Our prayers matter. You know how I know that? Because the apostle James said in the word, “The effective fervent prayers of the righteous avails much” (James 5:16). And the apostle John said, “If we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).
Our prayers do matter.
Our Part in the Answer
There have been times when the Lord answered my prayers, just to later see that thing reverse and come back. It can be confusing trying to align the word of God with our actual experiences, especially when our experiences are the exact opposite of the word of God. For example, the word of God says, “Ask and it shall be given” but you never receive it. How then does our faith increase with a memory filled with disappointments?
Andrew Wommack told the story of a woman that came to him to pray for healing. She used a walker to get around. She was healed immediately and walked away holding the walker up in the air. This same lady came back a few days later using the walker again. The Lord revealed to Andrew Wommack that she had unforgiveness in her heart that was preventing her healing. She openly confessed the unforgiveness and named the person she was hating on. She asked for forgiveness and was immediately healed again, holding the walker up in the air as she walked away. Jesus said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:14-15).
We had a sin debt that we could not pay but God forgave us. It would not be fair of Him to let us continue to hold others accountable for their trespasses toward us. We must forgive them in order to be forgiven, and see our prayers answered.
In All Your Getting,
Get A Good Understanding
The apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians that their eyes would be opened and understanding enlightened as to the confident hope God has given to those He called to Himself. So when disappointments seem to mount up, that’s the time to draw closer to God and pray for wisdom and enlightenment (James 1:5).
Paul also said, “I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believes Him.” This is power to perform any request that we submit to Him. He can just say, “Let there be” and poof it will manifest. So, if prayers are going unanswered, it is not because God is unable or unwilling to grant it. There’s some other reason like in the case of the woman with the walker.
Why Pray?
I asked myself, “Why does God need me to pray for things that He can already do without my prayers?” Then I was reminded that when God created mankind, He gave us dominion (rule and authority) over all the earth and everything in it (Gen. 1:26, 28). And… Jesus gave us the keys to the kingdom to bind and loose on earth. This is His authority granted us to overcome earthly issues. As we bind and loose on earth, it is bound and loosed in heaven (Matt. 16:19). We are laborers together with God… us on earth, and Him in heaven (1 Cor. 3:9). Together we accomplish great things.
It matters when we pray… and when we don’t.
These Are the Days of Elijah
James 5:17-18 (NKJV) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Elijah’s prayer affected a lot of people for a long time, and only his prayer could restore rain to the land for the production of fruit and vegetation. He was not superhuman. He was a man with human nature like you and me, but he was a man who prayed.
It’s Open-Door Season
Knock, and it will be opened to you, for to him who knocks it will be opened.
Jesus told a parable about a friend that came to his friend at midnight and knocked on the door asking to borrow three loaves of bread. His friend told him it was not a good time because they were all in bed. But he kept on knocking and because of his persistence, the friend got up and gave him as many as he needed (Luke 11:5-8).
Karen Wheaton said she prayed to God in this same persistent manner regarding her prodigal daughter. Her three loaves were deliverance, healing, and salvation for her daughter.
One night at church, while Karen was in worship, the Lord showed her a vision. She was standing in front of a door when it opened a little and two arms reached from behind the door and handed her three loaves of bread. She said in a surprised voice, “Oh Lord, You’re giving me the bread?” When she said that, the door swung wide open and she walked in and looked up to see a storehouse full of bread as far as the eye could see… shelves and shelves so high that she couldn’t even see the top of it. Then Karen heard a soft voice ask her, “You only want three?”
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV)
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14 (NKJV)
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. Jeremiah 29:11-12 (NKJV)
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV)
Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV)
May the Lord bless you
And keep you;
May the Lord make His face
Shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
May the Lord lift up
His countenance upon you,
And give you perfect peace.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer, in some mysterious way, activates some of God’s work on earth, and pushes back Satan’s efforts to hurt and destroy God’s people. God doesn’t necessarily need our prayers to do this, but He chooses to work in concert with them to accomplish His work in the world. There is no substitute for prayer, especially in circumstances that seem impossible.
Matthew 16:19 (NKJV) And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
What am I missing if God is not answering my prayers in the way I expect Him to? I'm strung out in disappointments when God is actually trying to accomplish something much better.
I was praying for one job, but God closed the door on it and I was very disappointed. On the other hand, He opened the door to one much better… and I didn’t even see it coming.
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
God hears prayer—God delights to hear and answer prayer.
For some time now, I have been praying for our neighborhood. We have dogs barking non-stop that the owners won’t see about. We have idiot drivers using city streets as a drag strip. They accessorize their vehicles so that when they accelerate you can hear them blocks away. It has become very popular to drive these loud cars. There’s gunfire in the middle of the night which then wakes up the dogs, so then there’s guns and dogs keeping everybody awake. On holidays there’s fireworks before, during, and after the holiday. It’s ridiculous and getting more ridiculous every year.
