After a brother was saved, he prayed every day. One day a

sister asked him, “Has God ever listened to your prayer?” He

was surprised. He began to consider how many of his prayers

were answered. He discovered that his prayers were quite vague

and capricious. It did not matter whether God answered them,

and it did not matter whether God ignored them. They were like

prayers to God for the sun to rise the next day; the sun would

rise whether or not he prayed. He could not pinpoint what he

had asked for. This amounted to not having asked for anything at all.

God wants to know what you specifically want and what you

specifically are asking for. Only then can He give it to you.

Hence, to ask means to demand something specific. We have to

ask. This is what it means to seek and to knock. If you go to

a pharmacy for medicine, you must say exactly what medicine

you want. This is why the Lord says that we need to ask and

ask specifically. The problem with us is that we do not ask.

You must learn to be specific with your prayer. You should

know when God has answered your prayers and when He has not

answered your prayers. If prayers are empty when needs are

specific, one cannot expect any solution for the problem. Only

specific prayers can deal with specific problems.

A condition on the positive side for having prayer answered is

faith. Faith is indispensable. Without faith, prayer is

ineffectual. We must believe when we pray. If we believe that

we have received what we are praying for, we will have them.

The Lord said, “Believe that you have received them, and you

will have them.” He did not say, “Believe that you will

receive them” but, “Believe that you have received them.”

Christians often make the mistake of separating believe from

its predicate you have received. They place it before the

expression you will have them. They pray to the Lord thinking

that it is a matter of great faith to “believe...and you will

have them.” However, this is to move believe away from you

have received and to place it before you will have them. The

Bible says that we should believe that we have received, not

that we will receive. The two are definitely not the same.

What is faith? Faith is the assurance that God has answered

our prayer. It is not the conviction that God will answer our

prayer. Faith is when we kneel down to pray and say in an

instant, “Thank God! He has answered my prayer.

Thank God! This matter is settled.”

This is to believe that we have received.