Letter From Fan-Commenting on Article of Being Specific in Prayer
I am Simon Golo Nkhoma and I joined MAWU (Malawi Writers Union)
forum two weeks ago.
I just want to comment on the highlighted article 'Being Specific
in Prayer.'
At St Columba CCAP Church in Blantyre, we are on a weeklong
Teaching on keys and hindrances to answered prayer. It started on Monday
through Fridays from 18:00-20:00hours. Afternoons on Saturday and Sunday
Preachers: Reverend Reynold Mangisa and guest speaker, Pastor Dalitso Numeri.
They speak on alternating days.
Rev. Mangisa gave a preamble of the topic during last Sunday
service on 26th June, 2023.
When I arrived home from church and opened my phone, I saw your
article. I didn't open it but I was amazed.
I attended the first day on Monday with Pastor. Numeri.
Then yesterday, I remembered that I hadn't yet gone through your
article. So I found quality time (lunch hour) to do justice to your article.
Put simply, I was impressed.
I immediately heeded your advice by listing down specific requests
and cast them onto God.
At church, it was the turn of Rev. Mangisa. Before he began, each
congregant received a copy of what he was going to preach.
There were six keys.
Lo and behold, the second key was being specific(Mark 10:51)!
Just what I had heard from you some few hours back.
God is amazing.
You can see the copy attached.
God bless you for your humbleness and spirit of caring for and
sharing with others.
Thank you.
Simon Golo Nkhoma is a talented writer of Tirombe Daily Morning
Devotion and True Life stories. He comes from Malawi.
Dear Reader
Yes indeed God is amazing. We praise his name. Thank you so much for reading my blog and sharing this with me and my readers. Remain blessed. Shalom!!
THIS IS THE ATTACCHED COPY:
TEACHING ON KEYS AND HINDRANCES TO ANSWERED PRAYER BY REV. MANGISA
1. The Key
of Asking (James 4:2/ Matthew 7:7-11 /)
The
Apostle James states that one of the reasons people do not receive things from
God is because they simply do not ask God to give them the things they desire.
People desire the things, but they simply don't ask for them. Many people do
not ask for things from God because:
·
They think they are unworthy of such things
·
They think such things are not for them
·
They that it wouId be wrong to have such things
·
They that God does not give such things.
Yet God as a loving Father simply wants us to ask for the things
we want (Mattheys 7:7/ John 14:13-14). To get answers to
prayer we must make sure that we ask for the things that we waant. We must
actually pray for what we want from God. We must actually verbalize, we must
vocalize at what we want. We must definitely must express our desire for what
we want from God.
O
Have you asked God for the things that you want in your life now?
2.
The Key of being Specific when asking God (Mark 10:51)
Another key to answered prayer is to be specific in asking for
what we want. Many people do not know what they specifically want in life. They
do not have specific purposes and objectives in life. As such they do not have
specific goals in life. Hence even when asking for things from God they are not
specific. Vague prayer does not achieve much as one is not even able to know
whether God has answered their prayer or not. In order to receive things from
God we have to ask specifically for what we want from God. Specifically mention
the things that you want from God. It is easy to be specific when praying to
God about things when you know that his wiII is on the specific thing you are
praying about. The will
of God is
known through studying His Word.
O Have you been specific in asking for the things that
you want from God?
3.
The key of Abiding in the Word of God (John 15:8)
Abiding in the Word and having the Word abiding in you enables you
to know God’s will, and when you know God's wiII and pray according to God's
wiII he wiII answer you (1 John 5:13). When you know God's wiII, you wiII
Not ask for what God has said he will not give to people.
There are some things God
wiII not give to people. Things that God wiII not give people are things that
if God gave them to you it wouId be sin for him to do so, it wouId be against
his nature to do so. (e.g. asking for someone's spouse for marriage)
Not ask for things God has already given to you.
Not abiding in the Word makes people pray for things God has
already done and given to them. Asking for such things does not yield anything
because God has already given them to you. Such things are simply to be
received by faith with thanksgiving e.g. salvation healing, blessings,
anointing (Ephesians 1:30/ 2 Peter 1:3- 4/ 2 Corinthians 1:20). It
should be known that as Christians, we are not going to victory but we are coming
from a place of triumph (Colossians 2:15/ 2 Corinthians 2:14). We are enforcing
our victory that has already been done.
Not ask with wrong motives
One of the things that hinder prayer is asking God for things yet
with the wrong motive. Simon the Sorcerer in Acts 8:9-24 asked for the prayer
to pray for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit it was not granted
because he asked with the wrong motive, pride in his heart, so that he could
still be a great person in the eyes of people. When you ask for things in
prayer we should also reflect on as to why we are asking for what we are asking
and ensure our motives are right — James
4:7/ Job 35:12/ Luke 18:9-14. God rejects the proud but receives to himself the
humble
o How deep is your knowledge of God’s Word? How faithful
are you
with the
study of God’s Word? What are the exact motives that are leading you to pray
for what you are asking fork
4.
The Key of Faith — Believing that you have received what you have asked for (Mark
11:24)
One of
the major keys to answered prayer is faith (Matthews 21.22).
