The Steps to Answered Prayer

Many of us think that prayer was invented by man. We think that when man had a lot of needs, he went to God and asked Him for help and that is how prayer came about. But the Bible clearly says that God is the author of prayer. Jesus taught in Matt 7: 7, 8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened”. It was God’s idea that man should pray to Him and ask for his needs to be met.

Step 1: We should ask God because He wants to supply our needs
We need to recognize that prayer is indeed God’s idea. When we have a clear understanding about that, we will no longer hesitate to go to Him for help because it was He that said “Ask and it will be given unto you”. If He had not said so, then prayer would be a difficult endeavor. But since He has instituted prayer and paved a way for us to go to Him for all our needs, we can boldly approach God knowing that we are welcome.

Step 2: God should hear us
Although God has asked us to pray, we need to understand that God is not obligated to listen to all kinds of prayer. We read in 1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us”. Notice very carefully the phrase “according to His will”. God has never promised to give us anything outside of His will, but when we ask according to His will, we can be sure of receiving it.

Now many Christians do not have any clue as to what the will of God is. They are of the opinion that God’s will might be one thing today and another thing tomorrow. They feel that we can never know what God’s will really is at a given point of time. But again the Bible reveals just the opposite. In fact the will of God is laid bare, in black and white across the pages of the Bible. In Psalm 23, we see His will to lead us through a good life. In Phil 4:19 we see His will to supply all our needs. In Psalm 128 we see His will to bless our family. In 3 John 1:2 we see His desire for us to prosper and be in good health. Throughout the pages of the Bible, we see His will being revealed in a crystal clear form, but sadly it means nothing to a lot of Christians. To them these are just words in a book, and have nothing to do with their lives.

If we only knew that the will of God has already been revealed clearly in the pages of the Bible, we can start using Bible verses to frame our prayer. We can now base our prayer on the very words and promises of God. When we do that, we can be certain that it is according to the will of God. When we have a financial need, we can confidently ask God to supply our need because Phil 4:19 promises that He will supply our needs. We can ask God for a life partner confidently because we see His will for us to have a good family in Psalm 128. We can ask God to heal our body because He wants us well according to 3 John 1:2. So the second step in prayer is to know the will of God through the Bible and base our prayer on His Word, so that God will hear our prayer.

Step 3: We should believe that we have received the answer
We have already seen in 1 John 5:14 that if we ask anything according to His will, we will hear us. The very next verse says “And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him”. This verse says that if God has heard us, then we can be confident that He has granted our petition already. We may not see the answer right then, but in heaven the work has been done and it is just a matter of time before it manifests on earth in the physical realm. Many Christians miss it big time here. They think that God has answered only when they can see a physical manifestation of the answer. They don’t realize the fact that God could answer their prayer and it might take some time for it to manifest in the physical realm. The key here is to believe that God has already answered our prayer in spite of the lack of physical evidence. This is where 1 John 5:15 comes in handy. It says that once we know God has heard our prayer, we can be absolutely confident that He has also answered our petition. We may not see the answer immediately, but as far as He is concerned, it is already done. We just need to wait for the manifestation of the answer in the physical realm.

Jesus taught about this very same thing on His way to Jerusalem. He said in Mark 11: 24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”. We need to believe that we have already received it, even though we don’t see any physical proof. We just need to take God’s word for it and believe that since we have asked according to His will, and since we know He has heard our petition, He has answered our prayer and the manifestation is on its way. Jesus said that if we believe that we have already received the answer, then it will eventually manifest in the physical realm. The time that it takes to manifest might vary from one prayer to another and from one person to another, but the one thing that we can be absolutely sure about is that God has already answered our prayer.

So these are the three vital steps to answered prayer. We need to ask God knowing that He wants us to. Then we need to ask according to His will so that He will hear us. Then we need to believe that since He has heard us, He has also answered our petitions and then hold on to that belief until the day we see the physical evidence of the answer in the physical realm. More on this >>

Should We Tithe

Let me ask you this. Should be have a bath everyday? Just stop and think about that! If we don't take a bath, would God be mad at us? Is that why we bathe... just to please Him? Of course not! We take a bath everyday because we know that it is good for us. We take good care of ourselves because we are interested in our wellbeing. There is no legal requirement for us to bathe everyday, but we still practise it simply because we know it is good for us. Now let's come to the main question. Should we tithe?

