Prayer to know god

A Prayer to Know God’s Will for Your Life
By Rachel-Claire Cockrell

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Whenever I want something so badly that I can’t trust my own heart, I ask God for a Brick Wall. We tend to seek God’s will in a way that implies we need to take action, but what if it’s inaction that puts us on the path God asks of us? Not all decisions are black or white, good or bad. Sometimes something that appears good can be placed in front of us, but not all good things are part of God’s plan for our lives.

Let me be clear, there is no “magic prayer” that can keep us from making the wrong decision. I would also like to clarify that this is something that helps me when I am faced with a decision and my own desires are preventing me from thinking clearly or even caring if what I want is in God’s plan for me.

God knows what he’s doing. Sometimes I forget, but he has a plan. I struggle with figuring out what that plan is most of the time, but one step I will never leave out is the Brick Wall Prayer. God knows my heart. He knows what I desire. He wouldn’t withhold something out of spite. He has plans to “prosper and not to harm , to give a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). I challenge you to take this prayer, mold it to fit your own life, and see how it changes your perspective.

The Brick Wall Prayer (A Prayer to Know God’s Will)

God, you know me better than I know myself. You know my fears and my desires. You know how much I want this. You know how much I will be devastated if this doesn’t happen. I know you love me. I know you have a plan for me. Please, Lord, don’t let my desires blind me to your will. If this is not within your plan for me, throw up a Brick Wall. Give me an obstacle I cannot get past. Help me follow your will, Father. Give me peace about whatever is to come. If this falls through, I will know it is your hand.

Thank you for loving me, 
Amen.

www.crosswalk.com

Printable Version

What does it take to begin a relationship with God? Devote yourself to unselfish religious deeds? Become a better person so that God will accept you?

You may be surprised that none of those things will work. But God has made it very clear in the Bible how we can know Him.

The following principles will explain how you can personally begin a relationship with God, right now, through Jesus Christ…

Principle 1:

God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

God’s Love
“God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” 1

God’s Plan
“I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly” . 2

Why is it that most people are not experiencing the abundant life? Because…

Principle 2:

All of us sin and our sin has separated us from God.

We Are Sinful
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 3

We were created to have fellowship with God; but, because of our stubborn self-will, we chose to go our own independent way, and fellowship with God was broken. This self-will, characterized by an attitude of active rebellion or passive indifference, is evidence of what the Bible calls sin.

We Are Separated
“The wages of sin is death” . 4

This diagram illustrates that God is holy and people are sinful. A great gulf separates us. The arrows illustrate that we are continually trying to reach God and the abundant life through our own efforts, such as a good life, philosophy, or religion — but we inevitably fail.

The third law explains the only way to bridge this gulf…

Principle 3:

Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for our sin. Through Him we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our life.

He Died in Our Place
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 5

He Rose From the Dead
“Christ died for our sins…He was buried…He was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures…He appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred…” 6

He Is the Only Way to God
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.’” 7

This diagram illustrates that God has bridged the gulf which separates us from Him by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.

It is not enough just to know these three principles…

Principle 4:

We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know and experience God’s love and plan for our lives.

We Must Receive Christ
“As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” 8

We Receive Christ Through Faith
“By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” 9

When We Receive Christ, We Experience a New Birth

We Receive Christ by Personal Invitation
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him.” 10

Receiving Christ involves turning to God from self (repentance) and trusting Christ to come into our lives to forgive our sins and to make us what He wants us to be. Just to agree intellectually that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for your sins is not enough. Nor is it enough to have an emotional experience. You receive Jesus Christ by faith, as an act of the will.

These two circles represent two kinds of lives:

Which circle best describes your life?

Which circle would you like to have represent your life?

The following explains how you can receive Christ:

You can receive Christ right now by faith through prayer

Prayer is talking to God. God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.”

If this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, then you can pray this prayer right now and Christ will come into your life, as He promised.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?

