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4 “Q’s” To “A” As You’re Waiting For The Answers To Prayer

How To Position Yourself As The Ready-Recipient For Answered Prayers

 

Prayer

 

Are you ready for the answer to your prayers?  Many times when we get on our knees, sit on our beds, or however you pray, we forget to look both ways.  We look at God and grow our trust in Him based on the results that we receive from prayer, but we typically do not look at how ready we are if the answer became immediately available.  In my book, 12 Undeniable Laws For Prayer, I tell the story of Marcus and his roommate.  The story goes like this:

 

Marcus was a man in his mid-twenties.  He came from an impoverished family.  Marcus had a bad habit of lying.  He wanted to pastor a church, so he did well in school, and applied for a scholarship to go to ministry school.  When he was in his Master of Divinity program, he stole $10.00 from his roommate.  When his roommate asked him, “Marcus, have you seen my $10.00?”  Marcus said, “Naw, man! Look under your bed!”.  When Marcus had left the room, his roommate found the $10.00 in his nightstand drawer.

 

When he returned to his room, his roommate (also a seminary student) confronted Marcus.  He said, “Marcus, you and I both have a heart to serve God.  We both love helping people, and we both want to lead people into doing what is right.”  Marcus looked, nodding in agreement.  His roommate continued, “In order for us to lead people into right action, we must perform right action”.  Marcus nodded.  “Marcus, I found my $10.00 in your nightstand drawer.  I still honor your heart for God, but your lying has to stop for your ministry to be successful”.  Marcus contemplated.  He knew that his roommate was telling him the truth.  He thought about the roots of his lying and how he was taught to lie by his parents.  They would tell him to lie to avoid bill collectors, he would lie on their behalves to deter the pastors, he would lie on their behalves to keep them out of jail, and his own lying had become habitual.  He told his roommate, “It would help me for you to hold me accountable to change, and pray with me.  I need God to transform my character and make me whole.  I should not feel like I have to lie or take what is not mine, but the act of lying has been planted so deep that I did it without thinking about it”. His roommate said, “We’ll pray about this day and night, and I will point out to you whenever I notice you saying something that is not true, then we will stop and pray for forgiveness and redemption”.  Marcus prayed with his roommate and he built a new habit of truth.

 

Character improvement is one thing that must take place for many of our prayers to materialize.  Are you ready?  Will you uphold your end of the promise to God?  In prayer, many people say, “God, if you do …, I will do …”.  When the answer to your prayer has come, are you ready to uphold that?  Character is an ongoing necessity for us to manifest our purpose in life.

 

When someone points out to you a character flaw, you must be open to praying to God, finding the root, and uprooting the evil from your life.  Sometimes, character changes are a necessity prior to the answer to your prayer materializing.  Like Marcus who wanted to pastor a congregation, sometimes the character flaws that we have would repel good results from manifesting when we have received the answer to our prayers.  Be open to transforming your character so that you can be in harmony with the answer to your prayers.

 

It is very easy to get offended when someone points out an imperfection in you, but you must maintain the humility enough to allow sin to be identified and corrected.  When you allow emotions to control and offense to set in, it expands the hold of that poor behavior in your life.  Let it go!

 

Before you go distrusting the goodness of God because you are still waiting on your prayer to materialize, self-analyze:

 

  • Has God been transforming your character and preparing you for the answer to your prayer?
  • Are you ready to uphold the promise that you have made to God?
  • Do you have a strategy for when you receive your answer?
  • Keep visualizing your answer, align your will with God’s, and keep the faith!

 

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