REVEALING GOD DEVOTIONAL – DIMENSIONS TO ANSWERED PRAYER
Bless God for another day to share with you. I hope you had a nice night. My prayer for you is that this day be a fruitful one, in Jesus’ name. Today I want to share about prayer and new dimensions on how we can get quick answers to our prayers. Most people know that faith is what brings answered prayer, which is true, as the scripture says, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24).
Nevertheless, Jesus also highlighted relationship and obedience to our calling as foundations to answered prayer. Just look at this example: if your brother comes to you for help and someone you don’t know comes for the same kind of help, who will you give preference to? Obviously your brother, because of your relationship with him. If you have two brothers come to you for help, but one is closer to you than the other, you will obviously help the one closer to you first. This is the same with prayer. Even though we are all in the same family in Christ, God does not grant our requests only because of our family relationship — He also gives preference based on closeness of relationship. This does not mean Jesus does not love us all, but it means that loving Him back can make a difference in getting our requests granted quickly and helped to manifestation.
We can see this in the relationship of Jesus with His disciples. Even though Jesus loved all twelve disciples, three of them — Peter, James, and John — were closer to Him. They were the ones who had the opportunity to ask more questions and see more revelations about Jesus which the others did not see. For example, it was only Peter, James, and John that saw the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, because they were the only ones Jesus revealed it to (Matthew 17).
Nevertheless, amongst the three closest disciples, John was the closest to Jesus — so close that he could rest his head on Jesus’ chest. When Jesus was telling His disciples about the traitor among them, no one could ask Jesus who it was except John. The other disciples told John to ask for them, and he did and got the answer. There are different degrees of relationship Christians have with Jesus, and this surely determines how their prayers are answered. In relating relationship to answered prayer, Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).
If you are asking how you can have a relationship with Jesus, the first step is to be born again. The second step is to build your relationship with Him by spending time talking with Him through prayer, knowing Him more through His Word, and following Him by obeying His Word. There is no difference between Jesus and His Word. That is why the scripture says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
The next dimension to answered prayer is obeying God’s calling on your life. Jesus was not only recognized because of what He said, but also because of the miracles He did. Jesus said the reason these miracles were possible was because He was in the Father’s will. There was no record of Jesus doing any miracle for the first thirty years of His life until after He was called into ministry. This is because when God calls you, He will stand by you to prove that He sent you, so that He can be glorified through you. The scripture says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16).
Those are the two dimensions I want to add to faith in receiving answered prayer. So I want to encourage you to spend more time building your relationship with Jesus. Have a blessed day!
Today’s Reading:
John 15, Proverbs 11---
Nevertheless, if you are not born again you can do so today by saying this simple prayer below out with your mouth in faith, believing that Jesus Christ died and rose again for your sins.
Prayer for Salvation
Dear Lord, I believe Jesus died and rose again for me. Forgive me my sins and come into my life. I confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Thank you Father for doing this for me. Reveal yourself to me today. In Jesus name, Amen.
Congrats, your status has changed to that of a child of God, if you said this prayer in faith.