Answered prayer is one of the greatest joys of any believer in Jesus Christ. It can lift us up and make us soar like nothing else can. When we receive an answer to prayer all doubt and unbelief flees out of our hearts and we know that we know, that we know that there is a living God who loves and cares about us. For the new believer prayer can be a very intimidating experience, often seeded in our minds by all the ‘religious' boring, sonorious clerics we've seen praying on television who've made God seem so untouchable and turned prayer into a ritual rather than an outworking of a vibrant, heart intense relationship with our Creator.
There are no great keys to praying – it is simply talking to God as you would to your closest, dearest friend plus some. There is nothing that can separate us from His love, and there is nothing that we can share with Him that will shock Him senseless; after all He created us and knows exactly what is in our hearts and minds already. While prayer is that simple, it does not mean that it cannot be enhanced and made more vibrant and powerful as we come to know God more intimately and to grow in our understanding of all that He has put in His Word.
One of the most powerful things I learned about prayer was to pray strategically with the scriptures, to be very targeted and specific in praying specially chosen scriptures over specific circumstances. The Bible says that God's Word is quick and active and sharper than a two edged sword, that it is like a hammer that breaks rocks, that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, and a source of wisdom, among many other things. When we speak God's Word over a situation it contains the same power as though God had spoken it Himself, and because we are now His children, we carry His DNA and His authority to speak out His Word and expect to see situations and circumstances change.
Recently when going through a difficult time with our business and wondering if it was going to survive in the natural, but knowing in my spirit that God has called us to that arena to make a difference, I asked Him for specific scriptures I could declare over our business that would brings us through and keeps us in His will. When we speak His Word out it changes the atmosphere around us and brings our circumstances and lives into alignment with the will of God. We begin to resonate with the sound of heaven and divine order begins to come around our lives. God very graciously led me to Deuteronomy 33:11-16, where Moses prays a blessing over the Israelites just before they cross into the Promised Land. In that blessing God promises them great fruitfulness and prosperity in the work of their hands and the fruit of their land. Praying those scriptures has bolstered our faith, changed the atmosphere in our office and released new business opportunities to us. It does not matter what you see in the natural, or what the enemy may try to bring against you, when you're praying the will of God and His Word over your life, change will occur. We did the same when one of our teenagers was going through a difficult time. God gave us a specific scripture to declare over her life and we saw the enemy lose his foothold.
Psalm 91:1 says that “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty” (Amplified). There is a condition to this Psalm; in order to remain protected under the shadow of the Almighty we must dwell in His secret place. What is that secret place?; it is an ongoing, intimate, honest, obedient relationship with God, and so effective answered prayer has some conditions attached to it as does His protection. If we are a new believer, then God's grace is there for us at the level of knowledge and understanding that we have.
For the mature believer we know that our lives must line up with God's Word if we are to hear His voice and receive His blessings, and in some instances if He is to hear us. There is no one key or absolute condition that must be met for effective strategic prayer to be answered; God's Word is alive and active and will always accomplish what it is sent to do and God looks first on our hearts and our motivation when we pray.
“So how do I get the right scripture to pray”? you might ask. Let's list a few points below:
1. We have the known Word of God i.e. the Bible is very open and clear about God's viewpoint on specific situations e.g. on healing Isaiah 53:5 says “… and with His stripes we are healed”.
2. There are scriptures that might apply generally to a situation e.g. when we are going through a difficult situation or one we don't feel we can cope with then we may pray 2 Corinthians 12:9 “… My grace (My favour and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you (sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully); for My strength and power are made perfect… in your weakness”. They are scriptures that encourage us in the Lord and in our faith. One helpful thing you can do is begin to gather in a journal scriptures that refer to a topic e.g. money or forgiveness, then write them out as a prayer personalised to your situation. This is a great way to get the Word of God implanted in your mind and spirit, and to also bring about the renewing of the mind (or change in your belief systems) that Romans 12 speaks about.
3. There are times when the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance a scripture, we look it up and find that it relates specifically to our situation. It seems to touch our spirit and ‘speak' to us or our situation. That is called a rhema word, or the ‘spoken' Word of God, and it carries with it a specific anointing to change a situation or circumstance when it is spoken out. This is the kind of word we received for our business from Deuteronomy 33.
Any prayer is about relationship with God. Spending time with His Word and talking to Him will grow your intimacy and your ability to hear His voice. Learn to go to Him first to hear what He has to say about your circumstances, and begin to pray and declare that Word daily, over and over until you begin to see the fruit of it's power changing those circumstances for the better.
