Have you ever prayed and prayed about a situation, but seemed as if God never heard you and if He did…He didn’t answer? Which makes you wonder if there is something that has blocked you from your breakthrough in prayer. Could it be sin? Could it be the lack of faith? Or could it just be you? Every Believer should have a prayer life that is based on the Word of God. If you are prayers aren’t as effective as you would like them to be, they may not be adherent to the Word of God. Prayer is not difficult, it is you and I that make it seem so hard.
I. Be specific in prayer while standing on God’s promises
1. Decide what you want and find scriptures that pertain to the promise you believe will come to pass in your life.
2. Learn to pray according to God’s Word.
3. Faith begins where the will of God is known.
a. God’s Word is His will.
b. You must take time to read the Word to confirm what you are praying for.
4. Continually meditate on the Word of God so that your heart may be established on the promise (Joshua 1:8).
a. Allow the Scriptures to become firmly fixed in your heart and mind (Psalm 119:11).
b. Success in life comes from meditating in God’s Word.
c. Your spirit is fed by the Word of God (Matthew 4:4).
5. When the devil comes to challenge the Word you have been meditating on, speak what God has written like Jesus did when He was tempted (Matthew 4:7-11). The devil will leave you when you speak God’s Word.
a. Know that the enemy will try to oppose your prayers.
b. Fight the good fight of faith by opening your mouth and speaking the Word (1 Timothy 6:12)
*The Word is your weapon of spiritual warfare where prayer is concerned.
II. Believe you receive those things that you pray for
1. The Bible instructs you to ask God for what you want (John 16:23, 24)
a. You must ask if you are expecting to receive (Matthew 7:7, 8)
2. Don’t base your ability to receive on whether you can perceive your request with
your natural senses.
a. Something may be a fact, but that doesn’t make it the truth.
b. Facts can change, but the truth is eternal and never changes.
c. Circumstances may be factual, but God’s Word is the truth that will set you free from the facts of negative circumstances.
3. You must have confidence in God in order to see the manifestation of His promises.
4. Believe that you receive and speak what you believe and you will have it
(Mark 11:23, 24)
III. Be positive in your thinking
1. Let every thought and every desire affirm that you have what you ask for.
2. Never permit a thought of failure to exist in your mind.
3. Remember that doubt is fear-based.
a. It is Satan’s job to get you to second-guess yourself.
4. Feed your faith and starve your doubts by meditating on the Word of God
concerning your specific prayer request.
5. Be submitted to God as you stand in faith for your prayers to be answered
(James 4:7)
a. Stand firm against the devil and he will flee from you.
b. You can’t stand if you don’t know the Word of God.
6. Be sober in your thinking (1 Peter 5:8).
a. Renew your mind on a continual basis (Romans 12:2, 3).
b. When you think soberly, your thinking is not intoxicated or under the influence of Satan and your flesh.
· Intoxicated thinking goes against God’s Word.
c. You must have sober thinking in order for your prayers to be answered.
7. Don’t set your affection on earthly things, set your mind on the things of God and
the Word (Colossians 3:2)
8. You must eradicate every image, suggestion, feeling and all thoughts that do not affirm the answers to your prayers.
IV. Guard your mind
1. Guard your mind against every evil thought.
a. Thoughts are generated by observations, associations and teachings.
· Be mindful of who you listen to where the teaching of the Word of God is concerned. Not all churches teach the uncompromised Word of God.
b. Stay away from all places and things that don’t support the affirmation of what you believe you receive in prayer.
V. Your weapon against the devil is the Word of God that you speak (Matt. 12:34b)
1. The Word of God will pull down any stronghold (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
a. A stronghold resides in the mind.
b. It is a fortified thought.
c. It is the root to any addictive behavior that exists in a person’s life.
2. Strongholds develop as a result of an established thought pattern, which is protected
by your personal belief system. (Ex: gossiping, fornication, pornography,
overeating, etc.)
3. The key to freedom from addiction is attacking the stronghold in your mind with
the Word of God. Willpower alone will not free you.
4. Identify the strongholds in your life.
5. Cast down strongholds of self-defeating thoughts and eliminate images of failure