If yes, pray now and according to his promise, Jesus Christ will come into your life.

Fill out our form and we will send you helpful links and/or connect you with an email mentor. We want to help you grow in your faith in God.

by Dr. Bill Bright
Used with permission

Foot Notes:  (1) John 3:16 (NIV); (2) John 10:10; (3) Romans 3:23; (4) Romans 6:23; (5) Romans 5:8; (6) 1 Corinthians 15:3-6; (7) John 14:6; (8) John 1:12; (9) Ephesians 2:8,9; (10) Revelation 3:20 Adapted from Have You Heard of the Four Spiritual Laws and Would You Like to Know God Personally, by Dr. Bill Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. © Campus Crusade for Christ. All rights reserved Copyrighted 1965, 1968 by Campus Crusade for Christ, New Life Publications. All rights reserved. Permission for use from the publisher, New Life Publications, P.O. Box 593684, Orlando, FL 32859.

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A Sample Prayer for Personal Character

Abba Father, thank you for bringing me into your family. May I never disappoint you in the way I treat others. May they see in me the qualities of character that can only be attributed to your presence in my life. To you be the glory and the honor, forever and ever, through Jesus my Lord. Amen. ~Phil  Ware

A Sample Prayer of Personal Renewal

(When you are unsure of where you will spend eternity) Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving me of my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Amen

Graduation Prayer

Father, I have knowledge, so will You show me now, How to use it wisely and find a way somehow To make the world I live in a little better place, And make life with its problems a little bit easier to face. Grant me faith and courage and put purpose in my days, And show me how to serve Thee in effective ways. So my education, my knowledge and my skill May find their true fulfillment as I learn to do Thy will. And may I ever be aware in everything I do, That knowledge comes from learning, and wisdom comes from You. Amen.

Prayer of Commitment to Marriage

Heavenly Father, thank you that you love each of us and want us to experience wholeness and hope in our lives. You see when we fail to live according to your ideals and instead find ourselves in a broken relationship. Help us to be willing to accept our own responsibility in this and be willing to ask for forgiveness and to extend forgiveness. May we never retaliate when we feel wronged, but help us to make choices that would show that we have made a commitment of love which we will keep. May we never take this commitment lightly but choose to work at our marriage. May we also realize that sometimes renewal of relationships takes time. May each of us determine to demonstrate patience, kindness and love in how we interact with each other. We ask this in the name of our loving Lord. Amen. – Anne Nickel

A Morning Prayer

“Dear Lord, I give you my hands to do Your work; I give You my feet to go Your way; I give You my eyes to see as You see; I give You my tongue to speak Your words; I give You my mind that You may think in me; I give You my spirit that You may pray in me. Above all, I give You my heart that You may love in me – love the Father and love all humankind. I give You my whole self, Lord, that You may grow in me, so that it is You who lives, works and prays in me. Amen.”

Benediction Prayer

Therefore, may the blessing of the LORD be upon you, and may you know the joy of putting his name upon others.  For indeed, blessed are those who walk in the light of God’s face.    ~Jill Carattini

→ How to Walk under the direction of the Holy Spirit

A Prayer – When You are Fearful

Father God, I am feeling fearful today. Life seems to be uncertain and out of control. I recall that the Bible tells me ‘Perfect love casts out fear’. You alone are Perfect Love, so would you please cast out the fear I feel and replace it with confidence in your sufficiency. Psalm 121 tells me that you never slumber or sleep, so I will trust you to take care of me – moment by moment, day by day. In Jesus name. Amen

A Prayer about Commitment

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. For it is your business, not mine. You will know every shade of my suffering; You will care for me with your perfect fatherhood. -George Mac Donald

→ How to Commit your Spirit to God

Please Make Me New!

