Is there a foolproof, guaranteed way to get God to answer your prayer?
Yes!
But there are some things you need to know first, so let’s dive right into this study today on how to guarantee God will answer your prayer!
How to Guarantee God Will Answer Your Prayer
We first need to understand that it’s not our heart to control, manipulate, or trick God (as if we even could!) into doing something we want Him to do. There’s no magic formula to say, no words to repeat, no codes to crack.
It’s not about playing some game to get our way. It’s about lining up our hearts, minds, and lives to HIS will and HIS purposes so that what WE want is also what HE wants.
That’s secret #1 to guarantee He will answer your prayer.
When we pray for God’s will, He answers it (1 John 5:14)
Because listen, He’s going to do His will with or without you and He doesn’t need us to pray for His will. It will be accomplished no matter what (Job 42:2), however, our praying for things that are His will, help us to line up to Him. They help US get on the same page as Him.
But since God is sovereign, why do we bother to pray anyway?
It’s a relationship. If you never talked to your best friend here on earth, how long would you be friends? BECAUSE He’s your best friend, you can feel free to talk to Him about anything you want, from the BIG things going on in your life to the smallest of details you think He wouldn’t care to hear about. He DOES care. He loves you and the things that are important to you, are important to Him! ❤️
Secondly, God loves to INCLUDE us in HIS plans. Praying according to His will is like joining His team. Suddenly, we get to see how He works things out. He shows us what He’s doing in that situation and so it opens up our VIEW on what He’s already currently doing in that particular situation.
It gives us a peek behind the curtain into what He’s accomplishing here on earth for that circumstance because He shows us.
Listen, God is not sitting up there in the sky, ignoring us (Psalm 66:20 NASB) and playing bashful.
There is nothing about God that is bashful or shy. He doesn’t play coy with us and hide Himself from us when we seek Him (Jeremiah 29:13).
He’s fully willing to let you see Him, get to know Him, and see His ways and He wants that! He wants to include us in His plans. He wants to involve us in His plans and at the drop of a dime, He will.
Maybe He’s already had a certain plan since the beginning of time and when you pray about it, asking to be involved, He, in His foreknowledge, drops you into the plot seamlessly. You begin to be able to be involved, and not only see His ways but participate in the situation, which is very cool! 🎉
The second way to get God to answer your prayers is…
Being a genuine believer ALWAYS gets your prayers answered (John 15:7)
The Bible says in James 5:16, that the prayers of a righteous man are answered. You can’t be righteous if you’re not saved!
If your prayers are NOT being answered, you’re either, one, fallen off track to the point God left you; you’re an apostate (a non-believer), you’re a genuine believer but not listening to Him and don’t want to hear from Him (He will never force you to listen to Him – Matthew 7:6), or you’re deceived, thinking you’re saved and you’re really not. I fell into the latter of those categories much of my life, unfortunately, as do most “christians”.
The truth of the matter is that God answers EVERY. SINGLE. PRAYER. in the life of a Christian.
He may answer no. He may answer yes. His answer may be to wait, or not at this moment in time. But He always answers every prayer.
I know for myself, I was a little unsure of that when I first heard it. Are you SURE God answers EVERY prayer? I mean, I pray A…LOT! Night and day I’m in prayer. He answers every single little mundane teeniest tiny prayer? You sure?
I was encouraged to keep a record book of all my prayers and as the prayers were answered, to cross them off the list in my prayer journal. So, I said to myself, “Okay, I’ll keep a prayer journal. Let’s see if God really DOES answer all prayers!”
Know what?!
He does.
I’ve kept that prayer journal since 2013.
But even before that, there was ONE prayer I had been praying for many, many years.
See, my ex-husband and I lived in Oregon, near the ocean in Albany. I loved it there. I was happy. We had a church at the time (which is not a good fit now but was back then). And life for me was perfect. I felt at “home” like I truly belonged. The culture, the people, I just “fit” and for a person like me, that was a big deal. I never fit in ANYWHERE I go! But I did in Oregon. I lived there for 6 months and was in love with it.
