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Your Top 7 Questions About Prayer Answered

Apr 29, 2013 | 9 comments

Your Top 7 Questions About Prayer Answered

“I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers!” – Isaiah 65:24

You might be surprised by the number of questions that Christians have about prayer.

Many people have questions about how to pray, when to pray, and about when to even stop praying about something.

So here’s a list of the seven most common questions about prayer and their answers.

If you know anyone that might have any of these questions too, then please share this post on Facebook or Twitter.

7.  What is Prayer?

Prayer is a two-way conversation with the Creator of the Universe. It’s a supernatural experience between a believer and their Maker; it’s the pathway a person takes to enter into God’s presence.

Our prayers are not empty words that fall on deaf ears, but direct access to God’s heavenly throne of unfailing mercy, unconditional love, and everlasting grace. (See Romans 5:2)

As Christians, we can pray to God anywhere, at anytime, and in any way! 

Prayer acknowledges God’s divine authority not only over our own lives as believers, but also over everything under the sun as well. It is our acknowledgment of His sovereignty and our complete dependence on Him alone for absolutely everything we need.

6.  Should I Pray Out Loud or Silently in My Heart?

Prayer can be done in your heart quietly or while speaking out loud. It can be done privately behind closed doors, or publicly in front of other people. You can even write down your prayers in a journal, or type them up on your computer!

It doesn’t matter which method you choose to reach God, He just simply wants to hear from you!

5.  When Should I Pray?

We pray to God not only to release whatever’s weighing us down or heavy on our hearts, but also to thank and praise Him for everything He’s already done.

He should be the first person we go to, brothers and sisters, not the last when we are facing a difficult problem.

So when tragedy strikes or when you get the answer you’ve prayed for, run directly to God’s throne, not your cell phone! 

4.  How Come God Isn’t Answering my Prayer?

If you’re a believer, there’s no such thing as an unanswered prayer.

If there isn’t any sin hindering your walk with the Lord, God does hear every single prayer you make and will answer you according to His will. (See John 9:31)

There are three ways God answers our prayers:

1.  “Yes”

2.  “No”

3.  “Not yet”

He may not give us every single thing we want brothers and sisters, but He does promise to give us every single thing we need!

3.  What if I Haven’t Received What I’ve Been Praying For, Should I Continue to Pray?

God is our Lord and Savior, not our magical genie in a bottle.

Praying in the Spirit means we pray according to God’s will for our lives, not according to our own.  

Our flesh may want one thing, but ultimately God is the One making everything beautiful in His perfect timing. As His children, we are to trust in Him completely regardless of the answer we’re given, not name whatever we want and claim it as if it’s already ours.

So continue to ask, seek, and knock through prayer until God shows you otherwise.

2.  When Will God Answer My Prayer?

Sometimes God’s answer will be immediate, but other times we’ll have to wait for His response.

James 5:16 assures the believer, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.”

So regardless of how long you have to wait, don’t give up and don’t stop praying!

As Pastor Greg Laurie always says, “God’s delays are not God’s denials!”

When God closes one door brothers and sisters know that He will open another. When God tells you “no” it’s because He has planned for you something better!  

Just because the answer you were praying for wasn’t the one you were given, don’t lose heart. Stay encouraged by remembering your heavenly Father loves you, and ultimately knows and wants what’s best for you.

1.  What Should I Do if I Don’t Feel Like Praying?

Sometimes when you are going through a difficult time in your life, you don’t feel like praying.  You might even be angry at God because He could fix things for you but He is chosing not to.

The bottom line is that we need to pray to God wether we feel like it or not.  In fact, praying will many times helps us to get out of the flesh and into the Spirit.

Quotes From the Body of Christ on Prayer

“Prayer is the greatest form of worship that I can express. I can sing songs and lift my hands (which is good) but when I pray, it is because I believe that the Lord hears me. When I pray it is because I believe that the Lord can help me. When I pray I am worshiping the Lord by acknowledging that He is real, and that I really depend upon Him for everything in my life.” – Pastor Charlie Woods

“What prayer means to me is a total communication between me and my God. Having a one on one with Jesus, to get His perspective on life and handing my cares and concerns to Him because He cares for me.” – Edie Emeterio

“Prayer to me is my source of life, my power. My relationship is prayer. If my prayer life is not good then my relationship is waning with God. Sometimes I get in the rut of just praying and laying my burdens out, I just talk. But so many times God is left there with things to say. Do I sit and be quiet so I can listen to the answers? No; not often. But the times when I do pray and speak to the Lord with fervency and passion about an issue, then wait and listen for His voice, it’s like an inhale and exhale of the Spirit; as if breathing. That’s what prayer is to me…just like the air I breathe.” – Anthony Martinez

Key Takeaway

Pray to your heavenly Father without ceasing, brothers and sisters, knowing that He is attentively listening to everything you have to say. No matter how big or small your cares are, come and lay them down at the foot of His cross.

