How To Find (& Understand) Answers To Prayer
I have a couple true prayer stories to share with you before we learn how to find answers to prayer.
A. My Great Grandmother was a "Prayer Warrior". During WWII she was able to save her entire family from being blown up by landmines by listening to God through prayer. (click HERE to read that true story)
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight"
Proverbs 3: 5&6
B. The second true prayer story is from my Grandmother. This also happened during WWII but the moral of this real-life happening has to do with persistence and never giving up in prayer. My Grandmother was separated from her parents for weeks & weeks - she could not rely on mail, instead she had to rely on prayer. (click HERE to read how she was reunited with her parents).
"Pray continually"
1 Thessalonians 5:17
"Seek and you will find"
Matthew 7:7
The following are 8 ways to find and understand God's answers to our prayers:
There have been many times when I have been praying intently and decide to read my Bible. I'll take my Bible in hand and just open it without looking for any certain verse or book and then I'll read wherever my eyes land - and lo & behold that place where my eyes landed is the answer to my prayer!! This has happened a few times but most of the time I need to meditate on God's word - a little bit each day before finding an answer.
This is that "gut feeling" found deep down in our being. You might find yourself at a crossroads in your life and pray about what direction to turn. You decide upon a pathway but when you start down that road you get a very uneasy feeling that can't be ignored - this is the kind of urging that I'm talking about - this is the Holy Spirit telling you that you've made the wrong decision. When something like this happens - STOP and PRAY some more before you turn around and go back the way you came. (This "pathway", of course, is a symbol for whatever it is that you're praying for - it might be guidance on a job or decision on where to move etc).
After praying about a certain concern or question - go to your clergy, family member, friend and ask their opinion. Sometimes God might even send you an answer through a neighbor or even a stranger.
"Quiet time" can be different for all of us - it might be sitting on a beach watching the waves, or sitting in your house watching the traffic go by or maybe a walk around the neighborhood at night with nobody else around. During these "quiet times" you are not praying but just listening - God might pop an idea in your head or even speak to you through your thoughts. Try it - you might be surprised at the result!
This verse talks more about judging others but the other point of this verse is to clear up your own sin and change your ways. Sin is blinding - you can pray and seek until you are blue in the face but if there is still an area of sin in your life then you won't be able to see or hear what God is telling you. Clean up your life first.
God's thoughts & ways are not the same as ours and His timing is also different. We might feel that we need the answer right away or else.......or else what? What if you are waiting to hear if your loan went through to be able to buy that dream house - you wait so long and eventually lose that house to a different buyer. Maybe through that wait and loss God was saying that you were not supposed to buy that house. God's timing is the only clock by which to live.
We might not understand why the answer is "no" at the time - but later (maybe even years later) - something will happen and then you'll say to yourself: "That's why the answer was 'no' ". God knows better than we do - just trust Him.
This verse, of course, is talking about drifting away from our Christian walk but I also believe that it applies here. When we are waiting for an answer to prayer, we must pay attention to everything until we receive that answer. It might take longer than we are comfortable with but there is a reason even for that wait.
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Take Up The THANKFULNESS Challenge!
I challenge you to thank God for something everyday for one year! Either write it down in a diary OR share with us on a blog. If you have a blog & would like to share your THANKFULNESS posts with us, then please fill out this form: 365 Days of Being THANKFUL form - click HERE and you will be added to the THANKFULNESS page.