Heavenly Father, Thou hast made me, be pleased to new-make me. I am thy work, complete me; I am thy harp, tune me; I am thy child, teach me. – Charles  Spurgeon

→ Article on How to Become a New Person

In God’s Will

Lord Jesus, keep me in Your will. Don’t let me go mad by poking about outside it. -Corrie Ten Boom

→ Knowing God’s will for your Life

A Prayer of Confession

Forgive us, Lord . . . for the things we have done that make us feel uncomfortable in Your presence. All the front that we polish so carefully for men to see does not deceive You. For you know every thought that has left its shadow on our memory. You have marked every motive that curdled something sweet within us. We acknowledge–with bitterness and true repentance–that cross and selfish thoughts have entered our minds; we acknowledge that we have permitted our minds to wander through unclean and forbidden ways; we have toyed with that which we knew was not for us; we have desired that which we should not have. We acknowledge that often we have deceived ourselves where our plain duty lay. We confess before You that our ears are often deaf to the whisper of Thy call, our eyes often blind to the signs of your guidance, Make us willing to be changed, even though it requires surgery of the soul and the therapy of discipline. Make our hearts warm and soft, that we may receive now the blessing of Your forgiveness, the benediction of Your “Depart in peace . . and sin no more.” Amen -Peter Marshall

→ How to Remain Guilt Free

A Prayer for When You Need Wisdom and Direction

Father God, there are so many decisions to make and I don?t seem to know what is the best for now or for the future. You said if we lack wisdom, all we need to do is ask you. I really need you to pour wisdominto my mind today. Thank you!

A Prayer for Success

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain.” So God granted him what he requested. I Chronicles 4:10 NKJV  

A Prayer for When You are Weak or Ill

Father, I am feeling lousy today. I ache all over and feel very weak. You said that your grace was sufficient for me. Please strengthen me. Give me joy in spite of how I feel physically. Amen

A Prayer for the Young Women of the World

Father God, thank you for all the young women in the world. Give them dreams that are bigger than themselves–so they will have to trust you to make their dream come true. Give them a will and heart to be all you created them to be. Help them to work hard and be successful. Enable them to be generous to those who are less fortunate. Give them hearts full of love and compassion. Give them the strength to say “no” to activities that they would later be remorseful about–that they would do what is right for them and for the world around them. Help them to be kind to others. Protect them from people who would harm them physically, emotionally and mentally. Let them know that allowing You to direct their way is the smartest thing they can do. In Jesus wonderful and powerful name. Amen

→ Getting the Power to Live

A Prayer for Others

Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give Your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend Your sick ones, O Lord Christ. Rest Your weary ones. Bless Your dying ones. Soothe Your suffering ones. Pity Your afflicted ones. Shield Your joyous ones. And all for Your love’s sake. Amen – Augustine of Hippo

A Prayer for Prodigals

Prayer FROM ISAIAH 33 (Taken from Living in His Presence by Sylvia Gunter) Isaiah 33: 33:2:  Oh Lord, be gracious to us who stand and pray for these wayward ones _____________.  We have long waited for You to intervene.  Be our strength every morning and our salvation in this distress.  Keep us steadfast in intercession with clean hands and a pure heart. 33:5:  Lord, be exalted, for You are the King.  Fill the home of Your covenant families with Your righteousness. 33:6:  Be the sure foundation for our times and provide us a rich store of salvation, wisdom and knowledge.  Let us know the fear of the Lord, which is the key to Your treasury of good gifts and answered prayer. 33:10:  Arise, Lord, stand up and show Your power to all these children of Yours. 33:13:  Stop the wayward ones whose hardened hearts are running away from You.  Make them hear what You have done for them.  We stand in prayer and acknowledge that Your power alone can release these loved ones from their captivities. 33:15:  O consuming Fire, cause _________ to walk righteously and speak what is right, to reject dishonesty, to stay away from wickedness and to reject the conspiracies of destruction and death through the bondage’s and addictions in their lives. 33:17:  Let ________’s eyes see their King, bow their knees and acknowledge that You reign in the universe and have rightful claim on their lives as their Lord. 33:19:  This is spiritual warfare, and the evil one has fiercely and violently contested for ________’s life.  The battle is the Lord’s, and Jesus is the Victor, so their parents and family stand in Your authority to receive Your promises of victory.  Let _______ not be consumed with arrogance, self-centeredness and rebellion any longer.  Free them from the oppression of everything that is foreign to Your purposes for their life. 33:20:  You have the power to make _______’s life an offering of service and worship before You.  You are at work in them to will and to do Your good pleasure.  Set them in Your peace, stability and permanence. 33:21:  Be their Mighty One, a wide river of defense and protection that no enemy can cross to destroy their life. 33:22:  You ARE THE Judge, the Lawgiver and the King.  Save _________ as You promised. 33:24:  Break the power of iniquity that binds them, and forgive them completely of all their sins.  Restore _______ to health?body, soul and spirit.  We ask in Jesus? name, Amen. Used by permission.