Well, we don't have to just as there is no mandatory requirement stating that we bathe everyday. But if we are really interested in ourselves and our wellbeing, we would be wise enough to practice it diligently.

Why should we tithe?
Tithe is really a way of honoring God with our substance. Everything good that we ever have in our lives comes from God. We acknowledge that fact by giving a tenth back to Him. By tithing, we are in essence stating, “Lord, You are my Source of total supply for every need in my life. Everything good that I have and enjoy has come from You. So I acknowledge that by giving back to You a tenth of what You have given me”. So tithing is really a way of honoring God. By doing that, we put God in charge of our lives and let Him be our source and take care of us. It is really the best thing that we can do for our own wellbeing.

In Matt 22:19 – 21, we read about Jesus replying the Pharisees about paying taxes. He said “Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription”? “Caesar's,” they replied. Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.”

In a democratic society, a portion of our income belongs to the government in the form of taxes. Even though it is our income, a certain percentage of it legally belongs to the government. If we fail to pay our taxes, we become law breakers. Even though it is our money, the government’s name is written on the tax portion of our money, and we are legally bound to hand over that money to the government. Likewise, God’s Name is written on one tenth of our income and we really honor Him when we give that portion to Him. It is His. This is exactly what Jesus meant when He said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.”

Many times, we feel the need to give only when there is a specific need. When the church or a ministry needs funds for a certain project we feel motivated to give. At other times, we may feel there is no necessity to give since there is no need to be met anyway. But tithing is not need-based giving. We need to honor God at all times. Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek, the King of Salem who obviously had no financial needs. He was greater than Abraham in everyway. Nothing that Abraham gave could make Melchizedek any richer. But still Abraham gave tithes to Him because he wanted to honor God. So we need to tithe at all times, need or no need. More on this >>

The Spiritual vs The Physical

When you think of the words ‘spirit’, ‘spirit beings’ or ‘angels’, what is the picture that pops up in your mind? Do you picture something that is vaporous or gaseous in nature? For many people, anything that is spiritual is kind of nebulous, ethereal and immaterial. For them, it is anything but real, tangible or physical. Still worse, some people think that these things exist only in people’s imagination. But the Bible says that the spiritual is much more real than the physical. Now that must be shocking to many people. This means that the spiritual realm, which most people think of as a vaporous nebulae, is in fact much more solid and tangible than a piece of rock. It may not be tangible to our senses, but the fact that it exists is nevertheless true.

This might seem irrelevant to our day-to-day needs and problems, but it has an enormous impact upon the quality of life that we live, much beyond what we can discern or comprehend.


Now think about this. None of our five senses can detect radio waves, but that is what makes our radios sing. Our senses cannot detect microwaves either, but it sure cooks our dinner pretty good.

The problem with many people is that they never look beyond their senses. For them, anything beyond their senses simply doesn’t exist. If they had lived a couple of hundred years back, they wouldn’t have believed in radio waves and microwaves either. Now that these facts are established through experience, they have no other choice but to accept them.

Now why is it so important that we understand about the spiritual realm, which is something that we can hardly discern with out sense knowledge? What does it matter whether or not the spiritual is more tangible than the physical world? Why bother with such seemingly absurd, hypothetical notions that hardly have any relevance to our lives?

Well for starters, your understanding about the spiritual is incredibly relevant to your everyday life. What you know about the spiritual has a very direct impact upon your existence. In fact, the quality of your life on earth and beyond hinges upon your understanding about the spiritual realm. Now these are very strong statements and need to be substantiated with solid facts.

