Expect Answers When You Pray!

For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened (Luke 11:10).

You have every right, as a child of God, to expect answers when you pray (John 15:16). But if you pray to God doubting, you're not going to get anything. James 1:6-8 says, "...But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

To be double minded in this context means to vacillate, to waver or stagger at the promises of God through unbelief. Such a man, according to God's Word, can't receive anything from God, for it takes faith to receive from Him: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).

There's no use praying, if you don't expect God to answer. God asked us to pray because He wants to answer. One of the reasons some people don't expect answers when they pray is that they remember all their sins and failures as soon as they get on their knees to pray and become overwhelmed by self-condemnation. Self-condemnation will dissipate your faith; never allow it to get a hold of you.

The way out of such quagmire is to build yourself in God's Word. 1 Peter 2:2 says, "As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby." The Word of God can build you up in righteousness: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith..."(Romans 1:17). You need to renew your mind with God's Word and strengthen yourself in His righteousness. With the consciousness of your righteousness in Christ, you can confidently ask anything of the Father, in accordance to His will, and expect Him to answer, and He will.

PRAYER

Dear Father, I thank you for the life and nature of righteousness and you've given me. Not only does your righteousness give me the ability to do right, it makes me stand unblameable and unreproveable in your sight. Therefore, I pray today, knowing I've been ordained to receive answers to all my prayers, in Jesus' Name. Amen.



Rhapsody of Realities January 12, 2010
-Pastor Anita Oyakhilome