A Prayer for When You Need more Faith

“Teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and with firm conviction that your will govern all. Amen.” -Elisabeth Elliot

A Prayer When You Want to be Reflecting Christ

Lord, make my life A window for Your light to shine through and a mirror to reflect Your love to all I meet. Amen.

Make Me an Instrument

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.”  St. Francis of Assisi

A Prayer When You Feel like You have Failed.

Dear God, The little plans I tried to carry through Have failed. I will not sorrow. I’ll pause a little while, Dear God, And try, again, tomorrow.

A Prayer for a Dream

Father, Once I had such big dreams, so much anticipation of the future. Now no shimmering horizon beckons me: my days are lack-luster I see so little of lasting value in the daily round. Where is your plan for my life? You have told us that without vision, we perish. So, Father in heaven, knowing that I can ask You to deposit in my mind and heart that particular dream, the special vision You have for my life. And along with the dream, will You give me whatever graces, patience, and stamina it takes to see the dream through to fruition? I sense that may involve adventures I have not bargained for. But I want to trust You enough to follow even if you lead along new paths. I admit to liking some of my ruts. But I know that habit patterns that seem cozy nests from the inside, from Your vantage point may be prison cells. Lord, if you break down any prisons of mine before I can see the stars and catch the vision, then, Lord, begin the process now. In joyous expectation. Amen. -by Catherine Marshall

A Prayer for Conflict Resolution

Dear God, when your son Jesus died and rose from the dead, He broke down walls of hostility. Father, you know the conflict I am having right now. I don’t know how to resolve it. You are our Savior. Please save and restore this relationship. Amen

→ Why is M y Marriage in a State of Conflict?

A Prayer of Thanksgiving

For health and strength and daily food, We praise your name, O God. Amen

Sample Prayers before Meals

Bless us oh Lord and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive, through thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord…Amen

Thank you Lord, for the food for which you have provided and for the friends and family with whom to share it.  Amen

Dear Lord, Bless this food which we are about to partake in and bless our conversation that it may be glorifying to you.  Amen

For health and strength and daily food we give thee thanks Oh Lord

A Prayer for our Children and Grandchildren

Lord, I am so glad that you know each of our children and grandchildren by name. Thank you for sending a whole hedge of angels around each child. Thank you for protecting them all today. Father, would you please turn their minds and hearts toward You and pleasing you. Thank you!

A Prayer for When You are Down-Sizing (Moving)

Lord, I really don’t what to move. I like it here – there are so many memories. I am comfortable here because it is familiar. I know it is to large for me (us) now, to much work, but I have such mixed feelings. I don’t like the thought of all the changes. I am so glad you never change. You are and always will be a constant in my life. Help me to remember that when I am packing and unpacking. Amen.