Now consider the Word of God. That is a spiritual entity. Although we have The Word in written form (which is The Bible), in reality The Word of God is a spiritual entity. Jesus said, “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life”. So The Word of God is indeed spiritual. And in Luke 21:33 Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”. In this verse, you have a classic comparison of the spiritual vs. the physical. His Words are spiritual, whereas the earth is physical. He is saying the spiritual is going to stay and the physical is going to vaporize. Now that really tells us which one of the two is more real. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal”. That is another conformation of the same fact.

John chapter 1 verses 1 and 3 say, “In the beginning was The Word” and “Through Him (The Word) all things were made; without Him (The Word) nothing was made that has been made.” The Word made everything. Everything there is in this universe and beyond was made by The Word. In other words, the spiritual created the physical. The spiritual literally gave birth to the physical. That should again tell you which is more real and more tangible.

James 4:14 says, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes”. Now it looks like the physical world is the vaporous stuff, while the spiritual realm is rock solid. And indeed that is how it is in reality, according to the Bible. The physical, tangible, material world that we see around us is much less real when compared to the spiritual realm. The fact that it is not discernible through our five senses makes it no less real. The Bible says this physical world, which is a vapor, is literally going to vaporize very soon, but the spiritual realm, which is as rock solid as ever, is going to stay for all eternity.

Now what has that got to do with our lives here on earth? Much in every way! Take for instance, the grim prospect of people discovering that they have a life threatening disease like cancer. If they are not believers, their survival pretty much depends on the progress of medical science. On the other hand, if they are believers, their survival directly depends on their basic understanding about the spiritual.

Now cancer is a physical entity, just as the body is. Physical invading the physical. Medicine is again a physical entity. Medicine teams up with the body and fights against the cancer. Whichever team is stronger eventually wins the battle. If the disease is in the starting stages and the medicine is able to overcome and arrest it, the person survives. If the disease is well advanced and the medicine is unable to subdue it, then cancer wins.

Now all this is happening in the physical realm. If the physical realm is the only dimension that the person can relate to, then the outcome pretty much depends on the strength the teams. As we saw earlier, the stronger team wins. If the cancer is stronger, there is simply no hope for the person. It is time to say goodbye. And sadly that is what happens to millions of people around the world. The medicine has failed them. They have lost the battle. There is no more hope. It is time to go.

But when you know about the spiritual realm and begin to tap into its resources, you have the power of dynamite flowing into your circumstances now. Remember, the spiritual is incredibly more powerful and real than the physical. The Word of God (the spiritual) is infinitely more powerful than the cancer (the physical). Isaiah 53:5 says, “He (Jesus) was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed”. We are healed. We ARE HEALED! Now cancer has to contend with that. It is up against God’s Word. Now it is the cancer vs. The Word of God. Who do you think will win? That is a no-brainer.

Remember, the physical is no match for the spiritual. And your understanding and comprehension of this fact plays a mighty role in the quality of your life on earth. God has blessed us through hundreds of promises and Jesus has paid the price for those promises through His Death on the Cross. 2 Corinthians 1:20 (New Living Translation) says, “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory”.

There are literally hundreds of promises in the Bible that are relevant to virtually every area of our lives. Every problem that we could ever face in this life has a wonderful promise in The Word of God to counter it. When we are aware of the infinite power of the spiritual over the physical, we can boldly confront the problem, which is physical, with the promise of God, which is spiritual. And every time we can see the spiritual overcoming the physical.

The Christian’s victory in life very much depends on this knowledge. Be it victory over sin, overcoming problems or fighting life’s everyday battles, the knowledge about the power of the spiritual over the physical plays a vital role in the outcome of the battle.
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A Sick Woman’s Healthy Faith

How does God heal people? Does He heal them when they pray long enough, shed a certain volume of tears and go on a hunger strike till He relents and gives them what they want? Or does He heal them based on Spiritual Laws He has set in motion? How can a believer experience Divine Healing? Let us learn from the faith of an extraordinary woman from the Gospels.

Read more...
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The Banquet

Many Christians have a misconception about what a 'spiritual life' is all about. They think that living like a monk with no desires and living a drab, mundane life devoid of any enjoyment is what God looks upon as being spiritual. But that is not the Gospel. A monastic lifestyle is not really good news. Let's see what the good news of the Gospel really is, through a simple but enlightening story.

A young couple, let us call them John and Ruth, committed their lives to the Lord, accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They prayed fervently that God would teach them how to live a spiritual life. The Lord answered their prayer and invited them to a banquet. They were thrilled beyond measure. When they arrived, the Lord ushered them into a huge banquet hall. There was a huge table that almost filled the entire hall, but there were only three chairs. “Lord, are we the only ones going to partake of this banquet?” Ruth enquired. The Lord said, “In fact, only you both are going to partake. I am here just to watch you both have a great time. My happiness is in seeing God’s children being happy.”

After they sat down, John looked around the hall and said, “Lord, the table is huge alright, but I notice it is empty.” Then, with a sense of realization he continued “I think I know why Lord. We asked you to teach us how to live a spiritual life. We cannot live a spiritual life if we have everything we need. So the table is empty, signifying a life of simplicity, humility, poverty, lack and want, ‘thorn in the flesh’ sicknesses and a lot of needs to keep us humble and totally dependant on You. Only then can we live a spiritual life. I am I right Lord?”

The Lord smiled, shook His head and replied, “You are totally wrong son. First of all, the table is not empty. It is packed with every good thing that you need to live a successful and victorious life on this earth. The table can hardly bear the weight of all the good things stacked up almost up to the ceiling of this huge hall. Its just that all the items are invisible to the human eye. You cannot see them, but I can see them as clearly as I can see you both.” The couple could hardly believe what the Lord was telling them. “Lord, You mean to say virtually everything that we need in this life is already provided here on this table?” they asked. The Lord nodded thoughtfully and said, “Virtually everything, and more than everything. I am El Shaddai, remember? A God who is more than enough!”

John said “Lord, it must have cost you a lot to fill a table so huge with priceless gifts!” The Lord solemnly acknowledged and said “It cost me My Life!” John and Ruth could feel their eyes filling up with tears. They stood in awe, face to face with the embodiment of love. The Lord continued “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

“By my Death, Burial and Resurrection, I have purchased all the good things that every single human being on earth, past, present and future would ever need. Righteousness, love, peace, joy, health, success in spiritual life, success in family life and the work place are all present here. Every single person is provided a table like this. The day they commit their lives to Me and accept Me as their Lord and Savior, I grant them the right to partake of it.”

John was confused. “But Lord, why do so many Christian believers go through life without enjoying any of these good things that you have so lovingly provided for them?” he asked. The Lord had a very sad look on His Face. “Some stick to their traditional beliefs and don’t accept Biblical Truth when it is taught to them. Some believe in the doctrine of poverty and reject My gift of an abundant life. Still others don’t believe in My goodness. They think all that I have provided in salvation is a ticket to Heaven and nothing else for their earthly life”, He answered.

“Now consider what I went through in order to purchase all this for mankind. I was bleeding from head to toe when I hung on the Cross, so that my children can have healing and live a perfectly healthy life, and yet so many live in sickness. My Body was broken so that their bodies may be made whole. But they reject this truth and instead believe that I give them their sickness in order to teach them something. I teach through My Word, not through sickness” the Lord continued.

“On the Cross, I became sin that my children might become the righteousness of God through Me. Yet many Christian believers think of themselves as unworthy sinners. In turn, this prevents them from leading a victorious Christian life. On the Cross, I became poor that my children might become rich and enjoy an abundant life. Yet they reject this generous gift and choose a life of poverty. They think I will be impressed by their humility. Instead, I am grieved by their ignorance” the Lord said very sadly.

“Remember, on the Cross I was your substitute, not your representative. After the full ransom was paid, I rose from the dead. In the resurrection, I became your representative. All that is mine is now yours. In Me you have all the riches of Heaven” the Lord continued, as He saw realization dawn on John and Ruth.

“Whenever you have a need, remember the banquet table. Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it (believe that it is already provided on the table), and it will be yours (it will appear in the physical realm). Don’t see the empty table. Learn to look into the spiritual realm, and see the table filled to capacity. Walk by faith, not by sight. That is the essence of living a spiritual life” the Lord taught. More on this >>

Biblical Parenting

Children in this information age seem to be so smart and clever, that parents these days find it extremely difficult to impose their opinion and standards on them. Some parents even wonder whether they should attempt to do so. Let us see what the Word of God has to say about this. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Regarding the method of training, Proverbs 29:15 says "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother."

The rod and reproof can be interpreted as punishment and instruction for the modern-day parent. Both punishment and instruction are necessary for proper up-bringing. While both are necessary, their ratio would differ depending on the age of the child. Children below the age of 12 would generally respond better to punishment than instruction, while older children would respond better to instruction than punishment (if they had been receiving the former while they were younger). This is primarily because older children can understand while being instructed, whereas younger children would lack the necessary wisdom to comprehend a parent's instruction. So while a quick smack on the back would correct a younger kid, a more mature approach involving gentle instructions is required while correcting an older child.

All this is possible only if the child has reverence and respect for his parents. A child who talks back can hardly be controlled or instructed. So it is vitally important that a child is taught from a very young age to respect and implicitly obey his parents. Any sort of rebellion to authority should be very firmly handled the very first time it is noticed. Some secular parents would be amused at terms like implicit obedience and reverence & respect but I am sure most Christian parents understand what we are talking about.

Sometimes kids might look or act mature, but we must always remember that they lack experience and a sense of discernment until they become adults. Unfortunately even adults sometimes display these traits. That only goes on to show how they in turn were raised by their parents without proper discipline and control.

As we saw earlier, the Bible says that a child left to himself brings shame to his parents. But some parents feel that they should let their children alone and not interfere in their affairs. They feel that doing so would enhance their children's individuality. This is an awfully dangerous stand to take. Children need to be controlled. A child does not know what to eat, how long to play, what TV programs to watch and what is bad and what is good for him. Left to himself, he might just eat chocolates and ice cream and watch TV and play video games all day. He simply does not have the sense of discernment necessary to decide what is useful and what is harmful. So it is the parents' duty to control and protect their child so that he is exposed only to things that benefit him and is protected from things that might harm him. Control and protection are in the child's best interests. It is the parents' way of showing that they love the child.

Controlling a child and training him up requires a lot of patience. This takes an awful lot of time and effort and so parents usually fail to implement it. Parents these days rarely find time for this all-important duty. I guess most parents hardly realize what they are getting into when they decide to have a child. If they completely knew the amount of responsibility entrusted to them by God in raising a child, I am sure many would have second thoughts about having kids.

Children need to be controlled until they grow up and learn to control themselves. Once they learn how to apply control and restraint, the parents can slowly withdraw their control over their children. An example will show you how true this is. Think about babies and diapers for a moment. The parents use diapers because the baby has not learnt to control itself. So it has to be controlled from the outside with the help of diapers. Left to itself without diapers, this cute little thing can mess up the whole place in no time. So as a measure of control, the parents use diapers until the child is old enough to be toilet-trained. Once the child knows how to control itself, the diapers are no longer necessary. The very same truth applies to child training. The child needs external control from the parents until he learns to take control of his life.

Control and instruction are not merely options that parents can choose from to raise their children. They are God's mandate to every parent to raise up a Godly generation after them. The task would be made easier if the training starts very early in a child's life. The first and foremost thing that a child needs to learn is reverence and respect for his parents and implicit obedience. An obedient child is easier to control and instruct. Moreover, a child that learns to obey his parents learns to submit to authority. When the child grows up, he will respect and obey his mentors, his superiors, the law of the land and all forms of legitimate authority. Finally, he will learn to obey God. When The Lord one day knocks on the door of his heart, he will readily submit to this Ultimate Authority. All this depends on how well the parents control and instruct their child.

It should be every young parent's endeavor to reach the goal of having their children completely under their control before they attain the age of 12. Reaching that goal past that age is usually an uphill task. Clay lends itself to the potter's hands when it is wet. Once it starts to dry up, it becomes very difficult to shape.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." - Proverbs 22:6 More on this >>