How many of your prayers get answered?

Statistics show that 90% of Americans believe in the power of prayer. While I was in China, an atheist told me that she always prayed before an important test, as did all her atheist classmates.

Moses was trapped between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea, crying out to God for help. God told him to quit praying and take action. Exodus 14:15 “Then the Lord said to Moses, Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

God told him to stop praying and do something, because God had already given him the power he needed. Jesus told you and me basically the same thing. He said you must make a command and speak to your problem, or mountain. Matthew 17:20 “…Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can SAY to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” I believe “mountain” in Jesus’ day could mean “problem,” just as we use it today in the idiom “Don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill.” At least one time in the Old Testament, mountain meant problem, so it seems reasonable Jesus would use the word in that way because he was so familiar with the Old Testament.

Practically every person of God spoke out commands throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Notice that Jesus said you should speak out a command “Move from here to there” in the Bible verse above. If you are a Christian and you have the Holy Spirit in you, your spirit has been made one with the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17 “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” That gives you a lot of power! Don’t claim false humility and say “I’m just a weak sinner” because you are also calling the Holy Spirit that, since your spirit is one with the Holy Spirit.

I know a lot of my readers will find this this is very strange and will disagree that we should speak out a command. They might say that praying is just talking to God. I agree that some prayers are just talking to God, but the kinds of prayers the followers of Jesus prayed for healing were not just talking to God. They gave a command that sickness leave the body of the person they were talking to. Acts 3:6 “In the name of Jesus, get up and walk!” Acts 14:10, Paul told a lame man “Stand up on your feet!”  Jesus said these kinds of prayers in addition to just talking to God. As you read through the Gospels, notice that Jesus speaks commands. Jesus also commanded demons to leave people and he sure wasn’t talking to God. “In Jesus name be healed!” –when the apostles said this they were not talking to God, God didn’t need healing.

I have seen many miracles and heard of many more and I find that most of the time people get miracles, they pray like the followers of Jesus in the Bible. They don’t say “Lord, if you are willing, will you heal this person?” If you are content with the answers to your prayers and don’t want more, no need to change the way you pray, but if you find many of your prayers are not answered, try doing it the way Jesus taught all his followers to pray. I did, and it changed my prayer life drastically. Now I see miracles every month, sometimes every week. It only took a year or two of memorizing Bible verses on faith, speaking them out, and doing what I write about in this blog.

You can’t accomplish all God wants you to do in life if you don’t pray the way he told us to pray. Please leave a comment and tell me if you disagree, I might debate you, but I certainly will appreciate your honesty.