The purpose of prayer is not just to pray but to receive answers. We do not pray just for praying sake but to get our request answered. Therefore the effectiveness of prayer is not measured by the tenacity, loudness, length of time, but by the answers that we receive to our prayers. In order words we can only say that our prayer is powerful if has achieved the desired results. James 5:16 puts it more succinctly "... For the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous avails much". It is effectual not when you have sweated, or spent a long time, nor anything but only when it bears the desired results.
So how can we attain this realm of effectual and result producing prayers? Prayers that make tremendous power available. Prayers like the prayers of our Lord Jesus Christ in His days here on earth. There wasn't a single prayer that he prayed which wasn't answered. Oh but that was Jesus someobody would say. Yes but Jesus made it clear over and over again that this level is attainable. And has given us guidelines on how to achieve that realm of powerful, and result generating prayers. The Lord said a lot of my people are engaged in a lot of prayer activities but the results that they get is not commensurate with the amount of prayers being offered. Therefore he wants us to be know attain that realm of result oriented prayers. Hitherto you have not asked ask now that your joy may be full, the Lord wants our joy to be full.
Prayer is the process by which we take delivery of God's promises into the physical realm. The process of prayer is divided into four main stages and reasons why prayers are not answered usually happens at any of this four stages. If something goes wrong at any of the processes then that prayer is bound to have issues. For a prayer to be effectual and achieve its desired results then it must have passed through these four stages successfully.
These stages of the process of prayer are stated clearly in Mark 11:24"whatsoever you desire, when you pray, believe that you have received and you shall have them."
So the first stage is the the DESIRE stage. Every prayer starts with a desire, "whatsoever you desire when you pray..." It's the preliminary stage and very important well. Many prayers don't go beyond this point because it fail the DESIRE stage. Now when the Bible says 'whatsoever you desire' the question for some has been that does whatsoever really mean whatsoever? I mean does it mean anything at all whether it makes sense or not? If we read the amplified version of this scripture it makes us to understand the term whatsoever better ' whatasover we ask according to his will'
The Bible says in the mouth of two or more witnesses every word is established. 1John5:14 qualifies the whatsoever here "whatsoever we ask according to His will he will hear us' James 2 ' You ask and do not receive because you ask to spend it on your lust'
Many prayers are already terminated at the desire stage and other efforts to make it through the other stages are just efforts in futility. Then it seems like prayers are not really answered. Prayers where the desire is wrong is a failed prayer, it cannot pass through the process of prayer.
To ensure your prayer pass through the desire stage it must meet the following criteria:
(a) Is it something that God has already put in your power to do? E.g. you cannot ask God to move your leg for you when you have legs to walk by yourself. Praying for what God has already enable you to do has failed the desire test and will definitely not fly through.
(b) Is it something God has not put within the reach of man? Jesus said it is not for you to know the time and season which the father has appointed for the son of Man to return. So praying to know when Jesus will come back is a sheer waste time, because God has not given to anyone to know.
(c) Is the motive behind your desire wrong? James 2 says it all here 'you ask and do not receive because you want to spend on your own lust.
(d) Is your desire in line according to God's will? If yes then congratulations your prayers has passed the desire stage and can now move on to the next stage! What is the will of God? The will of God is the mind of God concerning us and are stated all over the pages of the convenant (Bible). Searching to know what His desire is concerning a particular situation before praying us a guarantee for answered prayers. That is when our desires aligns with his desires, He said when this happens we have such confidence that that prayer will be heard and answered. Glory to God!
The second stage is the ASKING stage. It's not enough to desire and expect answer to our desire. There's a general provision of God to all, you don't need to ask for these unless in extreme situations like famine or etc. More personal request will often be required for us to make demands or ask.
Asking stage has its own guidelines which if not met can also be responsible for unanswered prayers.
(a) The first thing we must realize about the asking process is that there a general template for prayers which Jesus gave to his disciples. He said to them after this manner pray "our Father, who hath in heaven..." So this a general template on prayer. Now Jesus gave this template in response to a question Master teach us to pray. Prayer is like when you file your petition in the law court. There are procedure for filing your case and I'd those procedures are not met the case will be thrown out asap. So also our prayer to God does not gain access if it does not meet criteria. God is a God of order. At mount Carmel before the fire the alter has been well prepared and laid out. The basic prayer model Jesus prescribed here is of the format WORSHIP - PRAYER - WORSHIP.
Whenever we worship God it is more for us to realize the might of the God we serve not so much to make God feel like a super King which He already is. God will have us worship more so that we can come to terms of who He is and know that who we are dealing with is not to be compared with our problems. To know that no matter what the situation is the God we serve is big enough to solve it all. For faith is required for our prayers worship will help us build up our faith as we pray.
(b) Another component of the asking stage is forgiveness. Unforgiveness is a major hinderance to many prayers today. Jesus said if you bring your gift to the alter and you remember that you have an ought against any brother, drop that gift and settle that thing before then come back and offer it. Forgiveness unlocks our heavens, while unforgiveness locks it. We cannot proceed into asking until we clear this part.
(c) the manner in which we ask also matters. And the Bible describes the manner or the attitude our asking should have at all times, which is fervency. Asking in prayer is like presenting your case in a court, despite the fact you have a good case you still need to skillfully and concretely state your argument to convince the court why you should be given the good judgement. Since Adam fell, the devil has become the prince of this world therefore he has the right to contest anything that is crossing from the realm of the spirit to the realm of the physical. Our Asking is not so much to petition God, but to give God a right of way in delivering your request.
The Bible says we are in the world but not if the world. Every delivery of our answers will be contested by the gates of hell and if we are not tenacious to enforce the victory that our Lord Jesus has given to us, the enemy may still want to take advantage. The ball is in our court. Don't forget Prayer is the process by which we take delivery of God's precious promises, not the process of giving us the promises. Because the promises has already been given. So the battle lies in taking delivery of those promises. This is the reason why we need to pay attention to the say we ask because there are skillful contesters of those requests.
Our asking must be filled with fervour, passion, tenacity and persistence. Because we know this thing is ours therefore we must not give in until it's rightly delivered to us. Daniel's prayers has been answered but the angel coming to deliver his answers was withstood in the heavenly realms.
Luke 18:1 "And He gave a parable unto this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint" KJV
Amplified version says "... that they always ought to pray at all times and not to give up and loose heart"
Message Bible says "... that they always ought to pray consistently and not to quit"
All these points to the fact that consistency, fervency or persistency is required in prayer/asking stage. Why? Because it is common place that at times when we have prayed we may not see the physical manifestation immediately and so we might tend to be discouraged and give up at that stage. Many truncate the process of prayer at this point and therefore do not receive the answer. One of the secret of prayer is consistency. Keep on asking until you receive, remain at this stage until you receive an answer.
"For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise."Heb. 10:36
Elijah got to this stage and it seems nothing was happening. His prayer was the model prayer used to explain the prayer that births results in James 5:16. His prayer already passed the first stage of desire, because his prayer was in line with God's will, But at the second stage of asking he seems not to be getting the desired results at once but what did he do ? He kept on praying until he saw the sign that it has been done.
Never give up! This is where the battle lies. Same happened to Daniel when he prayed God sent an angel to him but the angel was withstood in the heavenly realms, so Daniel did not get his prayer answered at once just like that, but what did he do? He likewise continued in prayer 21days, until his answers where delivered to him.
The third stage of the process of prayer is the BELIEVE stage. This is also a very crucial part of the process where many prayers get hooked. " ... believe that you have received and you shall have it." Now God did not just tell us to believe he told us exactly what to believe, how to believe and when to believe! Glory to God. The problem is that a lot don't believe, or don't believe the right thing or don't believe at the right time.
What to believe: believe that you have received them. Them here refers to whatever it is we have asked God for in prayer. For instance you are believing God for a baby, you need to believe that you have received that baby, you believe God for a car, believe that you have received the car. That is why specificity is important in prayer, your request must not be vague and ambiguous because by so doing you will not know exactly what to believe God for. Be specific, and then believe that very thing. When your faith in God matches your desire you create a attractive force to draw your answer from the realm of the spirit onto the physical. Unfortunately what we do instead is to worry about the process by which the request will come. Leave the workings to God yours is to believe God for the answer. In mathematics, there are many methods to solving a problem but get the same answer. Leave the method to God and believe Him for the answer.
How to believe: believe that you have received them: this implies that you believe that it is already done. This is type of believe that breeds confidence and eradicates doubt. This is the kind of believe that emboldens to begin to take action. Faith that speaks. This kind of believe changes you and everything about the situation. Ask yourself this if I have actually received this how would I act? Then begin to act it. Begin to say it. And begin to think it.
Thank you Lord I receive the answer to my prayer, I believe you have already done so I thank you and I glorify you in the mighty name of Jesus.
Blessed be God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. I believe I receive and I have it in Jesus name. Thank you Father. Com'on. From here you begin to declare the word of God concerning that situation and circumstances. Confess your believe, act your believe and see your believe. By so doing you give body to the spirit of your faith. And then you shall have it.
When to believe: "whatsoever you desire when you pray believe that you have received it and you shall have it". Now when to believe is not until you see the manifestation, He says here right when you pray believe. As you asking from the Lord ask in faith (James 1) your request is ladened with faith. You cannot be asking in doubt and expect returns on the investment of your prayer. Ask in faith. "Let us therefore come boldly before the throne of grace...' the right time to believe is as you approach God in prayer for he said " while they are yet speaking I will answer them"
So believe, and believe that you have received and believe right when you pray.
Final stage of the process of prayer is the RECEIVING stage:
" ... believe that you have received and you shall have them"
Hallelujah! You shall have them, now that's a word of assurance to rest on. He didn't say you may have them, he said you shall have them. In other words be rest assured that having followed the process of prayer as directed, you will definitely receive and see the manifestation of your answer.
Another important thing to note here is the implications of time in this statement, the word shall signifies future and future is just the next second away. The general idea God wants us to have here the ability to patiently expect that which we believe shall come into manifestation. Heb 10:36 "for you have need of patience after that you have done the will of God that you may inherit the promise."
"Follow them who through faith and patience inherit the promise"
"For the vision is for an appointed time and it will surely speak, with for it, even though it tarries, wait it shall surely come"
Many give up too soon. You must be able to believe God through into your manifestation. Wait for it! Expect it! Be alert and be on the lookout! Prepare for it! Why because you shall definitely have them.
Another thing the Lord is trying to tell us here is that we must have a sense of expectation, because we know we shall have them, therefore we must expect them. And when you are expecting something then you prepare for it, not by worrying and being anxious but by demonstration of your faith. If a visitor has promised you to come then you start making preparations to receive the visitor. Failure to do so shows you are not expecting the visitor or not ready to receive him/her. So when the visitor come when you are not expecting, you may not even know.
If you are not expectant at this stage the answer may come and you may not see or recognize them. Abraham has been promised children by God, in his waiting period he was sensitive to welcome visitors who happens to be angels and he was blessed thereof to receive his expectations.
Are you wait for an expectation, be sensitive, be on the lookout because it might not appear in the form you are familiar with, but if you are full of expectation you will be sensitive to discern it when it appears.
Fulfilling this stages of the process of prayer guarantees results and a victorious prayer life. Most importantly, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to always lead us in prayer Romans 8:26 "for we do not know what to pray for as we ought to, but the Holy Spirit helps our infirmity" He helps us to achieve success through all the process of prayer thereby generating enough power to bring results.
Welcome to a victorious life of prayer always. Hallelujah!
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