Prayer for a Pastor

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of leadership you have given to our pastor. It is a holy calling. It’s a calling to watch over himself and the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made him overseer. The church has been bought with the blood of your son, on the cross. The responsibility you have given to our pastor is awesome. He too is tempted and tried by the enemy. He has many responsibilities be it in his family or in the community and so it is our prayer that he would be kept from the evil one and that you would empower him to live a godly life, so that out of his fullness he would share the message of the gospel boldly. Help our pastor this week as he searches the Word and Your will for the congregation. Will you grant him the health and strength he needs to share your message in humility and with clarity. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Prayer for a Pastor’s Wife

Dear Father in heaven, I thank you for my pastor’s wife. I thank you she loves you and serves you so faithfully. I pray very specially for her today. I pray You will help her cope with all the unexpected things that come into her day. Help her to accept the interruptions as opportunities to serve. Help her to support her husband and learn to go with the flow of his full life. Help her to manage her household well. Just fill her with yourself today. Help her to allow your Holy Spirit to have full control of her life and may she take strength from you as she meditates on You and Your Word. Give her a hug today. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

A Prayer to Put on the Whole Armor of God

Heavenly Father, I praise and worship you because you are God.  I am honored to be your servant and I take my stand today against the devil and his schemes against me, my family and my ministry.  Father, as I take up each piece of the armor, please secure it in place on me. I take up the shield of faith and extend it over myself.  It extinguishes all the fiery darts of the evil one. I put on the helmet of salvation, which protects my mind from the enemy’s attacks.  I have the mind of Christ. I put on the breastplate of righteousness, which covers my body with the righteousness of God.  In Christ, every foothold of evil has been washed away and I am clothed in righteousness! I gird my loins with the belt of truth.  Your word, O God, is truth.  Father, sanctify me according to your word and remind me through the Holy Spirit of the truth that destroys the lies of sin.   I shod my feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.  I have peace with God through the blood of Jesus.  I have favor with God and with man.  I walk in my inheritance as an adopted son of God and have authority over evil in Jesus’ name. I will use the Sword of the Spirit by speaking the Word of God as it applies to whatever situation I may face today.  Father, please remind me of your Word via the Holy Spirit. I will continue to pray in the Spirit throughout the day, and intercede for all Christians as the Holy Spirit prompts me.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is interceding on my behalf according to my prayers.     Thank you, Father, for the whole armor of God.  Please surround me with your hedge of protection as I move forward on the spiritual battlefield today.  I praise and worship you now and forever, Amen.”

A Prayer for Those in Prison

Father in Heaven we pray for all who are in prison and ask that they would repent of their wrongdoing and thus be freed from the bondage of their sin and shame .  We pray for courage and faith for each of them.  We also pray for all who are affected by their imprisonment.  May they not lose hope.  May we all learn to follow God’s instructions to forgive each other, do what is right, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.  Amen

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Prayer Secret #1 – establishing a good, personal, intimate relationship with God the Father will now get you into the door with Him. It will get you to the point where God will now listen and consider each of your prayer requests.

Prayer Secret #2 is the next step when approaching God with a specific prayer request. This one seems to be so easy to grasp, but many Christians keep violating this basic common sense principle. Prayer Secret #2 is making sure that your prayer request always lines up with the will of God for your life.

I have a pet saying when it comes to this principle. The saying is, “Father always knows best.“ God always knows what is best for you in all situations – you do not! God’s knowledge and wisdom is always perfect – yours is not! God knows what all of your future will hold for you – you do not! Too many Christians are constantly asking God for things that He does not really want them to have.

Here is the main Scripture verse where this basic revelation is being given to us by the Lord:

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14)

Interpretation – God hears your prayer only if the prayer request is in His perfect will for you and your life. If it is not, then the above verse is implying that He will not hear your prayer, and thus will not grant the prayer request.

This is where each Christian has to really get a grip on any specific prayer requests they are presenting to God. If God comes back letting you know that what you are asking for is not in His perfect will for you and your life, then you have to let it go, trust that God knows best, and move on.

When you approach God the Father with a specific prayer request – this is very serious business. You are asking God to bring something to you that normally would not be coming your way. You are asking God to supernaturally bring or allow this request to come your way through Him.

