Gregory Dickow - How To Have Your Prayers Answered
Well, today I want to share with you how to have your prayers answered; how to have your prayers answered. But before I share that, let me pray for you, because I believe this prayer is going to be answered.
Father, in the Name of Jesus, I pray for wisdom. I pray for revelation. I pray Holy Spirit, teach us. I pray Holy Spirit, comfort those that are discouraged, those that are lonely, those that are struggling, those that are suffering. Strengthen, be their strength, be their encouragement, be their teacher, be our leader. Lead us all, teach us all. Bring us into the fullness of Jesus Christ; the revelation of your love Lord, a revelation of your grace. Give people breakthroughs, increases, healings, blessings. I just speak healing over each person. I speak emotional healing. I speak mental health. I speak financial increase, physical healing, miracles in Jesus' Name, family salvation. I prophesy family salvation. We ask You for it, Father. You said, we and our whole household would be saved. We pray that. We receive it. And we thank You for it, in Jesus' Name, amen.
It's such a pleasure to come into your home, into your phone, into your space, and your life today. And I want you to know where two or three are gathered, Jesus said, "There I am in the midst of them". He's in our midst. And He's ready to take our bold requests, and to come boldly to the throne of His grace. Last week I shared with you the miraculous power of prayer, and how we have an opportunity. And I really want you to get this. We have an opportunity to press restart on our view of prayer; the notions of prayer and the stigmas that prayer has had, that it's hard, that it's difficult, that it's only for the select few, the most mature, the most holy. That's a lie. That I can pray. You can pray. Anybody can pray. You see, religion has lied to us and vandalized the beauty of prayer. Religion has lied to us and vandalized this beautiful concept of prayer. And what makes prayer so beautiful is it starts with our direct contact and access to Jesus; our direct contact and access to our Heavenly Father.
Listen to these promises Jesus said in John, chapter 14 and receive this as a promise to you. This is what's going to make prayer fun, what's going to make prayer exciting, what's going to make prayer... It's going to make you passionate about prayer. It's going to it's going to set you free to realize that you can stop in the middle of any situation, in the middle of any moment of your life, and begin to pray in one moment; two moments. Take as long as you want or as short as you want. It's not length of prayer; it's strength of prayer. And strength of prayer comes from knowing what to pray, and knowing that we have the right to do it. Jesus said in John, chapter 14. Listen to this amazing verse. He said, whatsoever... He said whatever you ask in My Name, I will do it. Whew! What a promise. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Jesus wants to invite us. Jesus invites us to ask Him anything, because when we ask in His name, it glorifies the Father and the Son.
Then He goes on to say, "If you ask (me) anything in My name, I will do it". Wow, I don't know how to even move on from that verse. It's so beautiful, and it's so rich, and rewarding, and assuring that we can ask, and we can be bold. You know, Jesus went on to say in John, chapter 16, I want to share this one with you as well. He said, "Whatsoever you ask the Father..." So, we can go directly to Jesus and ask Him anything in His Name. And then He tells us, "Whatever you shall ask the Father in My Name He will give (it to) you". Wow. So, not only do we have direct access to Jesus, we have direct access to the Father. And then He goes on to say in this verse, up until now you have asked nothing in My name. But "Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be made full".
And I mentioned this last time we were together on this. That when He says ask that you might receive, ask and receive that your joy might be made full, joy is an emotion. Joy is this being caught up with pleasure, and satisfaction, and happiness. This joy that He's talking about, Jesus said this affects our emotions. In other words, prayer has the power to do a lot of things. And one of the things that has the power to do is transform our emotions. We can go from being unhappy to having joy; to being depressed to having joy, all in a matter of a moment of just talking to God. You see, it's not hard, is it? It's not difficult. Prayer is not a burden. Religion tried to tell us prayer is a burden. Prayer is not a burden. It's what makes our yoke easier. And it's what makes our burden lighter. That's why Jesus said, "Come to Me, all that are weary and heavy laden". Come to Me you that are burdened. "For my yoke is easy, My burden is light".
