We all want to get results in our prayers and answers from God. So how do we pray properly to get the answers we desire and that God wants to give? Holy Spirit, breathe on us and bring revelation into our lives about the power of prayer and how we can align with the Father and heaven.
Believing is the key to everything in the kingdom of God, and it’s the way to tap into God’s power. Power is released when it meets faith. We need to go to God and lean on Him to lead us as we pray. The kingdom of God operates by faith, connecting us to God so we can receive His grace and all His blessings through Jesus Christ. In other words, faith is heaven’s currency; therefore, God doesn’t do anything for us apart from faith. It is impossible to please Him without it (Hebrews 11:6).
Let’s look at some verses to see how faith relates to prayer.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
When we are anxious or worried, it means we are not really trusting God to handle the situation. But when we give Him our cares and concerns, His grace can flow into those situations. It’s important when we pray not to worry pray. Have you ever done that? I have. It is where we are so worried about things that we keep praying over and over, asking the same thing, rather than leaving it with the Lord, standing on and declaring His Word, and believing He will work it out for the good (Romans 8:28).
So, Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you; whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” Mark 11:22-24
Faith functions according to spiritual laws (Romans 3:27; 8:1‒2). These verses in Mark 11 explain the law of faith or how God operates. Anyone who believes in Jesus for salvation can also believe they can move a mountain, i.e., things that are blocking or standing in the way of what God has for us, according to the promises in His Word. It takes the same faith to come to salvation as it does to move a mountain. When we live by the law of faith, it becomes our life; the more we walk by faith, the more it becomes second nature.
Faith belongs to God and is His to give (Romans 12:3). God’s faith is a spiritual force that already dwells within us if Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. It is a divine life-source that was imparted to our inner man or spirit as a gift at the time of our new birth to manifest the life of Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). When we are born again, we step into the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13). We have been raised and seated together with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). That position gives us the right to use the faith of God. Therefore, we must be connected to God to have God’s faith. God’s faith connects us to His power through His Spirit.
We will receive if we believe. In other words, to pray believing prayers. Believing prayer expects answers and is founded on faith in God and His Word. Faith leads us into His promises.
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. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:6-8
It is important to release our faith in the power of God every day. We need to practice healing every day, and we do this by praying. We begin by thanking Jesus for His healing power, then draw on His power to work in our bodies wherever we need healing. Don’t just practice healing when symptoms show up! The prayer of faith can also bring healing.
Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. James 5:14-15
When my older sister was a preteen, she developed mononucleosis. I will never forget the day the pastor and elders came to our house, anointed her with oil, and prayed for her healing, as James 5:14‒15 directs. She had been ill for six weeks, and all she had the strength to do was lie in bed or on the living room couch. She had to have her homework brought home to keep up with her school assignments. After being prayed for, she immediately got up and went outside, riding her bicycle up and down the street. It was a miracle! She returned to school and her usual activities directly.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 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 3 years and 6 months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. James 5:16-18
Fervent prayer is a deep, passionate petition to God. We can see others in the Bible who prayed fervently, such as Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:15-17 and Daniel (Daniel 10:1-14). Fervent prayer may also be coupled with fasting, an act of abstaining from food and drink to devote time to God in prayer and bring our flesh under the control of our spirit.
Many people have trouble believing their prayers will avail much because they don’t see themselves as righteous. Righteousness is our identity. It is not because of anything we have done, but because Christ was made sin for us, we became the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). We have greater boldness and clarity when we understand our righteousness.
Let’s look deeper into the spiritual law of faith. A person doesn’t have to be born again to use spiritual laws. In Mark 11:23, “Whoever says…” is the law. Mind-science religions use that law, but these practitioners don’t have God’s faith or His power. They depend on the power of the mind, not the Spirit of God.
And in verse 24, “Whatever he says” does not mean we will receive everything we pray for, because James 4:3 tells us we don’t always receive answers when we pray amiss. That means we must pray in accordance with God’s will.
Remember His Word is His will. So we don’t need to pray, “If it is your will, Lord,” but we can pray the prayer of faith when we know the Lord’s will.
