Keys to Answered Prayer #1
 

KEY OF SURRENDERING TO GOD’S WILL

Answered prayers are closely related to the truth that blessings, answers, and miracles come from being surrendered to God’s will. God even has perfect answers ready and waiting for prayers that you have not yet realized you should be praying.

Perhaps God has not seemed to answer a lot of your prayers, and you are frustrated with trying to figure out how to pray to get the answers that you want and believe you need. Every Christian has, at one time or another, been a bit doubtful, even fearful, to blindly accept the fact that God alone has the best answer(s) for the circumstances he or she is facing. Why does this doubt and fear exist? Regardless of our confessions of faith as believers, we know that His answer may be entirely different from what we are asking for. This is because we are only seeing the surface symptoms of our hurts and needs and problems.

A secure structure of answers can never be built upon a surface understanding. Think about how dangerous it would be for a contractor to build a tall building of refuge on a large piece of land that looked fine on the surface when a swampy bog and quicksand were right under the surface crust of the land.

God is the only One who is fully aware of all of the broken pieces in your problems and He is the only One who is able to build those pieces into something strong, secure, and beautiful. Praying surface prayers about scary symptoms rather than praying to surrender the source of your fears and panic thinking to God will never bring complete answers. Praying for symptoms only keep you hanging on that proverbial rope with a knot tied in the end of it.

When some people hear that the bottom line of finding answers to their issues is that God’s will is the only right answer, they immediately say, “Yes, but the Bible says you don’t have because you don’t ask. I’ve asked and He hasn’t answered.” Jesus did say this, but many have extended what they think He was saying here to fit their limited understanding and the solutions they think they need.

John 16:24 (Amplified) does tell us that Jesus said this: “Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.”

This verse is not referring to new jobs, fame, money, power, or to prospective mates. This verse is referring to being able to ask the Father, in His Son’s name, for whatever you need to enable you to finish the work that Jesus left here on earth for you to do and thereby fulfill your destiny. This verse does not just mean that you can be outfitted like a soldier in the military so you can fight the good fight. Sincerely asking the Father in Jesus’ name for His will to be done in your life will bring answers, blessings, and miracles that God knows will delight you while you are fulfilling your commission.

Your heavenly Father knows exactly what you need to be satisfied, secure, happy, blessed, and filled with excitement. When you seek His will in all things, you are saying that you are choosing to trust Him for perfect answers in every one of these areas. This also means you need to stop praying prayers that tell God what He should do to make you happy and fulfill you. He knows all about you better than you do. Luke 12:29-31 (NKJV): “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”

If you could write a spiritual check on a spiritual bank, the Bank of God’s Will is where your unlimited account balance would be on deposit. You can write natural checks on your account at Bank of America or Wells Fargo to help you get what you think you need, but you will find yourself having to write more and more checks because what you acquire in the natural is only a temporary answer to your deepest needs. Once you understand the basic information in this Key to Answered Prayer, you can begin to refine how you think about prayer and about God. This will position you to receive the answers to your prayers for yourself and for others as well as for those things you have dared to believe He might do for you.

Pray this prayer using the Keys of the Kingdom prayer principles found in Matthew 16:19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (NIV).

Some of the original meanings of the word bind in the Old Testament and the New Testament are: to undergird, hold, persuade, steady, cause fragmented pieces to come back into one whole, put self under obligation to, and cling to (Hebrew and Greek). Praying binding prayers will stabilize you, steady you, and give you a spiritual safety harness and spiritual seat belt to Jesus.

Some of the original meanings of the word loose in the New Testament are: to untie, break up, destroy, put off, wreck, crack to sunder by separation of the parts, shatter into minute fragments, disrupt, lacerate, burst, and tear up (Greek). Loosing prayers shatter stronghold thinking, smash deception, tear up bad attitudes and wrong mind sets, and allow you to perform self-surgery on your soul’s wrong patterns of thinking.

Let’s Pray
Father, You know what I need and You know what will fulfill my life and bring me great joy far more than I do. I will learn how to trust You to provide what You know is best for me, I want to get rid of what You know is holding me back from exciting life changes that will be manifested only when I am walking in Your will!

Your Word tells me in Matthew 6:10 that Jesus prayed: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (NKJV). I know that You have plans for me and they are for good and never to hurt me. So I now choose to bind my will to your will, understanding that this means I am obligating my will to yours. I want what You want more than I want my own way. I want what you want more than I want money, a mate, fame, or praise and recognition. Help me to get my priorities straightened out because I sincerely acknowledge that I have allowed the world to mess with them.

You Word tells me that Paul told the Christians in Philippi, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God’ (Philippians 2:5-6, NKJV). I realize that I must choose to let His mind be in me for He will not force His thoughts upon me. So I choose to bind my mind to your mind, Jesus. I want your thoughts to be the straight-edged ruler that I can always count on to nudge me back into right thinking when I become confused. I bind my raggedy emotions to the healing balance and comfort of the Holy Spirit. I do not want to be ruled by the reactions and distractions of my emotions; I want my emotions to be delightful spices and flavorings to savor as I walk with you in the center of your will.

Thank you, Lord, for helping me to get my priorities straight. You love me and I can love because you loved me first. Thank you, Jesus, for saving me and bringing into the family of God. I am so excited about this year. I thank you for everything! In Your Name, Jesus, Amen.

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