Pray the Promise (God’s Will)

NKJ Isaiah 55:10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

NKJ Numbers 14:28 "Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:

Pray the promise not just the problem.  God was aware of our problem(s) before us and provided a promise as the solution long before it came to our attention.  Furthermore, rehearsing only the problem to God makes it grow larger in our hearts.  Praying the promise causes our hearts to believe in God more than the problem.  Remember; whatever you place your attention on will grow larger in your heart – promise or problem.

NKJ John 15:7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

Praying the promise(s) guarantees that it will be answered according to our request.

NKJ 2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

God has stated that if we pray according to a promise that the answer will always be yes and amen (make it so)!

NKJ 1 John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

God has stated that if we pray according to His will that our prayers are answered according to our requests.  Notice the emphasis is on the change in our lives and not God’s.  If we pray according to His will then we will have confidence that He hears us.  Furthermore, if we have confidence in God hearing us then we know that our prayer will be answered according to our request.

NKJ 2 Peter 1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

It is through praying the promises of God into our hearts that we are transformed into Jesus’ image.

NKJ Hosea 4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, You children of Israel, For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "There is no truth or mercy Or knowledge of God in the land.

NKJ Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Take note that God is saying the reason His children are destroyed is because they lack the knowledge of God.  Often we blame God for not doing or giving us what we want when the problem is with our asking.  We do not know what God has already said and done about our situation and base our prayer on this rather than our works.  We fail to understand what has been placed on the table before us.

NKJ Hebrews 9:11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption  24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another -- 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

The promises of the new covenant are secured in Heaven by the blood of Jesus.  This means that God takes the promises as serious as His Son’s shed blood!

Prayer:

Heavenly Father without your promises we have no confidence of receiving the things we ask of You.  Reveal your promises, your will, to us that we might show the world your joy – our strength.  Amen.  (Based on 1John 5:14,15, John 16:13,24; 14:26, Nehemiah 8:10).