With life comes problems. We all face them from time to time, and when we do, they tend to drive us to our knees crying out to God for an answer. What we say when we are on our knees can be the difference between answered and unanswered prayers.
You know the old adage, “you can’t see the forest for the trees”? The same principle applies to praying the problem instead of the promise: it is impossible to catch sight of the answer unless you take your eyes off the problem.
Allowing negative thoughts to consume you makes it harder to see the answer. One minute you think all is well and the next minute you’ve convinced yourself of the worst possible outcome. Focusing on what the problem looks like in the natural plays right into the enemy’s hands. He wants you to feel defeated. He wants you to give up. He certainly doesn’t want you to look beyond the natural to the supernatural. He doesn’t want you thinking like God.
God tells us that His thoughts and His ways are not like ours; they are much higher (Isaiah 55:8-9).
God’s thoughts and ways come from Heaven to earth through His Word. Like the moisture from the rain causes crops to grow on earth, God’s Word causes His thoughts and ways to grow in our lives. His Word begins to transform us into the image of Jesus. The more we look like Jesus, the easier it is to focus on the promise, not the problem. We can focus on what God thinks about the situation and see more clearly His will for our life.
To know the will of God in our life, we must know the Word of God. We blame God for unanswered prayer when in reality the problem is that we don’t know His Word: we don’t know what God has already said and done about our problem, so we pray the problem instead of the promise and then wonder why our prayers go unanswered.
Know God’s Word. Know His promises contained in His Word. When you pray His promises, you are praying the answer not the problem. All God’s promises are YES in Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20). His promises have already been fulfilled. His work is complete.
Jesus did not have to save us when we received Him as Lord. He saved us 2,000 years ago. Salvation had already been provided. When we BELIEVED, we pulled what Jesus did from the heavenly realm into the earthly realm making it a reality in our lives. It was already there, we just professed it and then received it.
The same applies not just to salvation but to all of His promises. If He said it, believe it, and then receive it. Fix the answer deep into your heart by talking to God about what He promised to do. And then thank Him for doing it. When you do this, your faith will rise, and your prayers will be effective.
God thank you for fighting for me, that I only need to be still. Exodus 14:14
God thank you for renewing my strength. Isaiah 40:31
God thank you for giving me wisdom. James 1:5
God thank you that you are with me. I won’t be afraid. Isaiah 41:10
God thank you for meeting all my needs. Philippians 4:19
When you pray the problem, the problem is all that you will see. So why not start with the promise instead of the problem? Immerse yourself in God’s Word so that His thoughts and ways will grow in your life. Allow His Word to transform you into the image of Jesus so that when you face a problem, you can focus on the ANSWER and not the problem. Pray the answer not the problem.