If we have a situation the Word doesn’t have a clear principle to follow, e.g., who to marry, what job to take, where to move, etc., or if we have more than one option to choose from, we can ask the Holy Spirit to show us what to do, and pray the prayer of consecration or submission following His leading into God’s perfect will. The Holy Spirit will never contradict the Word of God or His nature or character.
So, if we want to pray effective, powerful prayers, we need to know the parameters of God’s will, revealed in His Word and in prophecy.
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. 1 John 5:14-15
When we don’t pray according to God’s will but according to what we want, it is a work of the flesh and a form of witchcraft. The apostle Paul includes witchcraft in Galatians 5:19-20 alongside other works of the flesh.
Witchcraft is not only about demons, spells, or rituals. It is also a work of the flesh; in other words, something that flows from fallen human desires. The flesh seeks to control and manipulate, whereas faith requires trust. It is our flesh that wants to control, secure its own outcomes, and do things in its own way instead of trusting God. Whereas faith trusts, waits, obeys, and is surrendered to God.
One example of a manipulative or witchcraft prayer is: Dear God, I pray that You would give me this job, or Mr. Smith would give me this job. It is trying to get the result that we want from God or others. However, praying like this is dangerous because it opens the doors to the enemy to operate in our lives. God does not honor a spirit of manipulation but honors freedom. He never imposes His will on people, so we should not ask Him to do so through our prayers. Repent and ask the Lord to forgive you if you have ever prayed these types of prayers.
When someone asks us to agree with them in prayer, it is important to ask them what they are believing for so you can find common ground (Matthew 18:19). When someone asks me to pray that they would get a certain job, and the Lord has not revealed to me that this job is His will for them, I let them know that I can’t pray specifically that they would get that job. But I can pray and ask the Father to provide the right job, for the right pay, and at the right time, because we know that it is God’s will for us to work and provide for ourselves and our families.
I also pray that He would give them favor and open doors that no man can shut and close doors that no man can open (Revelation 3:7). The Holy Spirit is the spirit of prayer. When we pray in the Spirit (praying in tongues), we are praying God’s perfect will and aligning with heaven.
Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27
But when we pray, it’s not just about faith; it’s about believing we have the authority to pray in Jesus’s name, in accordance with His will.
“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13
God gave us dominion over the earth and has chosen to partner with us, His sons and daughters (Genesis 1:26-28). Jesus has given us the power of attorney to execute God’s will on the earth in His name, and He expects us to use our delegated authority to bring heaven’s will and the kingdom of God into the earth. We do this through prayer and intercession, casting out demons, healing the sick, preaching the Gospel, raising the dead, and discipling nations (Mark 16:15-18).
It is our job as prophetic people to discern the will of God and, through prayer, exercise our authority in the name of Jesus to open what He wants to open and shut what He wants to shut (Matthew 18:19-20; Isaiah 22:22; Revelation 3:7).
Praying with authority focuses on the greatness of God and the victory Christ won for us. That means prayer is not merely a conversation with God but is a legal enforcement of Christ’s victory on earth. Remember, as New Testament believers, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places far above principalities, powers, might, and dominion (Ephesians 1:21; 2:6). We are not approaching a distant God to intervene on our behalf. We do not need to beg or fear that God won’t answer. We are asking God, by our faith and authority, to enforce what He has already promised. So we must not only pray, operating in faith, but from a place of authority.
Strategic prayer is when we ask the Holy Spirit to reveal a relevant promise in Scripture, and then pray and declare it until we see the enemy’s hold broken and the solution manifested. That is why we need to know the Word of God and His promises. They are more than promises; they are laws we legislate on earth to bring forth His will.
Jesus used the Word to overcome Satan when He responded to Satan’s temptation in the wilderness. The Word of God is our greatest weapon against the enemy when we pray and decree or declare Scripture (Hebrews 4:12; Isaiah 55:10-11; Job 22:28). We are bringing the Word of God into our circumstances to impact and change them. The truth of God’s Word overcomes facts that are subject to change.
We build our faith through the Word of God and our knowledge of Him (Romans 10:17). It is not enough to know the Word; we also need to know the God of the Word!