I have sent up many, many, many prayers. Every time I hear a driver barreling down our street, I pray. Every time the dogs are barking, I pray. All day long, I am sending up prayers that God will disarm principalities over our neighborhood.
The other day I stood in the bathroom listening to the dogs bark at each other and I said, “Lord, I’m not praying anymore about these dogs because it does not seem to be doing any good.” This morning the Lord woke me up at 4:20 and dropped a song from the 1970s in my spirit. It’s called Wake Up Everybody. It goes like this, “The world won’t get no better if we just let it be. The world won’t get no better, we gotta change it, just you and Me.”
To stop praying about it is to just let it be. The Bible says, “The effective and fervent prayers of the righteous avails much.”
Prayers of faith move mountains, parts Red Seas, brings water out of a rock, prevents evil, and opens the door for good.
The prophet Elijah was one man — one person praying — but he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it didn’t rain on the land for 3½ years. Then he prayed again, and the heavens poured down rain and ended the drought.
A couple of years ago, I was praying many prayers about something in the news. Day after day I kept getting angrier and angrier at the situation. Finally, I was laying in bed one night and I heard a thunderstorm in the far distance, getting closer and closer. It finally came and stood over our house. That thunder was the loudest I have ever heard. It roared. It clapped. It blasted. I said calmly to myself, “Well, I don’t have to be angry about this anymore, because now, God is mad.” I turned over and went to sleep. When the great day of His wrath is come, who will be able to stand? The thunder didn’t make me afraid, it put me to sleep.
Ephesians 6:12-13,18 (NLT) For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
The Lord allowed that thunderstorm to show me the effectiveness of my prayers. The thunder came from out in the distance, straight to me and hovered over me. That’s what happens when we pray, we move God in that same way.
Some years back, I was coming off a lengthy fast and sitting in the living room listening to a song called Break Every Chain by Tasha Cobbs Leonard. I saw a vision of a band of angels marching down our street, coming toward our house. I stood up and started marching with them. This was God’s army sent to answer my prayers.
Never let the enemy have you believe your prayers don’t matter, because they do. Sincere prayers move the heart of God. Let the church say Amen.
May I encourage you to read Daniel’s story of how his prayers moved God? It’s the entire 6th chapter of Daniel – the story of the Lion’s Den.
Sometimes I wished I could track my prayers, like I track an Amazon package.
Did heaven receive my prayer?✔
Is the angel on his way with it?✔
What time is it scheduled to arrive?✔
That would be awesome!! I could open my downloaded heavenly app and check it out… yep, the angel has left heaven and it’s arriving today by 10:00pm.😁
But that is not how the faith domain works. Faith is the substance of things hoped (and prayed) for. Our faith is the evidence of what cannot be seen with our natural eyes (Heb. 11:1). Faith is the app that we open to track our prayers. Faith says, “I believe I receive what I prayed for.” When faith starts to diminish or grow cold, we open up the word of God — which increases our faith, and recharges our battery.
Romans 10:17 (NKJV) Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
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The word says…
Psalm 34:15 (NKJV) The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
Psalm 37:4 (NKJV) Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Mark 11:24 (NKJV) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
John 14:13-14 (NKJV) And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (It’s in Jesus’ name we pray and He will do it).
John 15:7 (NKJV) If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 15:16 (NKJV) You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He (the Father) may give you.
John 16:23-24 (NKJV) “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Now ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
1 John 3:22 (NKJV) And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV) Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him.
Our prayers matter, and prayer still works. But before you let the devil win, go back and pray again.
Link: https://richardsonblogger.blogspot.com/2016/04/prayer-will-fix-it-for-you.html (song)
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| 2Cor. 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight |
Hard Questions
Habakkuk was a prophet who boldly confronted God with some difficult questions.
- LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
- How long shall I cry to You “Violence!” and You will not save?
- Why do You make me see iniquity (for my minor hang ups), but sit idly looking at the mega-wrongs of wicked people?
- Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up a man more righteous than he?
- Is mankind like the fish of the sea that You catch with Your net and then You worship the net because it made You wealthy?
- Can we expect that You will keep emptying the net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
God answered Habakkuk’s bold questions revealing a new understanding of His love and His power. Habakkuk concludes his book with a prayer of triumph and praise. With questions answered and a new perspective of God’s love and power.
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Others in the Bible has struggled with feeling forsaken by God.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
Lamentations 3:8 (NKJV) Even when I cry and shout, He shuts out my prayer.
The psalmist David wrote:
Psalm 13:1 (NKJV) How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
The blameless and upright Job struggled as well:
Job 30:20 (NKJV) I cry out to You, but You do not answer me.