Wow. And when you come, Jesus said, Use this power of prayer. How do we do this? How do we tap into this power? And how can we know that our prayers are going to be answered? Well, first of all, we have to realize that Jesus has invited us. God has invited us to ask. Asking is not a burden on the Lord. Us asking Him is not putting Him out. Us asking Him is not being demanding. We're not demanding anything from Him. We're asking what He told us to ask Him for. We're going boldly to the throne of His grace. And He is inviting us to ask. We're not asking because we decided we're going to try to talk to God this way. We're asking because He decided, and He invited us to ask in this way.
And when we ask, ask big. When you ask God for something, ask big. You know you deserve more. You know that inside of you, there's this gnawing that tells you that you were made for more. You know you're made for more. You know you have power inside you. You know you have this power, but the devil has been lying to you. And I'll tell you this. The devil tries to get us feeling guilt and shame to try to limit us, and try to tell us we're not worthy to pray, to try to tell us we shouldn't pray, to try to tell us we're not holy enough, we're not godly enough. Guilt and shame try to limit us. Guilt and shame are constantly trying to condemn us and beat us down. And I want to tell you, that though the devil will tell you, you don't deserve it, you do, because Jesus paid for it in His blood.
The devil will tell you not to ask, but we need to ask. The devil will tell you not to ask big, but you can ask big. And you should ask big. Asking, praying, has the power to change nations. I told you last time, to change governments, to change economies, to change families, to change our health, to change our emotions, to change anything. No wonder Satan doesn't want you knowing that you have this kind of authority in Christ. No wonder Satan doesn't want you to believe in the miraculous power of prayer. He doesn't want you to know the power you have because he's afraid of you. No wonder he tells you lies that you're not enough, or you're not good enough, or you're not qualified enough to pray with that kind of power. He's only saying that because he knows exactly how powerful prayer is. He's scared of it, because when you pray, it wreaks havoc on the kingdom of darkness.
Man, we ought to be causing some trouble. You know, some of us were troublemakers before we came to Jesus. Some of us were troublemakers before we met Him. Some of us were really troublemakers in a bad way. But you know what? Today every one of us needs to be a troublemaker in the devil's kingdom. We need to make trouble for the devil's kingdom. And you know what gives the devil trouble in the kingdom of darkness? It's your power to pray. Woo! I'm already getting excited about this. It's time for us to get bold in our prayer life. We have a supernatural source of healing. We have a supernatural source of security, and prosperity, and protection, and wisdom. And it's available to us right now.
And let us come, Jesus said, or the Scripture tells us in Hebrews. "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace," Hebrews, chapter four, verse 16, "that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need". You in a time of need? Pray. You in a time of a family members need? Pray. You in a time of gratitude? Pray. You in a time of sadness? Pray. You in a time of depression? Pray. You in a time of being broke? Pray. You in a time of being rich? Pray. In the time of being happy? Pray. Sad? Pray. Pray, pray, pray. You have power, and you can ask God for anything. It doesn't take long. It doesn't take all. It just takes a moment for you to believe and make your request known.
Now you'll also remember, I shared with you last time, you're not alone. You're not alone in this journey of prayer. Notice and remember what we talked about in Romans, chapter eight, verse 26. "Likewise the Spirit Himself helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us". You know, He doesn't assign it to an angel. He doesn't assign it to another person. He said the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. I believe when we're in deep sadness and sorrow, the Holy Spirit is still working in the darkness. We're in a moment of darkness, the Holy Spirit is still working. And He also gives us a supernatural, heavenly prayer language too deep for tangible, earthly words.
That's why He gives us heavenly words and the gift of prayer in tongues. It's not the only way to pray, but it's one of the gifts and one of the ways that God is made available to us to pray. You have a partner in prayer. You're not alone in prayer. You can pray by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and through Him we have our prayers answered that could have never come to fruition otherwise. Man, if we get ahold of this... That the scope of prayer is as large as our asking. You say, "Well, what's the scope? How far can my prayer go? How how wide can my prayer go? How deep; how high"? Yes, higher, and deeper, and further, than you could ever imagine. "Whatsoever you ask in My Name," Jesus said, "I will do it".
So, the scope of prayer has no limits. He also said He's able to do exceeding abundantly above and beyond all that we can ask or think. If we would just start asking, if we would just start thinking big and asking big. Start with something small if you want to. You don't want to start with something big? Start with something small. You don't want to start with something small? You want to jump to something big? Go for it. Because whatever level of request that you make to God, He will do exceeding abundantly above and beyond. What kind of God could be like that? Our God, our Heavenly Father, the God who created everything beautiful, the God who gave you breath, the God who gave you life, the God who gave you love, the God Who gave you Jesus. Now, how do we tap into this power? And how do we know that our prayers will get answered?
