Bible scriptures to follow: Proverbs 4:20-23, Philippians 4:6.
Truth: Thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith words lead the heart out of defeat into victory.
Prayer is a lifestyle. These levels are an everyday revelation of a greater understanding! The Lord spoke to me and said: “To understand My ways you have to fellowship with Me.” And it all comes by working towards a goal to be more effective and bear forth more fruit! We must decide what we want, we must have the promise from the Word of what we want, then we must ask, and then we must believe we receive!
“14 This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him” – 1 John 5:14-15
Level 5: Refuse to Doubt
Let every thought and desire affirm that you have what you ask. Never permit a mental picture of failure to remain in your mind. Never doubt for one minute that you have the answer. If doubts persist, rebuke them. Get your mind on the answer.
James 4:7 says, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Doubt is of the devil and therefore you must resist him. Eradicate every image, suggestion, feeling, or thought that does not contribute to your faith. Instead, concentrate on things that contribute to what you need from God.
For me, personally, prayer first had to work in my own household for doubt to be overcome! We had to believe and act upon the Word to overcome doubt and when we pray, we have an unchangeable confidence that what the Word says is so, to receive the fulness of every promise thereof! We taught how to stand unwavering. So, when we prayed, we believed that we have received, and as a result our faith grew!
My daughter, Eulene, had a friend that had designer clothes with labels that have never been worn, and here she must trust God for every need to be supplied from clothes to finances, healing, and transport. It created strong faith and today a mother of 4 every prayer is answered!
Jonathan, my eldest son, believed God for a handheld PlayStation for his 14th birthday (15 years ago). While I was at the store, I received a phone call that someone had deposited the exact amount into my bank account. It was a great blessing to him.
Michael, my thirdborn, lives a blessed life by just walking in answered prayer because of Deuteronomy 28:1, 2, “…if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe all His commandments… And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you…” Today, he works with the top photographers in the nation who do advertisements for some of the biggest names in the food and restaurant industry.
David, my youngest, has experienced the Glory of God in unique ways. He is highly intelligent and uses his godly skill to honour God. Everything we do for the Kingdom is birthed, seen, and experienced through prayer.
The will of God is in prayer, and as you pray, you pray out the will of God for your life! We live in the faith realm, not the seen realm. And everything we believe for comes out of faith. When we believe for the impossible it will manifest. Thanksgiving is the switch that keeps your faith moving in the right direction. It is in the realm of faith that the battle of prayer is fought and won! Our thoughts are governed by observation, association, and teaching. Therefore, it is vital that we guard our thoughts against every evil thought and ounce of doubt that comes into our mind.
We must stay away from all places and things that do not support our confession that God has answered our prayer. We think on those things that are honest, just, pure, lovely, and are of a good report (Phil. 4:8) – think on these things!
Level 6: Meditate on the Promises
Proverbs 4:20-22
“20 My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart. 22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.”
Constantly meditate on the promise on which you have base your answer to prayer. See yourself in possession of what you have asked from God and make plans as if it already were a reality.
God will make His Word good if you will act on it. Gods Word says He hears and answers prayer. If the Word does not depart from before your eyes, you are sure to see yourself with the things you asked for. You must become saturated in prayer to the point that you become the promise!
If you do not see yourself possessing the promise, the Word has departed from before your eyes. If you do not stand by the Word, God cannot stand by you, even though He wants to. God only works according to His Word; He moves in line with His Word. He has magnified His Word above His Name! So, if you stand by the Word, He will stand by you.
Many people pray and pray, but they do not pray according to the Word. John 15:7 says, “But if you live in life-union with me and if my words live powerfully within you—then you can ask whatever you desire, and it will be done.”
His abiding Word gives us a solid foundation to pray from. When you visualize yourself as what the Word says who you are, then you are attending and inclining your will to find health and life. I have always taken the Word to find scripture on a certain faith adventure to receive the promise of what I am believing for. Once I have those scriptures, I begin to meditate on them until they produce the desired result of what I am believing for.
I saturate myself until I become the promise and it becomes my life. So, then I walk in divine health and divine blessing. Jesus said if man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink, meaning He is the water. We are the healed and the enemy wants to make us sick. We are the blessed and we are the beloved.
There’s a story of a man who was in a coma on his deathbed. The nurses would look at him and say that it was only a matter of time before he would die – his condition looked awfully bad. Every time he heard the nurses say that he was going to die, he lost hope. But there was one nurse who would speak life over him and that would lift him up in his spirit.
I was asked to pray for him, but no visitations were allowed due to covid restrictions. But God’s Word never returns void, and there is life and power I the spoken Word.
This man saw me, in the spirit, walking up to him and praying over him. I was not physically present, however, my words were in the spirit. Within a week he walked out, healed and restored! The words we speak are spirit and life!
Level 7: Give God the Praise
Philippians 4:6
“Be careful about nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God.”
The words “be careful about nothing” mean do not be anxious about anything. The Amplified says, “Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything.”
As long as we fret and are anxious, praying and fasting won’t do us any good. Thanksgiving comes after prayer has been made. Why? Because we thank God for the answer. When you constantly have a heart of gratitude and increasing praise for what He has done and for what He is doing, makes every prayer, concerning your need, a statement of faith and praise, not a statement of unbelief.
Thinking faith thoughts and speaking faith words leads the heart out of defeat and into victory! Do not accept defeat and do not be denied. It is your redemption right; you have a promise from God Himself who has said it. And He does not lie, He is covenant-bound.
Andrew Murray said, “It is not good taste to ask God for the same thing repeatedly.” If what you have prayed for does not materialize, do not pray for the same thing again, in the same way, because it would be unbelief. Remind God that you asked for it and what His Word says and tell Him you are expecting it, then thank Him for it.
Unbelief gets you stuck in one place spinning your wheels. When someone is sick, do we keep on asking God to heal them? No, we take the Word which says the by the stripes of Jesus you have been healed. You declare the healing power of God which says that Jesus Himself took our sicknesses and pains. So, if Jesus took it, I no longer have it. Now rejoice and give God thanks because it is so and receive your healing.
Thanksgiving is the door that opens the faith realm to answered prayer. If you practice these seven levels to answered prayer, you will discover great victories in your prayer life.
Meditation Text:
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7 [NKJV]
“But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only.” – James 1:22