So the first thing you have to do before approaching God with your specific prayer request is to make sure that your prayer request is in His perfect will for you and your life. There are several ways you can do this.

1. Analyze Your Prayer Request

Sometimes it is quite obvious that the request is needed and will be in God’s perfect will for you and your life. You do not even need to pray about whether or not it will be in His will for you and your life. The answer is already obvious and you can go ahead and shoot your prayer through.

A good example would be is that maybe you have just lost your job. You will now have to go to God and ask Him to lead you to the next new job He will want you to have. You already know this request will be in His perfect will for your life because you now need a new job to survive and put food on the table. This is quite obvious, and you can now go ahead and start pressing in and praying to God that He lead you to the next new job that He will want you to have.

Sometimes the request is not so obvious as to whether or not it will be in God’s will for you. Maybe you are dating someone and you would really like to marry this person. However, God has not voiced His opinion on the issue yet.

The way to properly handle this is to go to God and ask for His perfect will on the situation – whether or not you should marry this person. If you really love this person and really want to marry them, the best way to word your prayer is to tell God you would really like to marry this person, but you will only marry this person only if it will be in His perfect will for you to do so.

This way you are on safe ground with God in the way that you have worded the request. You have voiced your opinion on the matter, but you have also let Him know that He knows better than you do as to who you should be marrying in this life, and that you will not marry this person unless it will be in His perfect will for you to do so.

2. The Holy Spirit

The other way to approach this is to simply ask the Holy Spirit if you should be approaching God the Father with the specific prayer request. I believe that the Holy Spirit knows most, if not all of the time, whether or not God will answer your specific prayer request. You can save yourself a lot of travailing and praying by getting the Holy Spirit’s answer before you waste your time and God’s time by praying on a certain issue.

For those of you who have established a good inside connection with the Holy Spirit, the above is rather easy to do. You simply tap into Him, ask His opinion, and most of the time you will pick it up with an “inner knowing” from Him as to whether or not you should proceed any further in approaching God with the specific prayer request.

For those of you who have not yet established this kind of inner connection with the Holy Spirit, you can still go ahead and ask Him, and He will somehow get through to you as to whether or not you should be praying to God on a particular issue.

Now here are 3 short powerful stories that will really illustrate the importance of making sure that all of your prayer requests always line up with the perfect will of God for your life.

Three Stories

1. STORY #1 – About 10 years ago, a friend of mine told me this story and I will never forget it. One of her girlfriends had been dating a man for about two years. Everything was going great. She got to the point where she was now wanting to marry the man. She went before God and started praying, asking God if she should marry him. God came back with a one-line answer and the answer was, “He is sufficient for now.”

This type of an answer obviously was not good enough for her, so she kept pressing God for an answer as to whether or not she should marry this man. God came back with no further answers every time she asked. After about 6 months of continuing to ask God for His opinion on this matter and not getting any additional answers, she decided to make her own decision and marry the man without waiting for God’s confirmation or approval.

Six months into the marriage relationship, this man’s dark side all of a sudden started to emerge. He started to physically abuse her. The beatings got so bad that she had no other alternative but to divorce the man for fear he was going to end up killing her.

I have found from personal experience that whenever God is silent on a specific prayer request, this means to hold your position and do nothing until you receive further word from Him as to whether or not you should move in the direction that you are looking to move into.

2. STORY #2 – Here is another perfect example on this. Another one of my friends was dating a man for about 1 year. She too started asking God if she should marry him. She got no answer from God for at least 3 months. Again, she got impatient waiting for God to answer her. She went ahead and married the man without any leading from the Holy Spirit to do so, and no confirming activity from the Lord that she should marry the man.

One year into the marriage, she found out that her husband had been having an affair behind her back with one of his secretaries during the entire year that they had been married! They were divorced shortly thereafter.

