In Christ

Prayer, does it really work? I heard someone say, "I prayed and nothing happened.” Have you ever prayed and it seemed like your situation did not change or you did not get the results you were looking for. I am here today to tell you, "It is not God's fault!” I know that is not what you may have wanted to hear, but it is true.

Too often the problem is because we simply did not give God the time to work in our lives. We live in a time where we expect instant answers. We grab some fast food, we have a vast knowledge base at our finger tips through our smart phones or the internet and we think well, "I gave God most of the day to answer my prayer. That is more than enough time!”

Another major reason we may not get results is because of lack of faith. You may believe, God is God and He will just go ahead and do it for us. Wrong, we have a part to play. It is our faith that receives answers to prayer. Hebrews 11:6(NLT) ⁶And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek him.

If we sincerely seek Him -He will reward us. That sounds like answered prayer to me! If nothing happened when you prayed did you sincerely seek Him? Too often prayers are sent out in desperation as a last resort... and then God is blamed because the situation did not change. Did you have the faith to receive? God does not answer our needs He answers our faith!

Jesus gives us a wonderful example in Mark. We read about the woman with the bleeding disease who had suffered for many years. Finally her faith received the answer she was looking for, her complete healing. Jesus did not just do it for her. Her faith received it. Mark 5:34(NLT) ³⁴And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.”

"I believe there is a God. Isn't that enough?”

No. You need to get to know Him and His way of doing things. Simply knowing God exists will not get your prayers answered. You must spend time getting to know Him, through His Word (the bible), and giving Him some of your time. I'm talking quality time not just the commercial break between the news and your favourite show. God's Word tells us that faith comes to us by hearing and by hearing the Word. When we take the time to know God and build our faith we can expect to experience answered prayer.

Mark 11:23-24(NLT) ²³I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. ²⁴I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you've received it, it will be yours.

Here is another key that again is our part. Mark 11:25(NLT) ²⁵But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

"But you don't know what they did to me! I can not forgive them!” Yes you can and if you want your prayers answered you must forgive them as we just read. Forgiving is a decision. We can make a decision before God to forgive and He will help us to move on. It doesn't mean you will instantly forget what happened, but God will help you and eventually the hurt will go away.

There is one other person you must forgive as well, yourself. It does not matter what you did in the past or how horrible of a person you may feel you are. God loves you and He knows everything about you already so you may as well go ahead and accept His forgiveness and His love. If we are truly sorry for our actions He will forgive us every time. When we pray we can't come boldly to heavenly places if we don't accept our Father's Love.
Romans 8:38-39(NLT) ³⁸And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.
³⁹No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

When we begin to know God's Word and His way of doing things we can open the door to answered prayer and miracles in our lives. Again, it is not knowing about God, it is knowing Him! When we are born again, In Christ we are His children and He wants to give us the desires of our heart.

Submission by Dale McDonald