💥 Prayer: Possible errors made by people when they pray.

 

Comments by Joan Boney:

 

Knowing the will of God "before" you pray.

 

I John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in HIM, that, if we ask any thing according to HIS will, HE heareth us:

15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of HIM.

 

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Once a young man told me about a job for which he was applying and asked me if I would pray that he get that job.

 

I replied:  "No... I don't pray unless I know it is the will of God.  And in your case I don't know so I won't pray that you get that job."

 

God knows:  It might be a terrible thing for him to get that job.  

 

(As far as I know he didn't get that job.)

 

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A very big error often made in prayer is praying and then going about to answer your own prayer by doing your own works without hearing from God.

 

This Paul talked about as a "stumbling block" for the Jews so far as faith was concerned.

 

Romans 9:30-32   What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

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We pray ... then we wait to hear what God would say.  And after we hear from God on the matter, we then act on that which we have heard.

For example:  On January 10, 1980, I was asleep in the night when a very loud trumpet like voice spoke three words into my ear, waking me.  He said:  "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS"

When I found KWJS to be a radio station, I said to God, "Are YOU telling me to go on radio?  I wouldn't know how to do that.  I'm a writer, not a speaker."

IMMEDIATELY, I heard:  "Call the radio station manager." 

 

(I had never heard a religious type radio broadcast before this and it wasn't "my" idea to go on radio."

Sometimes God does not speak to me immediately but I have to wait ... And God will bring to my mind bits of information and I act on what I hear.  

If I hear nothing after I pray ... I do nothing.  If I hear a message, I communicate that message immediately.  

It is important to know how to "wait" after you pray.  Many people in churches pray and then go on and do what they want to do without actually hearing from God and then there is much trouble as a result and I've heard them say, "But I prayed?"

 

A young married couple at Word of Faith church announced  that God had called them to go to Israel to preach the gospel, so they quit their jobs and went to Israel.

In about a week, they were back at church in Dallas.  What happened?  They said they got to Israel and couldn't speak the language.  So they came back to Texas.

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We cannot do anything unless God chooses to bring the Word to our mind after we pray showing us what to do.

Let God establish your thoughts before you do them.

Romans 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

God spoke to Abraham and told him what to do ... He believed it was God speaking so he did what he heard to do.  

Genesis 12:1  Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him;

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If you have a thought of moving to another town and you pray, "Should I move to another town?"  "by faith" ... that is not faith ... First you hear a words from God ...

Many church people try to do things by faith, but fail.  Misusing what they think faith to be. 

When I hear ... then I have faith to actually do what I've heard if I am fully persuaded I heard from God.

An example:  As the ambulance workers rolled me past the front door of my house in Texas after a fall, I heard this word.  "You'll never see this house again."  I believed it was God.  So I put the house up for sale.  (At the time, I was in my early 80's and God had already shown me I couldn't continue to live alone so I reasoned God was going to move me to another place and that is exactly what God did.  I moved to the home of Pam Padgett in Colorado.)

 

***

 

At the moment, my goal in going forward is based on a scripture.

 

2 Peter 3:14   Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of HIM in peace, without spot, and blameless.

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Thoughts come to our minds, usually from one of 3 sources.

* Our own flesh that has read or heard of something.  TV ads.

* Devils who want to take up in a way that would not be good for us to go.

* Or God who has HIS purpose for us.

We must learn to try the spirit to see if it is God who authored that thoughts.

 

I John 4:1-3 

1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

I usually say:  "Do you confess Jesus Christ is come in the flesh?"  And I hear, "Yes" or "No" brought to my mind.  Even that takes faith to do!  But I just do what I have seen in Bible as trying the spirit.

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You must have faith ... You can believe scripture ... You can try the spirits when an idea comes to you after prayer.  But you must proceed with caution also not just assuming that was from God but really allowing God to establish your way.  And you may hear several steps along the way when God is establishing your thoughts for the Holy Spirit guides us into all truth.  (John 16:13)

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