Seven Steps to Prayer That Brings Results
- Decide what you want from God and get the scripture that definitely promises you these things.
You must base your prayer on the Word of God.
You cannot pray beyond your faith and you cannot have faith beyond the Word that you know and have in your heart.
John 15:7 NKJV If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 1:1-3 NKJV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
God has attached Himself to His Word and you will never get Him to do anything apart from His Word.
You must have the Word in your heart because there will be a fight that must be waged for what you are praying for.
1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
It will take time for you to receive the answer to your prayer.
Be prepared to stand and fight for what you have prayed and believed for with the Word of God.
- Ask God for things you want and believe that you have them.
Matthew 6:7-8 NKJV And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. (8) “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
Matthew 7:7-11 NKJV “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (9) Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? (10) Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? (11) If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 18:19 NKJV “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.
John 15:7 NKJV If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 15:16 NKJV You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
John 16:23-24 NKJV “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. (24) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
We can see from all these Scriptures, that even though God know what we have need of, He still wants us to ask Him for those things.
Mark 11:24 NKJV Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Mark 11:24 AMPC For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].
Mark 11:24 BBE For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it.
Mark 11:24 NET For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Satan will try and tell you that you don’t have the answer.
Two kinds of truth:
- Sense-knowledge truth – those things that can be perceived with the five physical senses.
- Revelation truth – those things that are declared to us by God’s Word.
That which is in the spiritual realm is made real and manifest in the natural realm through my faith.
My faith grasps it and creates the reality of it in my life.
Expressing a desire and asking the Lord for something are two different things.
When you ask you MUST believe that you receive the answer at the time that you pray.
- Never permit a mental picture of failure to enter your thinking. Let every thought and desire affirm that you have what you ask.
If doubts persist, rebuke them. Pull them down with the Word of God.
Failure is not an option!
Uproot every thought, image, dream, impression, or feeling that is contrary to what you have prayed and believed that you received the answer.
All thoughts, dreams, images, impressions or feelings that do not contribute to your faith must be destroyed.
The enemy will try and get you to keep checking to “see” if the thing or situation has changed.
- Guard against every evil thought that comes into the mind.
Thoughts are governed by observation, association and teachings.
Stay away from places and things that do not support your affirmation that God has heard and answered your prayer.
Philippians 4:6-8 NKJV (6) Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (8) Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
- Meditate constantly on the promises upon which you based the answer to your prayer.
See yourself in possession of what you’ve asked for and make plans accordingly as if it were already a reality.
Example of promise from your boss about a pay raise and we will go out and buy something based on that promise BEFORE we have seen one dime of the increase.
Proverbs 4:20-27 NKJV My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. (21) Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; (22) For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. (23) Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. (24) Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you. (25) Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. (26) Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. (27) Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.
If you don’t see yourself with the answer, then the Word is no longer before your eyes.
John 15:7 NKJV If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Joshua 1:8 NKJV This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
If you don’t stand by the Word, as much as God wants to stand by you, He can’t.
- In your waking moments think on the greatness of God and His goodness and count your blessings and your faith will increase.
Lift your heart to God constantly in gratitude and increasing praise for what He has done and for what He is doing for you now.
Philippians 4:6 NKJV Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Psalms 103:1-5 NKJV A Psalm Of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! (2) Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: (3) Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, (4) Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, (5) Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalms 34:1-4 NKJV A Psalm of David When He Pretended Madness Before Abimelech, Who Drove Him Away, and He Departed. I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. (2) My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. (3) Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together. (4) I sought the LORD, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.
- Make every prayer relative to what you’ve asked, a statement of faith instead of unbelief.
You can say that you do have faith as easily as you can think thoughts of doubt and unbelief.
It is thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith-filled words that leads the heart out of defeat into victory.
Don’t undo your prayer of Faith!
Smith Wigglesworth said, “If you have prayed seven times for any one thing, you prayed six times in unbelief.”
Andrew Murray said, “It is not good taste to ask God for the same thing over and over again.”
Murray also said, “If, when you do pray again, what you’ve prayed for hasn’t materialized, don’t pray for it again in the same way because that would be unbelief. Remind God that you have already asked for it, and what His Word says, and tell Him that you’re expecting it and thank Him for it.”
Corresponding Actions
James 2:14-22 NKJV What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (15) If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, (16) and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (17) Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (18) But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (19) You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble! (20) But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? (21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? (22) Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?
James 2:18,21-22 Weymouth So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life in it–so long as it stands alone. (18) Nay, some one will say, “You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions. (21) Was it, or was it not, because of his actions that he was declared to be righteous as the result of his having offered up his son Isaac upon the altar? (22) You notice that his faith was co-operating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected;
It is not enough to believe and confess the Word of God in your situation; there must be corresponding actions to accompany your faith.
Worry is a great example of this. Many of claim to be in faith but yet we tolerate the sin of worry in our lives when the Word of God teaches us not to worry or have any anxiety.
God never condones foolish acts that we might call “doing the Word”.
God never told anyone to not go to the doctor. Matter of fact, God can bring about healing through medical science. God just does not want us to have our faith in them; keep our faith in God and His Word. But there are some that have missed it by believing that they should not go to a doctor because they are believing God for healing in their bodies.
If you need medical help, get medical help!
Simply put, corresponding actions are just acting as though the Word of God is true and that God will do what He say He will do.