People throughout the ages would agree that prayer is a vital component to their walk with God. There still remains, however, a great deal of misunderstanding on the subject.

On any given Sunday after the service has ended, the altar is generally opened for people to come forward to pray. Ask one of those people what they are praying for and they'll probably tell you they are praying for the Lord to bless them.

What they don't realize is that in His Word, God has given instructions that we may have all that He has to give. These instructions tend to be ignored and then people wonder why they haven't received. Often people pray, yet their situation remains the same and they can't understand why God is not working in their lives.

It's one thing to be in a state of quiet contemplation with God, but it is entirely different if you want to move the mountains in your life. To do so, you need to stick to God's plan for fervent effectual prayer.

Webster defines prayer as, "a solemn and humble approach to Divinity in word or thought usually involving beseeching, petition, confession, praise or thanksgiving" (Webster's Third New International Dictionary). A lot of people claim to pray and when they do, it's in a scatter-shot way, praying for whatever comes to mind.

Yet, what many believers have misunderstood about God and the operation of His Kingdom is that there are laws and principles of which we must be aware in order to get desired results. Things don't happen accidentally.

God doesn't just move in and change situations without someone praying and believing Him for a particular need and for the answer to that need. God is a gentleman. He won't barge through the door like the FBI and demand you raise your hands and praise Him, but when He is invited in He'll move mountains in your life.

So many times as Christians we want to move mountains, but don't follow the precepts of prayer found in the Word of God. Then when nothing happens, we come to the conclusions that God doesn't answer prayer very often or that we can never understand how God is going to move regarding a particular issue. This is simply not true.

The Word of God is Key
You can understand how God is going to move. In fact, you can know how God is going to respond in every situation. The Word of God sets down exactly how God will respond in any situation. You may not know how God will move in any situation because you've never found it in the Word, but that doesn't mean itÂ’s not there and that you can't find it out. That's why God wrote the Book for us, so that we could find out exactly how He will move.

Many people don't realize that the Bible was set down on paper so we could study it and refer to it regularly for the processes required for us to receive from God what He wants us to receive. The Scriptures are packed with the knowledge of God and what He wants you to have. When your desires line up with what He wants you to have, you can receive from Him so easily.

In order for this to occur in your life and prayers, you need to decide what you want from God and then find the Scriptures that apply. Often people are unfocused, praying, "God, you know best" or "Do what you think is best."

That is not how prayer works.

If God operated that way, everyone would be born-again, but not everyone is. There's an important step missing. You don't get born-again without hearing the Word of God! Personal involvement is required for people to be born again and there is also personal involvement required in having your prayers answered.

God follows His Word so that we're all on a level playing field playing with the same rules out of the same rulebook. This way when you and I stand upon the Word of God and appropriate the Word of God, the "team" can move the ball down the field for the "score."               

Be Specific
Some people have a problem deciding what they want God to do in their lives. They get off on this idea that Christianity is all about God becoming a servant like some genie from a bottle. This is not about telling God what to do; it's finding in His Word what He said He would do and expecting Him to do it!

If He didn't want to do certain things, He wouldn't have put it down in the Word. The things He didn't want to do, He didn't put in the Word. All you and I have to do is find out what He said He would do, and expect that of Him.

There will never be a time when you go to God in prayer on the basis of His Word that He'll say He's not going to do it this time. He said He would do it and every time He will exactly like He said.

If you don't want to get answers, stay undecided. Indecision is the key to failure. If you keep going to God with unspoken requests, He will keep doing nothing on your behalf! Things donÂ’t happen by you just hoping that things will all work out for the best. It won't. That's not how God works.

He requires us to be specific for there to be specific answers to our prayers. Your answered prayer gives glory to God, but you need to find in the Word the provision for what you desire to receive from Him. Besides, what you declare in prayer from the Word are not your words but the words from God Almighty. This is prayer that will bring answers and results in your life.

Believe Before You Receive
Many people believe that they have received what they asked for only when they can see it. What is the purpose of believing then? The key to seeing your prayers answered is to believe that you've received what you've asked for before you can see it.

In other words, when you finish your prayer time, you can walk out of that place of prayer having already received. You don't have to walk out and then look around to see if you really received what you prayed for, because as soon as you start to do that, you are going to find out quickly that you didn't receive anything. Prayer is not affected by your sight.

You go to God in prayer and follow through with the principles in His Word. You make the decision on what it is that you desire to receive from God:

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I desire healing in my body. And now in the name of Jesus, on the authority of Your Word, I find in Your Word where You said "by His stripes I am healed." And now I receive my healing in the name of Jesus.

That's how you pray the Word of God and receive from the Word of God. It isn't after I have decided whether or not I've received healing from God, it was when I prayed and I received it by faith in the name of Jesus. Anything you pray for is going to operate this same way. In  Mark 11:24, Jesus said that we must believe that we receive when we ask. It is a vitally important part of prayer.

If you want answers to prayers, then you can get them every time you pray. There is no partiality in God. If it's in His Word, then the answer is always yes. His promises, the Bible says, are "yea and amen." This is receiving what God has given.

Once you learn to be specific in your prayers using the Word of God and believe what He has already given you is truly yours, then you can receive all that God has for you. Now that's success!

Dennis Burke Ministries
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