Do you see what happens when you go against the perfect will of God on a specific request? Total death can result. In these two cases, both girls saw their marriages end up in divorce because they were not patient enough to wait for God’s answer on their specific requests! They were both praying for marriages that obviously were not in the perfect will of God for their lives. This is why I say God always knows best.

God knew the one man had a dark side that was going to emerge once he married the girl. He knew the other man would not stay faithful once he got married to the second girl. Neither girl could have known these things were going to occur. But God does know all these things and what our futures will hold for us – and this is why your prayer requests have always got to be within His perfect will for your life or the consequences could be disastrous like they were in these two stories!

3. STORY #3 – The third story is my own personal story. About 20 years ago, I was dating a girl for about one year when she got diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told her she had a 50/50 chance of making it. She immediately started chemo and the rest of the appropriate cancer treatments. I took her to see Joyce Meyer for a healing, along with some of the other ministers in our area who were supposed to have the gift of healing operating through their ministries.

None of the ministers were able to bring any type of healing to my girlfriend. I then started to try and pray myself to see if I could get God to heal her. I will never forget what happened when I did. As I approached God the Father with the request, I felt the Holy Spirit put up a shield between me and God the Father. I initially ignored the shield and continued to try and pray through to God for this request.

As I started praying the appropriate words, I saw my words travel about two feet in front of my mouth and then drop straight to the ground. I could tell my words were not “hitting” God. I then felt the Holy Spirit start to literally pull back on my words as I was trying to release them to God. There was no anointing on my words. I had no wind at my back from the Holy Spirit to be approaching God with this specific request. I was really straining in trying to get my words to reach God the Father.

After about the 5th or 6th time when trying to pray to God for her healing, I immediately stopped and asked God if I should even bother to continue to pray on this issue due to the resistance I seemed to be picking up from the Holy Spirit.

I then received an immediate answer. I was given a strong knowing that God did not want to heal her and that it was His perfect will that she be brought home to Him – and if I continued to try and pray for this healing against His will, that I would just be expending useless energy. He made it loud and clear that His mind was already made up on the issue and that I was to let it go.

He then conveyed to me as to why He was not going to consider healing her. Long story short, my girlfriend was 40 years old when she came down with the cancer. 8 years prior to this, she got diagnosed with the beginning stages of emphysema. The doctors told her that if she did not quit smoking, that she would end up in a wheelchair and on an oxygen tent on a permanent basis.

For whatever reason, she would not quit smoking and she continued to smoke for another 8 years. The emphysema was starting to break into the next level and she still would not quit. She then broke out with the cancer. God made it very clear to me that He gave her 8 years to clean up her act, to heed the warnings from the doctors and to quit smoking.

Our bodies are a direct gift from God, and He expects all of us to do the best we can with them – especially in the area of taking proper care of them. When she refused to take proper care of her body by giving up smoking, God decided He was not going to heal her and that she would have to be brought home much earlier than He would have really liked.

I believe to this day that had my girlfriend quit smoking 8 years before coming down with this cancer, that there would have been a very good chance that God would have healed her of the cancer. But because she did not take proper care of her body, God had no natural desire to want to heal her when this emergency presented itself. And God gave her plenty of time to get her act together before this cancer hit – 8 years!

I did not tell my girlfriend what I felt God had conveyed to me. I did not want to cause her to lose hope in the event I had not properly heard from God on this issue. She tried several other healing ministries, along with continuing all of the cancer treatments, but nothing worked. She died one year later after getting diagnosed with the cancer.

Conclusion

1.  As you can see from the above three stories, you can save yourself a lot of blood, sweat, and tears when praying to God if you can pick it up ahead of time whether or not your specific prayer requests should be brought before Him for His consideration. This is the beauty of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. One of His jobs is to help us in our prayer life with God the Father.

The Holy Spirit will always know whether or not God will want to answer our specific prayer request. By connecting up with the Holy Spirit on a specific prayer request, you will go a long way in being able to decide when to approach God in prayer and when not to.

