BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Guarantee the Success of Your Prayers by Kenneth Copeland Are all your needs met today? If not, why not? I could ask a thousand believers that question, and most of them would just shake their heads bewildered. “I don’t know, Brother Copeland,” they’d say. “No matter what I do this illness, these financial problems, these awful circumstances keep dragging on. I’m just waiting on God to do something about it.” That’s tragic! Because while they’re waiting on God, He’s waiting on them! The book of James says, “You have not because you ask not. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss.” In other words, if your needs just keep on not being taken care of, it’s either because you’re not praying at all, or because you think you’re praying and you’re not! That news may come as a shock to you. Especially if you’re among those who’ve used prayer as a kind of spiritual wishbone, going through the motions but not really expecting results. If that’s been your attitude, then change it! The time has come for you to get serious about prayer. You need to stop praying just because it’s proper. You need to stop praying just because you always pray at this point in the church service. You need to start praying to get results! In Luke 18:1, the Bible says, “[Jesus] spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” A version that really speaks my language puts it this way, “Men ought to always pray and not cave in and give up.” I like that! If there ever was a time we needed to pray, it is now. We are facing an extremely critical hour. The devil is literally killing people with disease, drugs, depression and every other weapon he can get his hands on. At the same time, he is stirring up strife and dissension, trying to disarm the Body of Christ that has the power and authority to stop him. We’re being pressured from every side. But don’t cave in and give up. Pray! Pray accurately. Pray expecting results, and you’ll come out on top! Pray Accurately! Did you notice what I just said? I said, “Pray accurately.” You can’t just toss any old prayer God’s way and expect Him to answer it. You must pray according to the guidelines He’s given you in His WORD. Now don’t get the wrong idea. You don’t have to sit around tongue-tied, terrified of saying the wrong thing to God. He loves you. He’s for you, not against you. He isn’t looking for you to be perfect before He’ll answer your prayers. But He does expect you to pray according to His instructions. Not because He wants to make it tough for you to get an answer, but because He wants to make it tough for satan to get in and mess things up. Think of it as a security system designed to keep the devil out of the powerhouse of prayer. God has given you the secret code. So, don’t just stand around outside bellowing about your problems; use the code and go on in! Am I saying that if you pray and pray accurately, you can expect to receive what you ask for every single time? Yes! Isn’t that a little presumptuous? No, but it is bold! And you have got a scriptural right to be bold. According to The WORD of God, you have a standing invitation from your heavenly Father to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that [you] may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). That word obtain is a word of certainty. The dictionary says it means “to get possession of.” Pray, expecting to get possession of what you need—not just once in a while, but every time! * * * * article continues on p. 24 * * * * * BVOV : 23

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