·
God looks for the ingredient of faith in our prayers if he is to
answer them (Matthews 9.27-30). Faith is the currency of heaven.
·
Faith pleases God and hence sets our prayers up for being answered
— (Hebrews 11:6)
·
Faith is what gets prayer answered (Mark 11:24).
·
Jesus attributed faith as
the ingredient that made people to receive
things from him — (Matthews 8:10-13/ Mark 5:34/ Mark 10:52)
·
Doubt and unbelief hinder prayer from being answered - (Mark
6:1-5/ James 1:5-8/ Hebrews 4:2)
Faith generates
Fervency in prayer
Prayer that obtains much must be fervent (James 1:16), and
it is faith that brings fervency to prayer (Matthews 15:21-28).
Without faith, prayer is cold and dry. Faith is the fuel of prayer.
Faith generates
Persistence and Patience on what you have asked
Jesus taught that we should pray with persistence and patience
(Luke 11:1-13/ Luke 18:1-8). We should never give up on our prayers. Some
people after praying for quite some time begin talk and act as though they have
given up on the answers to their prayers and are no longer expecting an answer.
It is faith that generates persistence and patience in prayer (Matthews 15:21-28).
True faith never gives up on the expectation of the prayer (Romans 4:16-22/
Hebrews 10:35-39).
·
Have you given up on any of your dreams and
visions and stopped praying for them?
Faith is sustained by
Positive Thinking of what you have asked
Faith is sustained by positive thinking about the thing we are
praying for. We should not entertain negative thoughts about the thing we are
praying for. Some people begin believing God for a thing but then later aII of
their imagination take them away from their faith on the things they are
believing for and this hinders their prayers from being answered (Matthews 14:22-30)
e.g. healing, family peace. Peter had asked Jesus to waIk on water in
the Sea of Galilee and he began to do so. But when he took his eyes off Jesus
and looked at the raging waters of the sea, his imagination became that of a
sinking man and he began to sink. We should create a clear and vivid positive
picture as we possibly can of our answered prayer and we should hold on to it.
Our imagination helps our faith (Genesis 15:1-6/
Ephesian 3:20)
·
What are your daily thoughts and imaginations
about what you have been praying for?
Faith is sustained by
Positive Speaking of what you have asked
Faith for answered prayer is destroyed by negative conversations
that we continue to have after we have prayed about the thing we prayed about.
The better thing to do if you cannot maintain positive speaking about what you
have prayed for is to keep quiet about it (Luke 1.20-22). The Israelites who went
to spy the land of Canaan failed to enter the land because of the negative
conversations they had about the land that they wanted to enter and possess
(Numbers 13). Only Joshua and Caleb who spoke positively about the land entered
the land (Numbers 14). Prayer does not stop when you say “Amen”. It continues
with what you say about the thing you have prayed for after you have said
“Amen” until the thing you have been praying for is physically manifested.
·
What have you been saying to people in your
conversations with them about the things you have been praying about?
V Faith is spurred on by Positive Emotions
Our emotions play a great role in the answers to our prayers,
especially the emotion of joy and thankfulness. Joy and thankfulness are key
ingredients to answered prayer. We must mix our prayers with joy and
thankfulness for them to be answered (Psalms 100:4/
John 6:11/ John
11:41/Philippians
4 vs8/1 Timothy2: l/l Thessalonians 5 vsl8).
Grumbling and complaining are a major hindrance to answered
prayer. (Numbers 14:26-30/ 1 Corinthians 10:8-11)
·
Do you have mixed joy
and thanksgiving to your prayers or have you been complaining to God in your
prayers?
Faith is being confidently sure that what you have asked for from
God has been given to you at the time you have asked and living from thereon as
this is so. This is on the basis of the nature of God (Hebrews 6:18) and of his
promises (2 Corinthians 1:20).
5.
The Key of Walking in Love
True Biblical faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). Hence true
faith cannot ask for anything that wiII hurt others. God takes relationships
seriously. Jesus taught that relationships precede offerings and sacrifices
(Matthews 5:23). We should always work to nurture our relationships.
Messed up relationships wiII affect our prayers. Husbands should
ensure that their relationships with their wives are in good order if they are
to have their prayers readily answered by God (1 Peter 3:7). When Jesus taught
about prayer and faith he immediately linked it up with forgiveness (Mark 11:24-25).
This clearly shows that holding grudges against people and refusing to apologize
to people you have wronged wiII affect your prayers. Holding grudges and
refusing to apologize to people are not worth it.
o Are there
any people that you are holding grudges against and are refusing to forgive?
Are there people that you have hurt and are refusing to apologize?
6.
The Key of Holiness — John 9:31
Continuous
living in unconfessed un-repented deliberate sin will affect our prayers
(Isaiah 59.2). Living in open rebellion to God's Word wiII is a hindrance to
answered prayer (Psalm 66.18). Sin will always affect our joy and peace hence wiII
affect our faith and prayers. Even though God does not answers our prayers on the
basis of our holiness and we should never depend on our holiness as the basis
for answered prayer, living a holy and pure life is a plus to pleasing God and
clears things in
our path
to receive answers to our prayers.
o Are you
living in deliberate unconfessed and un-repented sin? Are there things that you
have to confess for the sake of your life?
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