Ladies Bible Study
The Secret to Answered Prayer
Many times in our daily prayer life we feel unsatisfied, unfulfilled and unanswered. We pray and don’t feel as if our prayers have left the space around us, much less ascended into the throne room of God. We feel like our prayers have been in vain.
So how do we reach that place of satisfied, fulfilled and answered prayer? That is what the Lord has dealt with me about and I want to share it with you today.
Is this the “end all” of obtaining answered prayer? No, most definitely not, it is only the beginning of the journey. Today, I want to start you on a simple journey that will open God’s Word to you and start you on your own path to a full, rich prayer life.
John 15:4-5: Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
The first step to a full prayer life is “abiding in the vine’
Abide - means to dwell in remain in, to settle in for the long term!
When you are reading these scriptures for yourself substitute “dwell in” or “live in” for “abide in” and they may make more sense to you.
When we are born again God’s spirit come in and abides in us. This is what Jesus means when He says, “He abides in us.”
We are recreated with the life of God.
God’s life is imparted to us. It is the Zoë life of God- all the life God has to give!
The same God who spoke “let there be light” and the universe was created and is still expanding.
The same God who said “let us make man in our own image” and created man out of the dust.
The same God who reached down into the pit of hell and raised Jesus from the dead!
That is the same God, His life, His creative force, and His power that dwells in you!
Sometimes I think we don’t really know what it is we have inside us. This is the same power that drives our prayer life!!!
When we live in Christ, we spend all our time with Him. We are constantly in His presence. Jesus told us He would never leave us and forsake us, but there are many times that we leave his presence and then when we need to talk with him, we are entering into an unfamiliar place and don’t really know how to approach Him.
You see, prayer is talking with God, not to Him. It is a dialogue between A Father and His
Child, not a monologue with us doing all the talking, walking away and then expecting God to unconditionally answering our prayer. To abide in Christ means spending time in God’s Word, in meditating on its truths and talking with God about everything, not just the current emergency you are facing!
The 119th Psalms gives us many helpful instructions on “abiding in the vine.”
Psalms 119:11: Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You
Psalms 119:15-18: 15. I will meditate on Your precepts, And contemplate Your ways.
I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word. Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.
This is talking about Godly wisdom.
James 1:5: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
James 4:3: You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Psalms 119:27: Make me understand the way of Your precepts; So shall I meditate on Your wondrous works.
Psalms 119:36-37: Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.
We need to spend time in God’s Word learning what his will is, what His ways are and look at the worthwhile things and not the worthless things. The important thing I wanted to stress is not only reading God’s Word, but meditating on it and understanding it.
Let’s look at several things the Word says about prayer and in particular what Jesus had to say about prayer.
The first step is entering into the presence of God.
Psalms 100:4: 4. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Philippians 4:6: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Two important items, always enter God’s presence with thanksgiving and praise. The Psalmist tells us God inhabits the praises of his People. God is drawn to you when you enter into His presence in a worshipful and thankful spirit, a humble spirit.
The second important fact is peace is the result of scriptural prayer. When we pray God’s way, according to His Word, we receive peace and the confidence that he has heard us.
1 John 5;14-15: 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.
Thus the peace of God, because we know we have approached the throne room in the fear of the Lord and He has hears us!
So it is a big circle, we abide in Christ, we learn God’s Word, we pray according to God’s Word, we know God heard us, because we prayed according to His word and the result is the peace of answered prayers. Whether the manifestation is seen immediately or not!!
Let’s look at some of Jesus’ teaching on prayer.
Matthew 6:9-12: "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
We are to pray daily for several things:
- God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done. What is His will, for all to be saved.
- We are to pray for our daily needs to be met.
- We are to pray for our sins to be forgive as we forgive others.
- We are to pray not to be led into temptation, but be delivered from the evil one.
Let’s look at some of the other things Jesus taught. I call them the “Three Goals of answered Prayer:
John 15:7-8: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Psalms 37:4-5: Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
God’s Word tells us He will give us the desires of our heart not our flesh!
Your number one goal of prayer is the answer will be fruit that will glorify God!
John 15:16-17: "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.
The original Greek word for the phrase “that whatever” is hina pronounced hin’-ah,
translated “because or to the intent that or so that.”
The second goal of answered prayer is bearing fruit that lasts so that our prayers will be answered.
We were chosen and appointed to bear lasting fruit so that we can go into God’s presence
and ask for whatever our need is in Jesus’ name and he will give it to you.
Let me ask you a question. Do you have unanswered prayer in your life? If the answer is, yes, then you need to look at the fruit you are bearing. Does it give glory to God, is it lasting? Are you walking in love towards others, forgiveness? Are you praying for others, do you share Christ with others? These are just some of the fruit you should bear.
A barren vine dies, or goes completely to leaf and is all show and nothing else and so will you if you don’t spend time in God’s Word, and dwelling in the presence of the Almighty!!
There was a song in the 70”s that went something like this: “Every move you make, every step you take I’ll be watching you.” It is so true. People watch everything you do and say, so what you do and say better glorify God! Amen!
John 16:24: Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
The Third goal of answered prayer is joy!
This takes us back to one of our original scriptures, in 1 John.
1 John 5;14-15: 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.
When we know God hears our prayers, our confidence is bolstered, we have peace and peace leads to joy. If you don’t have joy in our life, then I urge you to look at your prayer life. After you pray do you have confidence that God hears you. You should, we just went over it!
My prayer for you today, Ladies, is that your prayer life will grow and become enriched, that you will have the confidence that God has heard your prayer and that you will receive that perfect peace that comes from knowing God heard you and the joy that follows! Amen!