Prayer Opens Heaven

You always hear that prayer is powerful, but you never truly understand the power of prayer until you experience it. To truly unlock the power of prayer, you must learn how to pray. Having an open heart, understanding the Word and having faith all help to better your prayer life.

An open heart: God honors an honest and open heart. Remember you can not fool God. He knows your every thought and the intention behind it. Before you pray, you should ask yourself these questions:

1. What am I praying for?

2. Why am I asking God for this?

3. What is the intention of this prayer?

If you can answer these questions honestly and have deduced that your prayer is not for selfish gain or for something trivial then you are on the right track.

Understanding the Word: You must understand what the Word says in regards to praying and requests. God has already made many promises to his children in the Bible and some of these promises involve things that most people pray for. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says "Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest". This tells us that Jesus is ready and willing to take your burdens but you must do your part and "come to him" which is usually done through prayer. We must remember that God needs us to do our part and that includes asking and most of all believing. But asking w/o believing will not yield results. In Ephesians 6:18 Paul writes, "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints". When we have been redeemed, the Lord said that he would send us a Helper (The Holy Spirit). Ask the Holy Spirit for the words to speak in prayer. Before you open your mouth ask the Holy Spirit for the utterance, so that you may pray by the Spirit and pray effectively.

Have Faith: You must learn to trust God for what he is doing and will do in your life. One of the many ways that you can have faith is by thanking God before you even see the outcome of your prayer. Trusting God for an open and honest prayer is a golden key for a strong prayer. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus said, "Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. This is a very powerful statement. Faith is power! It is by faith that we have been redeemed and it is by faith that we go to our heavenly Father in prayer.

We would like to share a recent example of prayer in our lives. Earlier this week, our Uncle was admitted into the hospital. According to what we understand, a doctor used unclean tools on him during a check-up. He was running a high fever, and had to stay in the hospital for a couple of days. About 2 days later, we learned that the hospital had quarantined him. The only thing we could do was pray. My sister and I prayed in the Spirit and with authority that God would heal him. We knew that if we believed God for a miracle that he would grant our request. We prayed a very specific prayer asking for him to be released from the hospital and for a total healing. The day after we prayed, we received a call from our mother telling us that he had been released from the hospital and was resting at home. All we could do was to praise Him for His works!

*Just a thought: If you have received the gift of tongues, we suggest praying in tongues to the Lord. You may not understand what you are saying but the Spirit understands and it is one of the most powerful prayers you can pray.