Life here on earth may never be perfect, but never forget that your God is perfect.

Nothing is impossible for you who believe, because nothing is impossible for God!

Study Verses: Matthew 7:7-8, Matthew 21:22, John 14:13, Philippians 4:6-7

9 Comments

  1. eric kindley

    Awesome. Thank you.

    Reply
    • amandacook

      Thank you Eric! God bless you!

      Reply
  2. Q.D.Kelly

    Praying can be difficult for many reasons, being angry,sick,not knowing what to pray! We need to humble ourselves at his Throne anyway, ask God what is needed, God looks at the Heart & the fact that you’ve come to him is enough to get the conversation Started.So it does not matter how you feel since we ” Live by Faith ” ( Habakkuk 2:4 ), pray is what we do no matter how things are going, no matter where we are! AMEN?

    Reply
    • Peter Guirguis

      I love how you put it Kelly when you wrote, “Prayer is what we do no matter how things are going”. That is perfectly said my friend 🙂

      Reply
    • Amanda Cook

      Amen! I think it’s during those times when prayer seems to be the hardest for us, that it’s the most beneficial and effective. In 1 Samuel 1:8 -18, it talks about a lady named Hannah. She was so upset and discouraged she was unable to have children, that she wouldn’t eat anything. Instead of shaking her fist at God, she poured out her heart to Him. She prayed to the Lord knowing that He was not only faithful to hear her, but also that He was faithful to answer her!

      By praying to God she casted those cares at His feet. She released to Him all those burdens and the built up anguish deep down in her heart and God not only “in due time” answered her prayer and enable her to have Samuel, but the moment after she prayed it says she “went on her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad!” as well!

      I love that! By praying to God we’re able to exchange our depression, anguish, heartache, stress, worry and sin, for mercy, grace, strength, fulfillment, hope, joy, contentment and forgiveness! How truly great is our God!!

      Reply
  3. Chris

    Thank you for posting this about prayer. I too had/have many of these same questions. These last few days I have found it hard to pray but I seem to be able to get at least something out of my mind and heart. It’s nice to know that He hears my prayer before I verbalize it and that The Holy Spirit can fill in the blanks when I don’t know what to say. It hurts to pray sometime though and I can’t understand it. So this is my question….Why does it hurt to pray? All I can think of is that my prayer is coming from deep within with strong emotions but it’s still confusing.

    Reply
    • Amanda Cook

      Thank you Chris for your response!

      I think sometimes it hurts to pray for a couple different reasons. Like you said, when you pray and really pour out your heart to the Lord, it does bring to the surface certain memories, emotions, feelings, etc that perhaps were buried deep down inside your heart and forgotten about. Just talking about them or even simply remembering them is many times very difficult to do.

      Also, because prayer is so intimate and humbling, it really shows us how weak, imperfect and dependent on God we truly are. How, in reality, we’re not good at all! We are completely transparent before our perfect and Holy God, so many times when I am repenting or confessing my sin through prayer I get emotional and resistant…because…well, its not always easy to admit I’m wrong!

      Another reason might be simply be spiritual warfare. The enemy trembles when we pray, so it’s the last thing the enemy wants you to do! So no matter how hard it is for you, my encouragement is to never stop praying! Rest in knowing that God knows absolutely everything and is faithful to answer you! I would even ask God to reveal to you why it hurts for you to pray to Him and wait to see what He says!

      I hope this helped! I’ll be praying for you! God bless you!

      Reply
  4. Bob Morgan

    OK Amanda, I am confused. The Good Book states that God will never interfere in the way we live our lives, and that our future has already been decided by him. So why should I pray for a family member that is having problems? If God handles the so called problem, isn’t that interfering? If it has been pre decided that God will handle the problems that come up, why then should I pray for God to handle it?

    Reply

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