In fact, I LOVE to travel and have been to so many wonderful places and states, but still my favorite place to be is Albany, Oregon (followed by Bend, Oregon). 🥰
But suddenly, my then-husband (ex-husband now) wanted to move to another state…Idaho.
I remember riding in the car as he was driving us to Idaho and it wasn’t even 10 minutes after we passed the Idaho state line, that everything looked so dead. Yellow, brown, dead.
Whereas, just 10 miles back there were lush, green, beautiful hues of greens. Tree-covered mountains. Just gorgeous.
I immediately hated it.
Living there in Idaho was horrible. The people were mean, the cities were much like California (overpopulated, houses practically built on top of each other, etc.) The culture was yuck. People were rude, cutting you off in traffic, and stealing your parking space. There was no sense of community, of life, of love there.
Like the topography, everything was dead. People’s hearts were lukewarm at best and everyone was always so busy, rushing around to do whatever they felt was urgent at the time. Real, lasting relationships were hindered because of this.
Imagine my surprise. I had just come from a town in Oregon (Tangent) where after Sunday morning service, it was normal to go to someone’s house and just stay all day, hanging out, singing songs – the guitar player would play and we’d all sing, and you’d form relationships, friendships, bonds. Then you’d leave around 4 pm to go home, eat dinner, wash up, and go to evening service.
It was very homey, loving, relaxed.
Plopped down in a busy go-go-go all the time culture suddenly, I hated it.
I hated everything about Idaho. But I stayed.
When my ex-husband took off and left Idaho, I did all I could to survive, and stayed in Idaho, not having family anywhere else (orphan, widow) and I stayed there for 15 years.
I begged God from the moment we arrived in Idaho to take me back to Oregon. It was the one prayer I could never check off my prayer journal list.
It seemed, “No” was His answer because He just never answered.
I ask you through tears, guess where I’m writing this from?
Oregon!
It may have taken God 15 YEARS to answer that prayer, most prayers are answered instantly or within a couple of days at most. This one took quite a long time but you know what, I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, God answers, EVERY. SINGLE. PRAYER!
And I’m proof. I’m here in Oregon!!! And I love it. I may not be in the city I wish to be in YET, but I know I will be, by the grace of God (somehow), but even just being back in Oregon is amazing! Oh, how I’ve missed it!!
No sales tax, they pump your gas for you here, it’s green, and did I mention the first person I met here (a stranger) was NICE! Not like in Idaho where everyone is so bitter, mean, and only looking out for themselves!
So how do you know if God is listening?
If you’re a Christian, He is!
You’ll never be able to convince me that God doesn’t answer our prayers, but I encourage you, if you have any doubt, to keep your own prayer journal. God answers every prayer for His children (John 15:7 – “IF you abide in Me”…if you’re a believer).
Now that we know we need to be genuine believers (and how to tell if we’re not) and pray according to His will, what are examples of His will? What is His will not? How do we know what His will is?
All great questions! Let’s dive in…
What is NOT God’s will?
- It’s not God’s will that we come to His throne flippantly (Isaiah 1:11-17). We need to remember WHO we are praying to, THE Almighty, and enter into communication with Him with thanksgiving, love, and most importantly respect. This is why we bow our heads in prayer. It’s a posture that reflects our submissive, reverent hearts.
- It’s NOT God’s will that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). So if you pray that someone should go to Hell, this is praying against His will and He won’t answer your prayer. You can, however, pray for justice, as this lines up with His will (Isaiah 42:1-4), but not simply that someone should die and go to Hell.
- Pride. God will not answer a prayer having to do with pride. Is it your pride, is it the pride of someone else? God hates pride (Proverbs 6:16-17).
- Lying. Are you praying that you’d get away with a lie, that you wouldn’t be found out? God wouldn’t answer that prayer as He hates lying (Proverbs 6:16-17).
- Hands that shed innocent blood. Are you praying that someone who is innocent suffers? Maybe you don’t know they’re innocent. God wouldn’t answer this prayer because He hates that (Proverbs 6:16-17).
- Wicked plans. Are you devising or concocting evil plans and asking God to bless them? God wouldn’t answer this prayer because He hates it (Proverbs 6:16 & 6:18).