For those of you who have not got this far in your own personal relationship with the Holy Spirit in order to be able to pick Him up and read His movements, you can still approach both Him and God the Father before you attempt to pray and just simply ask God if it will be in His perfect will that a specific prayer request be put before Him.

I have found that God will always come through loud and clear on this issue. Remember, God wants to establish a loving personal relationship with you – and in this personal relationship will be the benefit of being able to approach Him with your specific prayer requests.

2.  God really wants to show you how to play the prayer game with Him. It is prayer that will pull down major miracles from God. You just have to learn what the ground rules are and how to play the game with Him. The Bible lays down all the ground rules that you will need to know in order to become a very effective and powerful prayer warrior for the Lord.

For whatever reason, God has the big picture set up in that He will not move many of the times on a certain situation unless we first go into serious prayer with Him. The art of prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of a Spirit-filled believer. God can be moved to answer prayer no matter how dire the circumstances. You just need the knowledge on how to properly approach the Lord in order to get Him to move on certain situations.

I think you will find the remaining prayer secrets very interesting, as they will all give you several different options and strategies in which to approach God with on your specific prayer requests. I believe with knowledge comes power. With knowledge will come the ability to know how to properly play the prayer game with the Lord.

I will leave you with one last thought. One of the benefits of having established a true personal relationship with God the Father is the ability to be able to approach Him with your specific prayer requests. Think of the consequences and the possibilities of this privilege that we now have with God the Father.

God the Father has the full supernatural power to do or accomplish whatever He should so desire. The Bible says that “With God NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.”

God loves to answer prayers. Prayers to God can save lives, change circumstances, and prevent catastrophes. The Bible says that God is looking to “show Himself strong” on behalf of those who have established a true, loving, personal relationship with Him. However, many Christians do not fully realize the power and potential they have if they would simply learn how to properly pray to God to get Him to move on certain situations.

Many people are so wrapped up in themselves and their own lives, they fail to see how their own prayers to God can help someone else out who may be in a dire situation. One of the prayer secrets I will be discussing shortly is the power of intercession – the ability to stand in the gap for someone else, approach God as his advocate, and pray to God to help them out of a dire situation.

Many people do not really know how to properly approach and pray to God the Father. As a result, people are either dying early before their time is really up, or they are forced to live under tragic circumstances due to no fault of their own. Accidents can happen. Bad things can happen. But prayers to God the Father can either prevent the bad things from happening before they happen, or they change the situation for the better once the bad thing has happened.

Remember, our God is in the life-saving business! Our God is a God of miracles. He is just looking for true prayer warriors to pull down these miracles that He is only to anxious to release!

Think of the possibilities that we all have with this privilege that we have with God the Father – to be able to boldly approach His throne for prayer anytime, anywhere, and for any situation – to be able to save the day for someone who may be at death’s door!

This is the call of the Eagle. A true Eagle of God is a “master prayer.” He has learned the fine art of being able to properly and effectively pray to God the Father in order to literally move mountains when needed. Nothing is impossible for a true Eagle of God because he knows nothing is impossible with the God he serves.

Mark my words! God will be raising up an army of Eagles in the coming years that will fly with the power and anointing of God such as the world has never seen before or will ever see again. The Bible says in the latter days just before Jesus comes back, that an army will raised up. The verse is Joel 2:2. It reads:

“A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there be any such after them, even for many successive generations.”

The rest of the verses then go into how powerful this army will be and the exploits they will do under God’s anointing and power.

For more information on this coming army – see my article titled “Prophecy from Jesus to Mary Baxter on Joel’s Army to Come” under the “Prophecies” section. A woman by the name of Mary Baxter received a direct Word from Jesus about this army and who He will be calling to be a part of it.

This was a very powerful Word given to this woman, and I believe there is a strong possibility that this army will be coming out of this generation!

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