The primary purpose of the Lord Jesus is to lead mankind to God. He taught His disciples about how to connect effectively to God through prayer. He taught more about prayer than all the apostles put together. In fact, He lived a life of prayer from the beginning to the end of His
recorded life on earth.
         Obviously, several books, sermons and presentations have been made about ways to have our prayer answered. The goal of prayer is that God will hear and answer. Thus, prayer loses its meaning if it does not produce an answer. In order words, as important as prayer is, it can also be a waste of time and energy if it is not answered.
          During His conference with the disciples as recorded in the Gospel of Mark 11:20-26, The Lord Jesus, outlined four ways to have our prayer answered. Have faith in God, dismiss your doubt, pray with expectation, and forgive those who have wronged you.
          In teaching about prayer Jesus told the disciples to have faith in God. This event came a day after He had spoken to a fig tree, and the disciples in their utter amazement called out “Master, the tree you cursed has died”. Jesus said to them, “Have Faith in God”. In other words, if you pray to God, you better believe that He is able. For this is the basis of faith.
          We pray to God because we believe He is capable to bring it about. The Apostle John, put it this way, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: (1John 5:14). Unfortunately, religion and tradition can have one to pray without a shred of faith in one’s heart towards God. In this case, prayer can be a mere formality. On the other hand, effective prayer is provoked by a person’s confidence in God’s ability to do a thing. 
          It is important that we dismiss any doubt before we engage in prayer. It is simply said, “If you doubt don’t pray, and if you pray don’t doubt”. Literally, Jesus said, at the absence of doubt in your prayer, you can have whatever you prayed for, and nothing shall be impossible to you. In the Epistle of James 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavered is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord”. Doubt is a thief of possibilities!
          Pray with expectation. When the Lord Jesus spoke to the tree, He was expecting a result. When you confidently pray with faith in God you should conditioned your mind to expect result. Whether the answer comes immediately, or it is prolonged, you should never let down your expectation. Habakkuk teaches us how to sustain our expectation: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (Habakkuk 2:3). How could you petition God for a provision and have little or no expectation of that provision coming through. In fact, our expectation after praying should inform our confession, and attitude.
          Forgiving those who wrong you is a major key to having your prayers heard and answered. Regardless of how great our faith and how earnest our expectation, we cannot pray with rage and revenge in our hearts and expect God to come through for us. Unforgiveness is a hindrance to having our prayers heard and answered. The hurt because of an offense might be deep, however, it is our duty to humbly ask God for the grace to forgive, so we can unlock answers to our prayer. Since unforgiveness robs us of our access to God, it is therefore, not worth a thing to hold grudge in our heart towards anybody.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​