The moment you begin praying

 ^“While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill— while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.”                                Daniel 9:20-23a

I have often wondered why I should pray. I mean, God is sovereign; He knows all and directs all and is all. How can anything that I say to Him change things?

First, let’s think about God. What are His thoughts? What does He stand for? What is His desire for us? God will never change from Who He is.

• God cares about us
  • He listens to our prayers and answers when we pray for anything that is good for us. Matthew 7:11
• God is good
  • God hears us and responds favorably when we ask according to His will, because if we walk with Him, our will is aligned to His. Psalm 37:4
• God is patient
  • Praying in the spirit is praying with understanding of God and His desires. Prayer that God answers line up with His ability to know the proper timing. Romans 12:12
• God is eternal
  • Prayers that affect another person’s eternal life are always heard by God. He will supply what is needed for each person we pray for to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So when I pray for my family to receive Jesus as their Savior, He will provide a way for them to know Him. John 6:27
• God is jealous
  • God provides our needs; He hears and understands what it takes to live on earth. God will not answer a request to provide anything that He knows will take the place of Him in our lives. Praying for a new job, but the answer doesn’t seem to come? God may know that this new job would take up so much of your mind that we put God at the back of our thoughts. 1 Corinthians 10:21-23
• God is righteous
  • God answers all prayers for righteousness. Matthew 5:6
• God is merciful
  • Our prayers must be merciful. We can take anything to God that is from a forgiving and contrite heart and know that He will answer. Isaiah 57:15
• God never gives up
  • We may think that God does not hear us, because it is taking so long to see the answer. God never gives up in doing good. He never stops offering His way of life to our fallen self. Until the end, God will respond to our prayers for goodness, mercy, and salvation. But remember, God also gave us a free will and how we or our loved ones respond is not something we can control through prayer. We can pray for a softened heart and many times that happens because of the testimony we see in front of us. God never gives up. Colossians 1:23
• God is holy
  • Our requests must align with God’s holiness. He is ready and willing to answer all requests that glorify Him and His holiness. Romans 12:1

Does God answer prayer? Yes. He responds to every prayer offered within His attributes. When I fall to my knees I will ask God to create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me before I start asking. And I know, that as soon as I do this, God will send the word out for action.

Author: Sheila Llewellyn

I am a Christian wife, mother, grandmother and friend. My birth verse is Galatians 5:25 "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" and it truly represents how I want to be known. My blog is my personal insight into living as a godly submissive wife, a mother with "eyes in the back of her head" and Mamaw's Baby Grands can do no wrong. I hope that you will find exactly what you need each time you read. Be blessed. Sheila View all posts by Sheila Llewellyn