The battles we face in life are a test of our faith and our knowledge of Him, challenging us to see how big God is and to trust Him more deeply. Our level of faith or trust is determined by how big we see God (Jeremiah 32:17, 27; Luke 18:27). We must grow in grace and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. When we get to know Him, then we will know who we are in Him, and our prayers will be powerful!
Growing in the knowledge of God takes time through meditating on His Word, praying, and worshiping. That is why the enemy tries to keep us from spending time in fellowship with God. The Bible tells us that we must redeem our time because the days are evil. It means we need to make time to develop our relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit so we will be equipped for these end times we are living in.
The devil always tries to twist and distort who God is when we are on the battlefield, where the fight is; therefore, our faith must align with our knowledge of who Christ is within us.
Prayer brings God into the earth to accomplish His will, while prayerlessness prevents Him from working. There will be no power in our lives without prayer. It’s easy to neglect prayer, for example, using our prayer time to catch up on reading or other tasks. Father, forgive our prayerlessness! It is important to maintain a discipline of regular, dedicated prayer, with a consistent lifestyle of prayer.
When we pray, we come into God’s presence and commune with Him. That’s why it’s also important to make sure we are quiet too, listening to what He has to say or wants to show us, and not doing all the talking. We need to practice the presence of God and hear from the Holy Spirit for our prayers to be powerful. We talked about practicing the presence of God daily in a recent message. It allows us to commune with Him throughout the day, thereby praying without ceasing.
Jesus went to the Father daily to find out what His will was. Remember, Jesus said He only does what He sees the Father do and says what He hears Him say (John 5:19-20). His life was one of intimacy and dependence on God, the Father. We must follow His example.
We need to cultivate an ear to hear Him. Unforgiveness, walking in sin, and practicing the occult ourselves or our ancestors can hinder hearing His voice. Therefore, we must forgive others, repent of any sin or occult practices in our lives or our bloodline, and renounce partnering with the enemy.
We shouldn’t only pray when we experience an emergency. As we cultivate daily fellowship with God through prayer, we will be able to discern the enemy’s attacks before they happen and receive God’s strategies to cancel them. Also, the Holy Spirit can show us what to pray against in spiritual warfare so we can remove the legal access the enemy has and close the door to him.
Intercession is standing in the gap and praying until we see the breakthrough with the answers and victory that God wants to bring us and others. It is not just about praying fervently, but about discerning His voice and responding to it. We must seek to understand first what God is saying about our lives, families, cities, and nation. Prayer is about our relationship with God. True intercession is about coming to Jesus and following the leading of the Holy Spirit, praying the Father’s heart and will.
It is the Holy Spirit that gives us prophetic intelligence and leads us in how to pray. Our prayers must be Spirit-led when we pray for other people, including for deliverance, prophetic intercession, etc. We receive prophetic intelligence when we abide in Him, which also bears fruit that remains.
“I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” John 15:5-8
“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 may give you.” John 15:16
Let us not underestimate the power of our prayers to touch heaven and move on our behalf and others’. God is working behind the scenes! Our prayers can release miracles!
Don’t forget to thank Him for who He is, His promises, and also for answered prayers even before seeing the result. That’s what faith is!
Colossians 4:2 says, Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.
The spirit of prayer is an anointing that helps us to pray effectively in accordance with God’s will and with His power. The anointing is what makes our prayer effective, our intercession move mountains, our prophetic voice clear, and us fruitful. We have an anointing that abides (1 John 2:27; John 15:7). When we pray apart from a spirit of prayer or without responding to the Holy Spirit’s leading, we are praying in our own strength and wisdom, which is pride.
We need the Holy Spirit’s help to make intercession for ourselves, others, and nations. We can even ask the Lord at the beginning of our prayers, after we repent for our sins, to place His spirit of prayer upon us.
Prayer
We ask You, Father, to give us a heart for prayer and to feel what You feel so we can pray with Your heart. May we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and pray with wisdom and boldness. Holy Spirit, illuminate the mind of Christ to us, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Living the Abundant Life 