The Secret To Getting What You Want Through PrayerSample

Sometimes we simply cannot will ourselves to believe. We just can’t. I can't. Can you? 

Are there things in your life that are easy to believe when you pray for them? Those are the things in which you see God come through for you over and over again. And yet are there other things in your life that despite reading all the verses, saying all the affirmations, spending all the hours on your knees and speaking all the words of belief—deep down in your soul you really – just – don’t – believe. 

You doubt. Maybe because this desire—this wish—is too tender for you. Maybe this desire is too desired by you. Or this disappointment, were you to not get it, would be too painful for you. 

So you pray a safe prayer, instead. I do.

You, like so many of us, pray, “God—if it’s your will… if you allow, is it ok..., please.” Fill in the blanks. You don't get specific because you are afraid to believe and trust on this one. You don't speak with authority or command (just in case it doesn't work out).

I understand. 

I’m also afraid to believe and trust on certain ones. We all have our own “this ones.” 

Maybe it’s your health. It could be a financial struggle. It could be emotional wounds from a childhood pain. It could be your marriage. It could be romance. Even work. A wayward child. Or it could be a dream you’ve cradled for so long in the depths of your soul that it’s covered only in cobwebs and dust. A dream you don’t even dare speak of anymore.

Those are the prayers you and I wrestle with. 

Those are the victories that don’t come about so suddenly at all. 

Those are the wars we wage often without so much as knowing how.

But those are also the wars we must learn to fight—and fight well—because our deepest desires are what will bring us our deepest delights. And Satan wants nothing more to keep us from just that. He wants to keep us from the abundance of God’s provision and life.

So, my friend, I am with you in these longings we all share. Call them what you will. They are the things that make our hearts smile and our hopes fulfilled. But they are also the things that often elude us, just out of reach. Just beyond our prayers.

Jesus did say, "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. (Matthew 21:22) So let's look next at what we first need to do to increase our faith in those areas that are so personal, so tender and so "wanted" by us that it feels like a risk to have full faith.

You can explore more on this topic with this helpful, short book "Wish List: Unlocking the Secret to Answered Prayer." Just follow this link.