Living the Christian Life – Chapter 6: Keys to Answered Prayer

Inspiration MinistriesBy Inspiration Ministries5 Minutes

Once we know that God desires for us to be intercessors and has given us His authority to co-labor with Him in the Spirit, we need to learn how to pray in a way that gets results. The apostle James declared: The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much (James 5:16 NASB).

So how do our prayers become effective? First, it is through having a daily, intimate relationship with Jesus—by what He called “abiding in the Vine” that we bear much fruit for the Kingdom. Jesus declared:

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you
unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4 NASB).

Our motivation in prayer will flow from our relationship with Jesus. Our compassion toward others will be birthed from our love for God. Our ministry will then come from the overflow of our relationship with the Lord. Jesus went on to say:

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he
bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not
abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up” (John 15:5-6 NASB).

As we pray in faith, motivated by our love for God and our compassion for others, we will see Him answer our prayers and move mightily. He wants to answer these prayers. In Matthew 6:33, we read that if we “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness” by abiding in Jesus through our love relationship, then “all these things will be added to [us]” (NASB), and we will bear much fruit.

The Disciplines of Prayer

In order to have God’s results as we pray, we need to intercede in the way that God directs in His Word. So here are some Biblical principles that you can employ to make your prayer life more effective and fruitful for the Kingdom.

Pray in Faith

The only way to be effective in prayer is to ask in faith.

“And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say
to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the
sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is
going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all
things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received
them, and they will be granted you” (Mark 11:22-24 NASB).

Praying in faith is a prerequisite to God’s moving on our behalf. The apostle James wrote concerning the prayer of faith:

“But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like
the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to
expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded
man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8 NASB).

Faith is the currency of Heaven. It is by faith that we receive salvation in the first place (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Everything that God wants to give us in this life is received only through faith.

 



[1] Lewis, C.S. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. 9 April 2019. <https://cslewisthoughts.tumblr.com/post/184058488281/it-seems-to-me-we-must-conclude-that-such>.

[2] Lewis, C.S. “”Thy Will Be Done” – C.S. Lewis on the Third Petition, from Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer.” 10 December 2011. Pseudepigraphus. <https://www.pseudepigraph.us/2011/12/10/thy-will-be-done-c-s-lewis-on-the-third-petition-2/>.