Even Jesus, from the cross, cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” At some point, we may all wrestle with God about something we don’t quite understand, but we have been given permission to approach the throne of grace and ask God about it.
James 1:5-6 NKJV If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
Hebrews 4:15-16 NKJV For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses (because He too was acquainted with grief), and was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
A Greater Purpose
Immediately after the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus told His disciples to get in the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida.
Jesus withdrew to a mountain to pray. In the middle of the night, He saw them straining at keeping control of the boat because they were rowing against a strong windstorm. The disciples had fought this storm for 8 or 9 hours and it was about 3:00 in the morning but they were only about halfway across the sea. By this time, they must have been in a state of complete exhaustion and despondency, bordering on despair. At long last, Jesus went to their assistance, walking on the sea. Jesus caused the wind to cease and got in the boat with them. The disciples came and worshiped Jesus saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” The arm of the Lord had been revealed to them and they worshiped God.
The reason He put them through all of this was because of their hardness of heart. They had not understood about the fish and loaves, but they marveled and was greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure when they saw the miracle of the wind and waves being ceased by Jesus… and also Peter walking on the water. This experience affected them to the point of death and they marveled… but they did not marvel over the fish and loaves.
Mark 6:52 NKJV They had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
Jesus did not put them through this 9-hour ordeal for nothing, it had a greater purpose. The bread of adversity and the water of affliction are life lessons that God sends to teach us, and to transform us.
Isaiah 30:20 NKJV And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers.
Ecclesiastes 8:6 Because for every matter there is a time and judgment, although man’s trouble lies heavy on him.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.
Jeremiah’s Questions
Jeremiah 14:8-9 NKJV O the Hope of Israel, his Savior in time of trouble, why should You be like a stranger in the land, and like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night? Why should You be like a man astonished, like a mighty one who cannot save? Yet You, O LORD, are in our midst, and we are called by Your name; do not leave us!
We accuse God of acting like a stranger and ignoring our prayers, but He is no stranger, and He is not far away while we’re going through. In fact, the psalmist David said to the Lord his God, “Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” We cannot count that high because it’s infinity.
Conclusion
The problem is not with God and His ways, but with our limited understanding of Him.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NKJV “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Trusting God leads us to quiet hope, not to animosity.
God still controls this world despite the apparent triumph of evil. Satan said there was a hedge around Job (a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil), and Satan couldn’t touch Job unless God removed the hedge from around Job, and his household, and all his possessions.
The king of Syria sent horses and chariots and a great army to Dothan to capture the prophet, Elisha. His servant was panicking and sought what they should do. Elisha answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha petitioned “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. God is still in control and He delivered them from the Syrian army.
Jesus has the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He has the key of David. He opens doors that no one can shut. He shuts doors that no one can open. He has the key to the bottomless pit that He can lock and unlock when He’s good and ready.
The farmer sows seed and waits patiently for harvest until it receives both the early and latter rain. I’ve sown many seeds of prayer and have yet to see the manifestation of a lot of them. But I must trust and believe God has heard all my prayers and inclined His ears to my cries and my petitions.
God has a plan, and He will faithfully carry it out. We can be confident that God loves us and is guarding our relationship with Him. We don’t have to be offended. God has devised a plan. His counsel will stand, and our seeds of prayer will harvest.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
The effective, fervent prayers of the righteous avails (helps, benefits, and profits) much.
Question: What should our attitude be after we pray, and as we wait for God to answer?
Answer: We should trust God to give us what we need, but maybe not in a way we expect him to. We should remember that God really does love us and is concerned about everything that concerns us. Ask Holy Spirit for ears to hear. Look in God’s word and see where the arm of the Lord helped someone else in a similar situation because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Keep telling yourself that story on a regular basis until you have reconciled in your heart that God is truly faithful, reliable, trustworthy, dependable, and ever true to His promises. Convince yourself from the study of His word in that area that there is no way He will let you down. Ask God for wisdom concerning it.
In God’s response to the prophet Habakkuk’s difficult questions, He said that the vision will surely come to pass at its appointed time. All things hasten to an end. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come to pass.
There was a period of time in my spiritual walk where disappointments had mounted up and caused my heart to become hardened. For sure, I was on the vine but not abiding in Him (John 15:4). My prayers were sent up with a level of skepticism that God had probably not even heard me. In that season, I did not expect to receive revelation from God and lived in spiritual dullness on a regular basis. But the Potter knows how to restore the piece that was marred in His hands and use that same clay to make another vessel, even more beautiful than the first. (Jer. 18:3)
I heard Pastor Steven Furtick say that he felt the “spirit of unstuckness”. This was in reference to believers that feel stuck, as I did about my mounted-up disappointments. The things that keep hemming us up is about to release and we’re coming unstuck.
Your prayers matter to God.
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove