Devotion: How Many Times Should I Ask God For Something?

Not long ago in a devotional titled, “Believe You Receive When You Pray,” we discussed believing in the power of prayer and how most believers who prayed did not know how to pray.  We mentioned that God intends for us to always pray and for us to get answers to our prayers, because if this were not the case, he would have not told us to “pray without ceasing” (I Thessalonians 5:17) and more importantly, he would have not told us how to pray (Luke 11:1).

We mentioned there being different types of prayer, but our primary focus at that moment was on what we called “The Prayer Of Faith or The Petition Prayer,” which is the primary prayer that the average believer will pray.  We went on to say that when you pray this prayer, you believe that those things which you say will come to pass and that you will have whatever you say, provided that there is no doubt in your heart (Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:23-24).  Simply put, if you do not believe that you already have it when you speak it, then you will not be getting it.

Now, we know there are those who do not believe in the “speak it, believe it, and receive it” concept and have many reasons why believers should not blindly accept or follow after this concept.  But what they fail to realize is that their prayers are already defeated even before they utter the first word because of their unbelief.  The fact that the scripture says, “whatsoever things you desire when you pray,” poses a problem for many because they find it hard to accept that a child of God can ask for anything whatsoever and that he or she expects to receive it from God.  And while they will try to impose restrictions on “the whatsoever things you desire,” they fail to understand that those who are truly born-againand understand this concept know what “those whatsoever things” are and will not ask for anything outside of the will of God, which is why they can ask with confidence and know that God will answer their prayers (I John 5:14-15).  And since they know that God answers those prayers that are not outside of his will, then those who are truly born-againand understand this concept know they need ask but one time.  A second, third, fourth or fifth request for the same “whatsoever things” would mean that they did not believe that they already received those “whatsoever things they desired when they first  prayed.”  What they should be doing over and over again is praising and thanking God, through prayer, for answering their request until they see the manifestation or the reality of what they prayed for, come to pass.  This is not some hocus-pocus-genie-in-a-bottle type of stuff, but a truism that will help any believer get their prayers answered.

We pray that you will receive this as it will help you with understanding how to pray and how to receive answers to your prayers.  And we pray that you will be abundantly blessed by today’s message, that you will be richly informed, and that you will be the better for having read it.  If blessed by this message, please share so that others may be blessed as well.  Amen.

Enjoy your blessings - KW