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Prayer is the key to heaven, but faith unlocks the door.
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Lord, teach me how to pray!  I want to pray prayers that move mountains and change circumstances and lives.

This prayer began my journey of talking with God years ago! His response? He began laying new desires and requests on my heart and prompting me to give Him each one… so I did.

And then a miraculous thing happened.

My world started changing — rapidly! When I prayed, He moved.

I was floored. The God of the universe listened to me! The most important Being in existence heard my pleas — about even the tiniest matters. Wow!

This greatly fueled my faith, so I began approaching Him with more requests. And the more I prayed, the more deliverance I saw, not just in my own life but in the lives of others around me who I prayed for. God was laying a foundation of prayer in my life and teaching me one of life’s greatest joys: talking with Him to bring about change in our world. They call this, in part, bringing the Kingdom of heaven to earth.

This girl — once overwhelmed with anxiety — soon experienced incredible peace and joy! As I left burdens at His feet, knowing full well (with the assurance of faith He gives us) that He WILL handle them, I began to have peace like never before. And I was so grateful!

Beth Moore taught me the following — how to pray prayers that God responds to — here paraphrased by another believer:

Young man, learn to plead the promises of God!

So… what does that mean? I’m glad you asked 😉

The Bible contains thousands of promises for every single situation we may face.As I explored Scripture, God showed me that it was overflowing with His promises! His word = His promises to us. When we “give someone our word”, don’t we promise them something? Don’t we declare to them what they can expect of us in the future?

I encourage you to pore over your Bible in search of God’s promises and then pray His promises back to Him. God heeds such prayers because He must — He’s bound to His word!

God is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent;
Has He said, and will He not do it?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
-Numbers 23:19

Paul the Apostle tells us one very powerful promise God has given us. This one blows my mind!

“For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.  And so through Him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the Glory of God” (2 Cor.1:20).

Do you know what this means?!  Paul is saying that all of God’s promises to us have been delivered in Christ Jesus!  All we must do is say ‘Amen’ to each promise — to agree with God about it.  This is how we claim His promises for ourselves!  So how will we learn about these promises?  By reading His word — they’re written in black and white.  All of Scripture tells us what we can expect God to do on our behalf — what He’s done in the past, what He does for us now, and what He will do in the future.

Are you sick? He promises healing. “By His stripes, we are healed!”

Lonely? He promises comfort, His constant presence, & never-ending love! “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” “I’ve loved you with an everlasting love. I’ve drawn you with lovingkindness.” “We comfort others with the comfort we have received.”

Angry? He promises His vengeance! “‘Vengeance is Mine; I will repay!’ says the Lord.”

To learn more of His promises to us, visit: http://www.ipcprayer.org/index.cfm?&menuid=60&parentid=25

So I’ll ask again: did God say it? Then He will do it — just believe!