Ten Prayers God Says Yes To

God, Show Me That You Exist

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. (Rev. 3:20)

God is just waiting for honest doubters to cry out for a little revelation! In fact, he is knocking at their doors, eager to oblige. The door to the human heart can be opened only from the inside. God will never force his way in. All we have to do is open.

Even if we already know that God exists and promises to be there for us, sometimes we don't feel his presence or see him moving in our lives. Then even strong believers experience doubts. They, too, need fresh reminders that he is there, aware and listening--and that he promises to respond:

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (Luke 11:9)

God invites us to knock at his door so he can reveal himself to us. The interesting thing about Jesus' use of the word "knock" is that it means "to keep on knocking"--persistently, confidently, trusting in the love and faithfulness of God to answer us.

God, Make Me an Instrument

Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)

Quite literally one of the oldest Christian prayers in the Book, the request that God make you an instrument is the one that God will answer fastest.

Jesus is making an important promise: When two or three (or more) of us are together in his name, we have an opportunity to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is real love, not some mushy feeling or hormonal rush: It is allowing God to make us his "instruments" and live his life through us.

Volunteering to become God's instrument sounds like a happy, innocent request, doesn't it? But it can be risky because God may need to shape us up first. For one thing, he will require us to rethink the importance of the thing that concerns us most: ourselves.

And then some of us may not be sure we're really equipped to be God's instruments. What if we're not wise enough or brave enough or spiritual enough? Well, God has promised divine help. Just remember this verse: God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him and then helping you do what he wants (Philippians 2:13 TLB). Imagine, God living within you, working within you. You can't get any closer to him than that!

God, Get Me Through This Suffering

God will not let you be tested beyond your strength. With your trial, he will also provide you with a means of escape, so that you will be able to endure it. (I Corinthians 10:13)

This prayer is not a way out of suffering itself, but a reminder that we can count on being consoled and fortified by God--if we ask for help. That shoulder you cried on, the understanding hug, the cup of tea--all are little gifts of comfort from God.

Jesus, our high priest, understands our struggles with suffering and temptation, because he faced those things himself! So, if we ask, he will meet us with grace to help us in our time of testing (Hebrews 4:16).

You may not need this prayer right now if things are going well in your life, but never forget it. Keep it fresh in your heart, ready to use when sorrow and pain afflict your life.

God, Forgive Me

He is faithful and just to forgive our sins. (I John 1:9)

God is so gracious. But while we're rejoicing in his grace, it's a good idea to remember that there are rules, and there are consequences in our lives here and now. For instance: If I regard sin in my heart, the Lord will not hear me (Psalm 66:18).

Confession is our route around a big roadblock to answered prayer. Sin is such a serious matter to God that he gave the life of his son to set us free from it, so it pays to keep short accounts with him. He has not made that difficult to do.

Repentance isn't a time for dread. God isn't waiting to beat us up, but to set us free into his forgiveness. As we grow in Christ, and he grows in us, we won't need to repent as often, because his Holy Spirit living in us won't let us sin as comfortably as we once did. Isn't that good news?

Right now you can get honest and remove those "sin-roadblocks" to answered prayer. You can be sure you're connecting with God because he never, never turns away from a contrite heart.

God, Give Me Peace

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV)

Real, inner peace goes beyond emotions; it comes from focusing on God. Jesus said, "I leave you peace....My peace I give to you."

Without him we won't have the peace that takes us unshaken through life's physical and emotional earthquakes. We need the peace of faith that knows God is there, walking alongside, whispering, Trust me; I have a plan and you are going to be okay. Just keep on going.

The requirements for peace depend upon "being right" with God. That means:

Confession of sin so we can start over (and over) without negative baggage.
Forgiveness of others that frees us from the ugly stress of resentment.

Then we're ready for God to move in our lives and bring peace into our chaos.

God, Give Me Courage

The Lord... delivered me from all my fears. (Psalm 34:4)

The great Christian writer C.S. Lewis once said that "courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at its testing point, which means at the point of highest reality." Even honesty, self-control, patience and chastity take courage.

You need courage to persevere through life's difficulties, to endure suffering, to take risks, to give witness to the truth, to dare to do great things. Every time we admit our weakness and our dependency on God, we're ripe for his grace and help.

If we rely on our own courage, we're in trouble. But God's Spirit can take us triumphantly through whatever we face.

Courage is the cornerstone of the entire moral order. God is willing to distribute massive doses of supernatural grace to those of his children who are rightly disposed to him, and who ask for courage.

God, Give Me Wisdom

God, Give Me Wisdom

If anyone lacks in wisdom, let him ask God, who is always ready to give. (James 1:5)

We face lots of challenges in our world today. Just turn on the television and there they are: war, an unpredictable economy, spiraling fuel prices, new pandemic diseases. What next?

Being smart isn't enough to handle all this; we need wisdom. We need direction from someone who sees our whole life at a glance, the big picture and the intricate details, someone who knows what's coming down the road.

But wisdom isn't just knowing what God has to say; wisdom is obeying him (James 1:22). With that as our focus, we avoid pitfalls that bring us to the end of our lives realizing we've lived the whole thing "the wrong way!" God's word shows us the "right way"--the way of unselfishness that will save us and those we love a lifetime of hurt.

Do you really want to study at the school of hard knocks? You don't have to make a million mistakes or live to be 100 to learn life's great lessons. Wisdom is available to everyone, free of charge.

God, Bring Good Out of This Bad Situation

All things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)

That's a wonderful Bible verse to quote and feel comforted by--except, of course, when you feel crushed by some impossible situation. Then what do you do? Quote it anyway. Tuck it into your mind and let it take root there. Then wait on God to work his redemptive purpose out of the circumstances that threaten to overwhelm you.

Sometimes God allows suffering in order to get our attention: to divert us from wrong paths; to build our faith and our courage, to help us grow strong and resilient; to make us wiser. Or to turn our bad situations into good ones.

Remember the darkest time of all: Jesus' crucifixion. In one amazing stroke of genius and grace, God turned all that suffering around--he redeemed mankind and made it possible for sins to be forgiven. In I Corinthians 2:7-8, Paul reminds us that God had a secret plan before time began: our own redemption. As Paul says, the rulers of this age--the devil and his demons--engineered the crucifixion, believing they could get rid of the Savior and foil God's plan. But their scheme backfired! They never dreamed that Jesus' death would be followed by his resurrection.

Remember, whatever you're going through, God has a "resurrection" plan for your life, too.

God, Lead Me to My Destiny

Before you were born, I consecrated you. (Jeremiah 1:5)

You came into this world a champion! Special, unique you; a miracle predetermined by God. It follows, then, that you have a unique destiny.

Your destiny is not the same as your dream. Dreams can lead you away from the destiny God has planned for you. He knows where you fit and what you can accomplish.

We're not just human beings but keys that God has individually crafted to fit certain locks. In fact, in all the world and in all of time, there has been only one that has the ability to open one particular lock. That's you.

The lock you've been designed to open is your destiny. What's important to remember is that the person who achieves greater in heaven is the one with a servant's heart (Mark 10:34-45). That takes selflessness and love, the most God-like traits of all. So ask God to live his love out through you by the Holy Spirit within you. He'll be glad to answer that one.