Do some personal assessment by asking yourself this question: When I decide I want to spend time with the God of the Universe, do I come to Him with absolute certainty and confidence that the specific things I ask for will be given?

Some of you don’t know if you can pray that way. Others might think this is a trick question, but it’s not. God wants you to have absolute confidence before Him, to pray specific things in such a way that you know He will answer.

Look at 1 John 5:13-15. “I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: 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 what we asked of Him.”

The first thing to notice is the context. Verses 11-12 tell us that “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” The message here is to God’s children, to those who believe in the Name of the Son of God. The phrase “So that you may know that you have eternal life,” lets us know this letter is written to give assurance to people who are really in God’s family.

A second issue we need to address concerns how to pray in order to know God hears our prayers. The short phrase in verse fourteen gives a condition: “if we pray according to the will of God.” If you or I pray anything according to His will, meaning that it’s God’s desire and intention, then He plans to fulfill it.

Stemming logically from the idea of praying according to God’s will, the third issue this passage addresses is “How do we know God’s will?” At this point I hope you’re thinking, “Hmm, I pray a lot of vague prayers.” I think sometimes that instead of praying in faith we usually pray in hope. For example, I’ll pray, “Oh, God, I hope this happens. Oh, God, this is a good desire. Oh, God, it would be nice if You did that.” But that’s not the way Jesus told us to pray. He said when you come asking in faith, “believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

One thing I’ve learned as I’ve studied prayer is that the great men and great women of God have an open Bible before them as they pray. They don’t go before God thinking, “Let’s see, I need to read three chapters today to keep up with my program.” No, as they read they pray, “God show me Your will for me; show me Your will for my family; show me Your will for the future.” They ask God specifically according to His promises, and God comes through for them.

A few examples of how to pray according to the will of God and according to His promises will help us out here. First, by the promises. Suppose someone has a significant decision to make or a big problem to solve. It may be a situation in your marriage that you need to address with your spouse. You’re concerned your spouse will be offended or hurt, maybe even angry when you try to address this issue. “Would You give me wisdom about how and what to say in this situation, God?”

Perhaps it’s a situation involving one of your children. Emotionally you feel yourself backing off, when in reality you need to move into the situation and speak the truth. You know there may be fireworks, so you need God to give you wisdom about how to approach your child.

Or there may be a job situation. It could be with your supervisor or, if you’re the employer, it could be with someone who works for you. You need wisdom about how to intervene in this delicate situation and also to know God’s will so that He can work.

In situations like these we either need to know what to do, or we need to know how to do it. Basically it boils down to the fact that we need wisdom from God. The Biblical definition of wisdom is the ability and the skill to understand God’s design for life and then find our part in it so it works. The good news is that if you need wisdom, God has promised to give it.

The Holy Spirit wants to teach you to pray specifically. He wants to give you the hope and certainty to pray with confidence. Start with yourself. Is there a promise God wants you to claim? Is there an area in which you need wisdom and direction for change? Whatever you really need from God, come and take His yoke.

Excerpted from the booklet, How to Pray with Confidence Before God, by Chip Ingram. Copyright 2004, by Chip Ingram. All rights reserved.

Chip Ingram is Teaching Pastor of Living on the Edge, a national radio ministry.

(devotional by Chip Ingram from Christianity.com)

2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV)

²⁰For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

By nature, God is a promiser. He’s made a ton of them to His children. A promise is the assurance that God gives to His people so they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work.

You don’t realize how much you need God’s promises until your smooth and easy life suddenly turns sideways. This is the time to dig into God’s Word and get something to wrap your faith around.

Now the Christian life would be easy if the space in time is small between when you claim God’s promises and when you receive what He promised. Read it one day and get it the next. Wow – wouldn’t that be great!?

But life’s not like that.

The hard part is in the waiting between the promise and the answer; and even harder, when the waiting comes with uncertainties.

Where’s this going? Where am I going to end up? What’s my future look like?

The reality is, we just don’t know and it’s this not-knowing that crushes us. We doubt because we don’t know. We worry and despair because we don’t know. We falter and sometimes fail – all because we don’t know. If only we knew how this trial was going to play out, we would be OK. But we don’t.