Number one, we have to recognize and remember we've been invited by Jesus to ask. Number two, we need to know it's our right. Remember James chapter five, verse 16? That the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. And being righteous is through the blood of Jesus. We are right with God and we have the right to go to God. We have the right to bind the devil. We have the right to speak and prophesy to the dry bones. We have the right to say to the mountain be removed. We have the right to be bold and ask God boldly for the things that we desire in this life and in the life to come.
So, know that it's your right. Next, be specific. Next way to know that you get your prayers answered. Be specific. One of the number one reasons people's prayers don't get answered is because we're vague. We're praying for world peace. We're praying, "Oh God, give, bring peace to the world. God save everybody". God doesn't work like that. He doesn't operate like that. Prayer works when we're specific. James, chapter four, verse two says you "have not because you ask not". Because God has made the universe in such a way that we need to respect the Creator of the universe, and respect the order that He has set in motion in the universe. And realize that by staying silent, we're limiting God. By staying silent we're limiting ourselves. By staying silent and by being vague we're saying we don't believe God cares that much. But He does care that much and more. Because all the numbers of our head, all the numbers of our hair, all the hairs of our head are numbered. He knows every one of them. When a sparrow falls to the ground, He takes notice. He knows everything. He cares about the details.
So, what makes a person be vague when they ask God for something? What makes them be vague when they pray? It's because they don't think God really cares about that minute detail of your life. But He does. Be specific. Mark, chapter 11, verse 24 says, "Whatsoever things you desire when you pray". And particularly, I love this in the King James version. He says, "Whatsoever things you desire when you pray". Whatsoever things you desire when you pray. So, when you're praying, He said, "What are you desiring? Because whatever you desire, when you pray, believe you have received them. Believe you have received them". So, He tells us there's got to be some desire. You have to have some desire, and then pray that desire. Remember the blind man, Bartimaeus, in Mark, chapter ten?
He says in verse 50, It says, after he said, "Jesus, have mercy on me, have mercy on me, have mercy on me". And they were telling him to shut up, shut up, shut up. But Jesus said, "Bring him to me". "And throwing off his coat," it says in verse 50. Bartimaeus jumped up and he came to Jesus. And Jesus said, "What do you want Me to do for you"? What do you want Me to do for you? One translation says, "What do you desire that I do for you"? And the man said, "Rabboni, let me see again. I want to see again". Apparently, he had already had sight, and then he had lost his sight, and now he was blind. And Jesus said, "What do you want Me to do for you"? Jesus knew this man was blind, so why would He have to ask, "What do you want Me to do for you"? Because God has set up the universe so that we would make our request known to God. You know why? Because that proves our dependance is on Him.
The reason we need to ask is because, it's not because God just wants to play this game where we have to ask. But it's when we ask, we are in a position of dependance. We're in a position of humility. We're in a position of knowing that there is a God and we're not Him. That's why He wants, that's one reason why He has set up the universe so that we can go to Him and ask. Because there is a humility in asking. There is a letting go of your pride when you ask. There's a letting go of your self-dependance, and turning it into dependance on God. This man said, "I want to see you again". And Jesus said, "Go, your faith has healed you". And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. What if, when Jesus said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you"? and the blind man said, "I could use a frosty, you know? I could use a milkshake. I could use a new house".
Is it possible that Jesus could have given him that? Absolutely. But that's not what he stated that he was asking for. But Jesus wanted him to be specific. And He wants you to be specific as well. What do you want me to do for you? How big is this? It's as big as you want it to be, and then bigger. I love what it says in Ephesians three. I've quoted this verse already, but in the Message Bible it says, Ephesians, chapter three, verses 20 and 21, "God can do anything, you know, far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it..." He does it. Not that He doesn't do it. He's telling us how He does it. "He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us".
So, number one, we got to realize we've been invited to ask. Number two, boy, we got to get ahold of the fact that this is our right to pray and to ask boldly and to ask of God. And number three, we need to be specific when we ask. And you say, "Well, if I'm specific in what I ask, does that mean I've run out of opportunities to ask Him for something else"? No, because God is not a genie in a bottle that comes out and says, "I'll give you three wishes, and then you know, I'll grant you three wishes". He's the God of the universe. We don't put Him in a bottle. But we don't put him in a box either, where we limit Him and allow religion to get us to limit Him and tell us that we can't ask God specifically for the things that we desire.
And by the way, when you are walking with God in a relationship with Him, your desires are going to usually be good desires. Because a lot of people sometimes say, "Oh, well, you can't ask God anything," even though Jesus said you can. But I realize that some people will try to disqualify all of the power to ask by saying, "What about people that ask for things they shouldn't ask for"? Why do we go there? Why does religion get us to go, "Oh..." We try to always find a reason not to pray, try to find a reason why it won't work, try to find a reason why we should just start out disappointed so that we never get disappointed. But it's time for us to stop living in disappointment and start being bold with the God of the universe who has invited us to pray, given us the right to pray, given us the power, and the ability, and the direction to be specific with Him about it. And then you know what else will cause you to truly get your prayers answered?
Number four, pray the promises of God. Pray the promises of God. There are over 7,000 promises in God's Word. And we will run out of time before we run out of promises. We will run out of breath before we run out of promises. Pray the promises of God. Because God has already, has a built-in system of having said yes to His promises that He already made. It's built into God's promises that it's a "yes". If it was a "no," or if it was a "maybe," it wouldn't be a promise. What makes it a promise is that the answer is "yes". What makes it a promise is that it was God's idea. What makes it a promise is, faithful is He who said it, He will also do it. What makes it a promise is that God is not a man that he would lie. What makes it a promise is He is watching over His word to perform it.
So, in Second Corinthians, one, verse 20, when it says "For all the promises of God are Yes," and with us is the "Amen". Wow. Pray the promises of God. They have already built into them; the answer is yes. You want to be sure your motive is right? Pray the promises of God. You want to make sure that God hears you? Pray the promises of God. You want to make sure you don't get the wrong desires and start desiring things you shouldn't desire? Pray the promises of God. Because I guarantee you the promises of God that He's already given us in His Word will so outweigh, and so outperform, and so out... so exceed anything you could ask in your own limited thinking.
If we just stick to asking and praying the promises of God, we're never going to be sad or disappointed because we know it's only a matter of time before that goes from us making our request known in heaven, to heaven releasing the power of that promise into our lives. It's only a matter of time. It's not a matter of yes or no anymore. It's only a matter of time. That's why through faith and patience, we inherit the promises of God. Be patient, but be bold, and ask big, and pray the promises of God. Jabez prayed. "O God, that you would bless me indeed, that you would expand my borders, that Your hand would be with me, and that I would cause healing and not pain". And God answered his request. Wow, and God answered his request. And if God answered Jabez' request, He'll answer yours, too. You know why? Because God is not a respecter of persons. He doesn't say, "Okay, I'll answer his, but I won't answer hers. I'll answer hers, but I won't answer his".
If He does it for one, He will do it for all. Well, I have a fifth thing that I want to share with you about in how to get our prayers answered and how to have our prayers answered, but I'm out of time. So, I'm going to just invite you to come back and join me at our next service. Next time, I'm going to get into the most powerful stronghold that the enemy uses to keep us from getting our prayers answered. And you're going to have that solution. In the meantime, and only I'm not sharing it to try to get you to come back, I'm not sharing it because I'm out of time.
And so, I do want to talk about it. But in the meantime, the points that I've given you, work on those. Like, work with those. Use those. Implement those. Activate those today, and all will go well with you. Let me pray for you. If you've never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, if you've never received Him. If you've never been sure that you're going to heaven when you die, pray this with me out loud. Come on. I know there's somebody watching right now, and you're like, "Oh, my heart is beating. I really want to have this kind of relationship with God, but I'm not holy enough. I'm not godly enough. I don't know if I can do, keep all the commandments". It's not about keeping a commandment. It's about starting a relationship. It's about starting a relationship. God has invited you into relationship through Jesus. Just accept the invitation. Just pray this simple prayer out loud after me right where you are. Just say:
Heavenly Father, I invite Jesus into my life. I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead. From this moment forward, I'm a child of God. The blood of Jesus... Just say that out loud. The blood of Jesus cleanses me from all my sin, amen.