray?

5.    We Must Remain in The Word Of God

We are admonished in John 15:7 to remain in Christ and have His Word remain in us. By remain I believe He is saying not to depart from Him or move away from believing His Word.

“If you remain in Me and My Words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7 NIV, emphasis added

6.    We Have to Be Persistent In Prayer

There is one basic attribute needed for our prayers to be successful. It is persistence.

A persistent person will try something again and again. They are content because they believe, if they continue to try, sooner or later things will pay off. Persistence is an admirable, unrelenting approach. The following scripture gives credence to this approach.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:2-8 NIV