What stopped our prayer from being answered? Jesus said in Matthew 21:22 that, "... whatever things you ask in prayer believing you will receive." I don’t know about you but I have prayed, and know I was believing when I prayed, but it still didn’t work out as I was believing. So what happened? It’s too easy to just say that the prayer was not God’s will. Some things are God’s will, like living without sickness, yet we pray for healing from sickness and don’t see God’s will come to pass. Why? Now I don’t claim to know every reason why some prayers go seemingly unanswered, but the scriptures do give us some insight on how to see what we are praying and believing for come to pass. Let me show you in the Bible some of the Scriptures concerning asking God to help us in a time of need:

• John 14:13-14 - And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
• 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.
• John 15:16 - You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
• John 16:23-24 - And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

This is just from the Gospel of John! Throughout the Bible we see the very same theme. It is God’s desire to give us our requests if we ask in the name of Jesus and ask in faith. So if it is God’s desire and we don’t see results, there has to be a reason why. I believe the Bible has an answer to all of life’s questions. I also believe that God is for us and not against us and that He takes great pleasure seeing us gain victory in every area of our life – that means receiving answers to prayer.

There are a lot of things we can do to see a greater number of our prayers answered. I like to say that they are “Ingredients of Faith.” If we can begin to put into practice some of these ingredients I believe we can see a greater number of our prayers turning out the way we expected. One of those ingredients is - faith is not passive – it declares truth even in the face of adversity. The facts of a situation may say one thing, that you are not going to make it, but faith stands in the face of the facts and says, "I don’t care what the facts are; God’s Word says the opposite of the facts!" To say, “I am just waiting on God” is not really faith. To say, “It’s all in God’s timing” is not faith either. Faith knows the promise of God from the Bible and pursues it aggressively. It is not passive. Faith won’t rest until the promise manifests exactly as God said it would in His Word. That one ingredient of faith alone, put into practice, could change the amount of prayers you see answered.

I have just released a four part series that I teach on the various “Ingredients of Faith.” The series is called "Walking by Faith." I believe this series will change your life. By putting into practice just a few of the principles that I teach from the Word of God your faith will soar like never before.

You are a holy and blessed people,
Brother John

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