Never pray your problem. If you pray the problem, it will get worse. If you pray the problem, you loose the ability of the enemy. Pray the problem and it will grow greater and your faith will flee away on the wings of doubt.

Go to the Word of God and find out what God said about it. You will find that the Word says, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them" (Mark 11:24).

So you would pray the desire:

Father, I desire my husband to be saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. I ask You to send laborers across his path to witness to him. As I am praying right now, I believe that I receive it in the name of Jesus. I cast all my cares over onto You; and when I get up in the morning, I will not pray about it again. I will continue to thank You, for it is done.

Now that may not happen overnight. This is where the force of patience is exercised. Learn to be silent to the Lord as mentioned in Psalm 37:

Be still and rest in the Lord; wait for Him and patiently lean yourself upon Him; fret not yourself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.
(Ps. 37:7 AMP)

Don't use vain repetitions. Don't pray the same prayer over and over. That will hold you in bondage.

I am a farmer by trade and let's say that I have just planted a field of cotton. Now wouldn't it be foolish if I went out the next morning and said, "Man, something is wrong. This cotton is not coming up. Let's plow it up and plant it again." Then the next day the same thing happened.

If I kept doing that, I could plant 365 days and still not produce any cotton. We need to become as smart in the spiritual realm as we are in the natural. That kind of farming practice will cause you to go bankrupt quick!

Our prayers many times have held us in bondage, causing spiritual bankruptcy. No one would dare plant a garden and the next morning dig it up. It takes time for these things to happen.

God has certain laws that He operates under. He has regulated Himself by His Word. God has the power to do anything. But so many times He can't use His power in our behalf because if He did, it would violate His Word.

That is one thing God cannot do! He cannot violate His Word. If He did some of the things we ask, He would have to lie to do it. We have prayed beyond His ability to answer because of our violation of His rules concerning prayer.

Jesus said, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them". Some of you have been praying all the bad things, the problems. If God did what you really desired, then He would violate His Word. He said that you can have what you say when you pray, and you have said the problem in prayer over and over until all you are seeing and believing is the problem.

Have you ever prayed, "Lord, it is not working out. It is not getting any better"?

Well, I was praying that very prayer one morning and the Lord spoke something into my spirit. It wouldn't have been any louder if I had heard it in my ears.

He said, "What are you doing?"

I said, "Lord, I am praying."

He said, "No, you are not; you are complaining!"

A lot of folks are complaining, thinking they are praying. They are telling God their problems. In Matthew, chapter 6, Jesus said that the Father already knows the problem.

He already knows what you have need of before you ask Him. Then there is not need to pray the problem. What we need to do is zero in on the answer. Pray and speak the answer; cast the problem over on Him.

Source: Releasing God's Power Through Prayer by Charles Capps.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers