Prayer

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7).
We are supposed to experience lots of answered prayer. John 15:7 is not some little Bible verse, it is reality. If it’s familiar to you, read it as if you’ve never heard it before, maybe try another version of the Bible. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7).
At one point in my liife on a scale of one to ten based on my perception of His response, I could have rated my prayer life a 1.5 for content but 8.9 for form because as an Episcopalan I knew lots of pretty prayer words. I prayed all the usual bless and protect us prayers, the laundry list of prayers, and let's not forget my teenage years...Lord curfew is in 5 minutes, please don't let any lights turn red or I will be late and then I will be grounded. I never asked for the big stuff...are you kidding, she has stage 4 cancer, you want me to pray for her. (The Lord is so funny, I am in the healing ministry now and pray with seriously ill people all the time and expect healing!)
My prayer life changed through the years as I sought God through His Word and heard very sound teaching on prayer from Father Steven Pope. He is a man of prayer. I learned so much about prayer from his wife April. I began to pray all the time for big things and little things such as a parking place. I noticed I suddenly "found" great parking places at the mall on the Saturday before Christmas and wherever I went, I was receiving answers to big requests. I was then on a prayer team at church praying with people for all kinds of issues in their lives. I realized then I really better stay grounded in the Word or I would not have a clue as to how to pray and I needed to listen to the prayer recipient with one ear and the Holy Spirit with the other ear.
John 15:17 states the key to answered prayer is sharing the mind of Christ over any given matter through His words actively abiding in us. The more His words are in our heads, the more likely we are to think with them. I think a few believers will know the mind of Christ so well, they will also receive affirmative answer, but I don't think that is the "norm". We can, however, mature in our prayer life enough to see far more affirmative answers than we have. I love to pray Scripture over situations and people. I E, I pray By Jesus' stripe my father is healed. I also like to pray Scripture over situations that I will be praying for over a long period of time. As satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus answered with Scripture every time. If it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.
If I am in a season where I do not see much affirmatively answered prayer, I ask the Lord to show me what is out of balance. I have prayed with people who are practicing new age concepts and are not aware of it. It may be reading horoscopes, reading material by mediums, watching occultic TV programs and they have no idea this type of entertainment can block them in their Christian walk. They repent of these things and they see a huge change in their prayer lives and walk with the Lord.
So again, I say - pray pray pray - He loves you, He answers prayer, in His perfect timing in His perfect way.