Pray Specifically

If you want to build a testimony, start asking God for things so specifically that you can tell whether your prayers are answered or not. Paradoxically, stay focused but don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  Then persist in prayer until you see answers.

I was fresh out of school and beginning my ministry, and a prophet spoke over me that “word will get out that God answers your prayers.”  I knew I didn’t see many prayers answered at that point, so I decided I would have to learn how to pray the kind of prayers God can answer.

Most books about prayer tell us that God changes us when we pray, and this is more important than the answers we receive.  Jesus by contrast told us repeatedly that if we ask, we will receive; if we seek, we will find; if we knock, doors will open.

Experience has taught me that both perspectives are true, but I have found it very helpful to keep coming back to the words of Jesus.  He expects us to pray the kind of prayers God can answer.

This is especially useful if you want to enlarge your gift mix.  For instance, I have known many people who wanted a healing gift.  Many have prayed, “Lord, use me in healing.”  And months passed, and nothing happened.

Pray specifically. Things start to move when you start praying for specific people.  It’s not theoretical anymore; its reality.  Use scripture as you pray.  Look for ways to let God have the credit for answering prayer, not yourself.  Be moved with compassion as you pray; faith works by love.

Being specific carries a risk of failure.   What if nothing happens?  Then it’s time to go back to the words of Jesus, who said that if we ask, we will receive.  It’s good to search the scriptures and find what we need to do to clear obstacles out of the way, so we can see our prayers answered.

Stay focused, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Sometimes we put all our prayer into a single objective and, if our prayer isn’t answered, we get caught in a spiritual stalemate.  We refuse to move on to pray for anything else; on the other hand, nothing is happening with our first efforts in prayer.

We don’t always know all the issues when we pray, and sometimes there can be hidden obstacle to answered prayer.  I John 5:14-15 says –

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.

Sometimes we know enough scripture to know God wants to heal, but we don’t know everything going on in a person’s life.  It’s best to stay focused in prayer for healing, but don’t funnel all your prayers into just one person.  Pray for many.  For reasons we’ll never understand, some will receive more easily than others.

To build a testimony, don’t pray for just one.  Pray for many people; sooner or later you’ll see God heal someone.

Persevere. Persevere in praying for many, but also persist in prayer for some of the “hard cases” and push through the obstacles that hinder the flow of healing.  This is how you will grow in authority, and this is the kind of prayer that will change you.

Ask God to teach you how to pray.  Whether the issue is healing or something else promised in scripture, God will teach you when to hang on in prayer and when to let go.  He’ll teach you the importance of personal integrity; He’ll teach you discernment; He’ll teach you faith.

As you see more and more answers to prayer, you’ll develop a testimony.

Stan Smith   ::  © 2008, GospelSmith  ::  http://www.GospelSmith.com

The Holy Spirit Knows

God knows things we don’t know.  This is why He has given us His Holy Spirit.  He knows we will build our future through prayer, but we don’t know what to ask for or how to ask.  So the Holy Spirit searches God’s deepest desires for us and helps us pray into them, and this secures a more fruitful tomorrow than we could ever gain on our own.

The important thing therefore is not just to learn a few good things and to pray them – this all comes from the mind – but instead to pray in the Spirit.

One way to do this is to pray in tongues.  We choose whether to pray and how long we will continue.  The Holy Spirit then creates prayers that our minds don’t understand.  He cannot pray these prayers unless we choose to open our mouths and speak; we can’t pray them unless we give Him the reins and let Him decide what to ask for.

On our end, it is an exercise in trust.   We have no idea what He is choosing to pray through us.  But it is God who gives us words, the same God of whom Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

I Corinthians 14 teaches us about praying in tongues.  It says we speak mysteries nobody else can understand (verse 2), we build ourselves up (verse 4), it is a prayer from our spirit but it leaves our understanding unfruitful (verse 14), and if we want to build up the church, we should ask God for interpretation so we can speak something the church will understand (verses 12-13)

Prayer in the Spirit doesn’t have to be in tongues.  The Holy Spirit can give us an understanding of what to pray, and this is what happens when we receive the interpretation of tongues.

This means that even when you feel dry, you can choose to pray in tongues.  As you pray, the Holy Spirit will address issues in your heart, adjusting you so you will be able to hear from God.  Then understanding comes.  It may appear gradually, like dew forming on the grass; it can come suddenly, like a detailed vision that pops into view.

And sometimes we don’t even have to pray in tongues.  Revelation comes, slowly or suddenly.  The important thing to understand about this revelation is this:  though we may have a level of understanding of what we have seen, it is still something given by the Spirit and it is more profound and more needed than we realize.

Example:  I am on a three-week ministry trip with stops in four states.  A friend gave me a prophecy before I left:  “Send the bee before you.  Exodus 23:28 says God sent the bee before the people of Israel to help drive out the enemy.  Be sure you pray this; you’re going to need it.”

My mind had no trouble understanding what he was telling me.  The principle made sense.  But my mind did argue a little bit.  “Why do I need to pray about this?   Everything is planned; what could go wrong?”

But if God speaks something, it’s because He sees something we don’t see.  If you want a better future, agree with what God tells you and put that agreement into words.

I prayed and sent the bee.  Since then, I have saved $375 on my rental car and narrowly missed a crippling snowstorm that would have forced our meetings to shut down.  If someone is convinced this was only coincidence, I’ll never be able to prove otherwise.  But I’m glad I prayed and sent the bee.

Who knows what you need to pray to take giant steps forward into the things of the Spirit?  The Holy Spirit knows.  We can tap into this by praying in tongues; we can pray in agreement with the interpretation of tongues or a prophecy or a vision.

My trip isn’t over yet.  I’m going to pray again for God to send the bee…

Stan Smith  ::  © 2008, GospelSmith  ::  http://www.gospelsmith.com