- Running to evil. Are you in a hurry to do something evil? Maybe you’re really mad and angry and want to get back at someone. God wouldn’t answer this prayer as He hates evil (Proverbs 6:16 & 6:18).
- Sowing discord amongst brothers. Are you gossiping? Making others hate a brother or sister in Christ? Causing disharmony within the fellowship? Asking God to help you destroy a believer? God won’t answer this prayer. He hates it (Proverbs 6:16 & 6:19).
- Infidelity. Maybe you’re praying to divorce your spouse and they’ve not done anything wrong, you just don’t want to be married to them anymore. You want to be with someone else. This is not something God would answer.
- To treat others, especially your wife badly. Husbands are supposed to love their wives, this means submitting to them also. Husbands should not submit to their wife in leadership, but as a joint heir in Christ. Not loving her, not submitting to her in this way will hinder your prayers (1 Peter 3:7).
- Unforgiveness (built-up anger) in your heart. If you have unforgiveness in your heart, God won’t answer your prayer. It is so important to Him that He asks us to take care of it immediately (Matthew 5:21-24).
The list can go on and on, but the point is that anything sinful, God won’t answer it. He is pure, holy, and just.
We can pray the promises of God
While there are MANY promises in the Bible, here are a few to get you started…
When the promises of God DON’T happen, it can be disheartening. Here’s why they may not be coming true in your life.
We can know God’s will
Knowing the will of God can be difficult at times, but remember, He WANTS us to know Him. He wants to be seen (not physically seen by humans), heard, and known by us. He’s not making it a mystery. He genuinely wants a close, intimate relationship with us where we know Him and are walking with Him minute by minute, day by day.
The first thing to determine the will of God is to be walking in the spirit.
When we’re walking in the spirit, we are much more in tune with God’s desires and what He wants as it is our focus. This means to be living a holy life, set apart to Him for His purposes.
When we are doing that, He will easily lead us and guide us, opening doors He wants us to walk through and closing other doors He does not want us to walk through.
Next, we must be submissive to Him. We can’t have our own agenda, fighting for our own rights, will, or way. We must completely submit to His Lordship, allowing Him to lead and not trying to control Him or the situation in any way.
When we are truly submissive to Him, we will be willing to do ANYTHING for Him (outside of sin) and will be humble enough to listen to Him speak to our hearts and lead the way, HIS way.
Next, ask yourself some questions to help you decide…
- Will this glorify God?
- Will it harm my brother or sister in Christ?
- Can it be done for the Lord?
- Is this decision what I’d want my children or my best friend to do?
- Will it please God?
- Will this give an overall appearance of evil or good?
- Will this express that I love God?
- Do you have any doubts?
- Will this lead to my downfall?
- Could doing this become my master (idolatry)?
- Will this harm the temple of God, me, or my neighbor?
- Have you sought the counsel of trusted, godly people in your life regarding this situation?
Knowing the will of God gets a LOT easier as you become more and more familiar with the Word of God, so being in the Bible every single day as much as humanly possible is SOOOO vital to the Christian life!
Some examples of God’s will
God will answer the prayers that line up to His will (Matthew 6:10). Here are some examples of those. Praying for God to…
- Use me (Acts 4:29, Philippians 2:13)
- Lead me (Psalm 143:10)
- Glorify yourself through me (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, 1 Corinthians 10:31)
- Forgive me (1 John 1:9, Psalm 86:5, God answers those prayers of an unbeliever)
- Reveal yourself to me more (Jeremiah 29:13, Deuteronomy 4:29)
- Give wisdom (James 1:5)
- To spread the gospel (Matthew 24:14)
- Comfort you when you are brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18)
- Give you peace (John 14:27)
- Increase your faith (Luke 17:5-6)
- Teach me to do Your will (Psalm 143:10)
- When you don’t know what to pray (Romans 8:26)
- Complete His redemptive work in you in a situation (Philippians 1:6)
- Work something out for your good (Romans 8:28)
- Grow you more in Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18)
God hears our prayers (Psalm 139:4, 1 John 5:14–15, 1 Peter 3:12) and answers them accordingly. Be sure that you’re…
- A genuine believer
- Praying according to His will and purposes