I can take a bad day. I can take a bad month. I can even take a bad year or bad decade, if I have to, as long as I know how it will end up. For some of you it’s a health crisis. For another, it’s a question about your marriage or an uncertainty with a child. For someone else, it’s a restlessness in your soul. We all have areas of uncertainty where we need to hold on to what God has said. His promises are what we cling to while we wait for Him to work. Our faith is in God. He knows what He has promised, He can’t lie, and He can’t forget. He will deliver on time, all the time. Who else can make promises like that?

Now I wish I could tell you that it always figures out perfectly in our lifetimes, but I would be lying to you. You cannot make sense of the promises of God with this life only. You must factor the reality of eternity into the equation. Eternity brings it all together. The promises of eternal life and the assurance of hope in heaven are what make God’s promises exceedingly great and precious.
–James MacDonald

“God, forgive us for thinking that everything must make sense today in the economy of our human satisfaction. Give us faith to believe that we’re here for a purpose that is greater than ourselves, greater than our personal enjoyment, even greater than our participation in building Your kingdom. Our lives are about a legacy-Your glory. Amen.”

• Name a promise that God has made to You in His Word that You need to remember today.
• What promise do you cling to that will only make sense in eternity?

(devotional from Christianity.com)

There are many moments in life when we pray and ask the Lord to meet a certain need, and because we don’t receive the answer right away, we feel discouraged and tempted to quit praying. It is important that we remember our God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. He knows exactly how and when to answer our prayer even though we may think we know how and when the answer should come. I encourage you to be strong in the Lord and never allow the voice of the enemy to tell you that God doesn’t answer prayer. God answers and gives to us our hearts desires, but it is not always on our timetable. Continually trust and know that God has your best interest in mind.

THE WEDDING RING

Two days after our wedding, we arrived at our honeymoon spot — cottages on the northern California coastline with their own private beach. We went down the cliff path to the beach and tossed a Frisbee back and forth for a while, but since it was late in the day, my wife asked if we could go back and make ourselves some dinner. Towards the end of dinner my wife took a look at my left hand and asked “Where’s your wedding ring?” It was gone and I felt that wave of emotion go up and down my body. “It must have come off when we were throwing the Frisbee.” We hurried down to the beach.

As soon as we got to the beach we had our little prayer meeting: “God, please help us to find the ring.” We knew exactly where we had been and got to work. We divided the whole area into squares and began our systematic search. Soon it was too dark to continue, so we went back to our cottage deflated. Next morning we rose early and continued our search, but didn’t find the ring. Needless to say, my wife was very unhappy, and I encouraged her to forget about it and try to enjoy our trip.

We spent the next three days on various activities, and on the fourth day I suggested we go back down to the beach. As we climbed down the stairs I could tell my wife was intending to start searching again. I told her to let go of it, she said no way. As soon as we got to the beach, she started searching again, but something happened to the beach since we were last there. A high tide had completely washed over the whole beach and, right where we had been throwing the Frisbee, someone had been spinning circles in the sand with a 4-wheel drive vehicle.

I told my wife it was hopeless. She ignored me and went down by the waters edge to search. I sat down cross-legged on the beach and cried out to God several times: “Please help her to face reality.” As I said that the last time, I bowed my head and there, up on top of a mound of sand, right between my legs, was my ring. I remember crying out loud “LORD, forgive me” as I flung myself down on the sand. My wife came running over, having no idea what was wrong, and when she found out, we both praised our GOD. We wrote the whole story in the sand so everyone going there that day would see that GOD really does answer prayer.

By Chris Geary

Never allow the voice of pessimism to keep you from being steadfast in your prayers. The Bible declares in James 5:16, “…The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” The word effectual means, “Producing or capable of producing an intended result.” When we pray in faith believing for an answer to come, our effectual prayers are producing and capable of producing the answer to our prayers. (Hebrews 10:23) (Mark 11:23-26)

The moment we pray for an answer to come, we are putting into motion of producing our desired result, but we must also be fervent in our asking. To be fervent means to be eager, sincere, heartfelt, unfeigned and zealous. In other words, we are to pray expecting the answer to come. The Bible says
that God is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. I encourage you to never quit praying for your answer to come. God may not answer right away because He sees the big picture, but continue in prayer and know that our God is an on time God. He will never fail you, never leave you nor will He ever forsake you. (Luke 11:5-13) (Hebrews 11:6) (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Read and meditate on these scriptures:

Psalm 103:2-5 “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all thine iniquities; who heals all thy diseases; Who redeems thy life from destruction; who crowns thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Philippians 4:6-7 “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry