Reply To: Prayer Basics Discussion Board 1

[Amotsuka Caleb]

To address this question, it is important to have a right perspective to prayer. Prayer is not placing demands on God to make him do what He was previously unwilling to do. Rather, it is first aligning ourselves with God to understand His will and everything He has already done and provided for us in the finished works of Christ. With this understanding, we now make requests of God to manifest in our experience those realities that we have already received in the Spirit.
This is why 1 John 5:14-15 says – Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
When we know God’s will, we will only want to ask what is in His will because His will if far greater than anything we can desire. This then gives us the confidence in prayer, knowing that our answered prayers are guaranteed.
With this in mind, we can now see why it is very important to praise God even before we the answers manifest. Some reasons to do this are:
1. It is an expression of faith and trust in God. We walk by faith and not by sight.
Mark 11:24 says therefore, whatever things you ask, when you pray, believe that you have received them, and you will have them. When you receive the manifestation of your prayer in the physical, it most times brings joy and rejoicing because you can see it tangibly. Praising God before you see the manifestation shows that you believe that you have received what you have prayed for. We don’t praise God because we want to receive the answers to our prayers, rather we praise Him because we have already received them by faith. It is this faith action that then translates what is already real in the spirit realm to become a physical reality.
When we rejoice for what has not yet become a physical reality, it is a demonstration of our faith in what we cannot yet see. This is why 1 Pet 1:8-9 says whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him yet, believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls.
2. Our praise keeps us focused on God and what He has promised.
Sometimes, the manifestation of what we have asked for in prayer may take longer than we hoped for. In situations like this, it is easy to get weary and discouraged by the waiting season. Heb 13:12 says, hope deferred makes the heart sick. However, when we praise God, we begin to remind ourselves of His faithfulness to us in times past and this strengthens our heart and builds our faith.
3. Our praise is a weapon.
Psalm 149:6 says Let the high praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples…
God takes pleasure in our praise and when we praise Him, we align with God to establish His judgment on the earth against everything that tries to exalt itself against the knowledge of God.

Praise also keeps us walking in the light. Psalm 89:15 says Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, they shall walk o Lord, in the light of your countenance. It is when we are in the light that we can see the light (the answers to our prayers). Psm 36:9
Finally, it is with joy that we draw out of the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12:3. If we are not in a state of joy, we will not never see what God is doing, rather, we will be engrossed in what we think he has not done this will take us further away from receiving the end of our faith.