PRAYER | CHRISTIAN LIVING | PERSONAL POST

Those who know me, know I have a passion for prayer! I’m not sure why this specific area with God has been so impressed upon my heart, but as I’ve pursued the Lord’s heart in prayer and seen real answers, it drives me to go deeper and deeper.

In today’s blog post, I want to share my heart on Praying Prayers That See Answers. 

What does this mean?

For many people (myself included at one point in time), if someone asks “what is prayer?”, the answer would be, “communication with God”. While it’s true that we have access to God all the time to pray, talk and get to know Him – and these play a vital role in developing our relationship with Him – oftentimes, I see Christians stop short of their breakthrough.

It’s far too common in the believer’s life to bring something before God as long as it’s inconveniencing them, but once there is a little relief, we drop the matter rather than seeking full breakthrough. Or we ask once, immediately see resistance and retreat in defeat – not realizing the resistance is the very sign we are headed in the right direction for breakthrough.

Prayers that see answers are ones that learn to hear from God in order to pray in alignment with His heart. We aren’t aimlessly guessing and throwing around prayers that seem “good” to us. We take the time to sit in His Presence and wait for Him to speak or move our hearts in a way that we can catch His heart for the situation we’re in. It isn’t magic. It isn’t for a select few spiritually sensitive people, it’s for all believers. 

Just because it’s become “normal” in modern day church for the believer to not have time to sit in His Presence during a church service or to delegate our spiritual growth to a church leader to tell us what to do next, does not mean this should be normal. 

He is readily available to us all, always. We have full access to Him even if we aren’t sure how to believe that. Instead of settling for what we’ve experienced, the believer is called to hope for what we have not seen. The Holy Spirit was given to us so that the Spirit of God Himself will always be available to us – right in our hearts.

Why does it matter for more than just me?

You may wonder.. What does breakthrough entail? Maybe for some, breakthrough conjures up images of truly desperate situations of addiction, disease or financial crisis. But breakthrough is simply apprehending that which has been promised to us by our Father. That means – your communication in your marriage goes from fine to excellent, your children go from poor behavior to joyful days together, you see a financial increase you didn’t expect, and on and on. 

As Christians, it matters that we know how to receive answered prayers from Heaven. The world is coming up with answers to problems and creating confusion, brokenness and more pain. The Church must hold the true answers by receiving them from Heaven. 

The breakthrough isn’t just for you.

While every breakthrough or promise I receive from the Lord blesses me, it has a ripple effect. A testimony prophesies what’s possible. 

There is this story in history of a man who sought to break the “four minute mile”. The legend was that running a 4 minute mile isn’t humanly possible and so no one had done it. Until one man set his mind to find out if that is really true and he beat it. After he beat it, over a thousand others went on to beat the four minute mile! 

Seeing one person breakthrough what seemed impossible allows others to step into the same or similar breakthrough in their own lives! 

What areas have we settled for less than God’s best?

Now it’s your turn to think about this for yourself. What areas in your life have you settled because you feel the circumstances suggest there’s no way it will change? Make a list of 5 things – whether in your marriage, children, family, a best friend, a healing needed in someone, an area of fear you’ve never overcome, etc.

The next step is to ask God to give you the gift of faith for each of these situations. It will take faith that only comes from the Holy Spirit in order to pray for the impossible. 

What does it mean to partner with God in prayer?

As we pray, it’s vital that we partner with God in our prayers, not simply say an obligatory prayer so that we can say we tried. To partner with God in prayer means we keep our hopes set on Him and what is possible only through Him. It also means we spend time waiting and asking Him what His heart is for each situation. 

You may sense Him say something, show you a picture in your mind or simply experience your hopes rising for the situation. 

We may not know how He would answer the prayer. In the Bible, Sarah did not understand the method of how God would fulfill the promise He gave to Abraham for a son, and attempted to step in too early to make it happen. Sometimes it’s challenging to sit with the Lord to see how He wants us to partner with Him – is it by taking an action of faith? Or are we meant to continue praying without taking action? Understanding this gets better with practice!

Lastly, I’ve created something for anyone who wants to go deeper on this topic. This is a 3 Day Prayer Challenge specifically for wives/brides to pray for their marriage and husbands! During this challenge, you’ll receive a reflection journal with questions to help you uncover what’s holding you back in prayer as well as daily audio lessons to teach you what it means to pray prayers that see answers!

Click the button below to sign up!

Ps – you don’t have to do it in 3 days if your schedule doesn’t allow. You can always stretch the process out a little longer!