Do You Believe God Will Answer?

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For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened (Matthew 7:8, NLT).

Surveys reveal that 60 percent of all Americans pray, but I find it disappointing that only 63 percent of Christians pray regularly. I think that we would pray more often if we believed that God would answer our specific prayers.

If we had more answered prayers, we would be more excited about praying. 

How would your prayer life change if you prayed and received an answer for the following prayers? 

• A tumor in an X-ray, prayer, then no tumor in an X-ray
• $100,000 is needed in five days, prayer, and the need is met
• A person complains of a shortened leg, you stop and pray, and the leg grows to normal length as you pray
• A person needs $127 to go on a short-term mission trip, and after you pray with this person for their requests, someone immediately walks up and gives a check to this person for $127.
• A prayer for power in sharing Jesus with 16 people, and after you share your testimony, all 16 accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior

All the above answers were answers to my prayers. I don’t look at myself as a great prayer warrior, but after over 50 years of consistent prayer, my faith would seem lacking if I didn’t have a few grand slam prayer answers in my testimony.

How about you? If we believe in a God who says, “Ask, and it shall be given,” answered prayers—big and small—should be a regular occurrence in our walk with Jesus.  

To increase my effectiveness in prayer, I approach my requests using three statements:  

Yes, He can!

Start by believing God can. Too often, we pray from our doubts instead of our faith. Yes, we will have unanswered prayers. But I’ve found that my “God can” faith has increased more through unanswered prayer than through answered prayer.

Yes, I can!

We can’t pray adequately unless we understand who we are in Christ and that God wants to work through us. One of my favorite verses says:

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).

The number one word used for prayer in the New Testament, besides “prayer,” is “ask.” Why? God wants us to learn to ask.  

Yes, He will!

We are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him (1 John 5:14).

The secret of praying effectively is the confidence that God wants to answer our requests. We learn through our calling and testimony what type of prayers He loves to answer in our lives.

When God asks us to do something, and we obey, He opens the floodgates in answering our prayers.

Please believe and work through your doubts to faith. 

And remember:  Yes, He can! Yes, I can! And, yes, He will!