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| Tony Nwokolo, Publisher, Success Stories Blog, Author, Consultant, Preacher | , Motivational Speaker |
Truly,
we all need God in order to achieve our dreams and goals. This
result-oriented information is culled from my latest book, titled; 10
Commandments of God for Success & Fulfillment. Looking forward to
read your testimonies or comment. Shalom!
3 Biblical Secrets to Provoking Answers to Your
Prayers
In
order to provoke answers to our prayers, we must know and understand the
protocol and procedures to approach the Most High God and get His attention and
how to demand from Him, so that your requests shall be granted.
Now,
consider the following scripture-based methods of approach, they;
(1). Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His
courts with worship.
(2). By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let you requests be made known unto God.
(3).
Pray to God with reference to His Written Word.
1. Enter
His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with worship, be thankful unto him
and bless his name - Psalm 100:4.
In
other words from the foregoing scripture we understands that for you to approach
and get the attention of the Almighty God, you must enter His gates (approach
His presence) with thanksgiving; acknowledge His mercy and goodness towards you
and yours, and thank Him for what He has already done and for what He is doing
in your life and for what He would do. Even if you have lost everything you
had, as long as you still have the breathe of life in you, you must appreciate
and thank him for keeping you alive, no matter what you are going through or
have gone though. You have got to make up your mind that whether in prosperity
or in adversity that you must always give thanks to God and praise his holy
name. God revealed this secret through prophet Habakkuk in the book of Habakkuk
chapter 3 verses 17 - 19.
“Although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour
of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be
cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will
rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my Salvation. The Lord God is my
strength and he will make my feet like the hinds feet, and he will make me to
walk upon mine high places.
Friend,
the foregoing instruction is the No. 1 secret of provoking Heaven’s attention
and answers to your petitions and demands. No matter what happened or will
happen, make a resolution that you will always “REJOICE” in the Lord, and that
you shall always enter his gates with thanksgiving. After all the book of 1
Thessalonians 5:18, validates this as the truth that in all things we should
give thanks, for that is the will of God concerning us in Christ Jesus.
The life of Job in the book of Job chapter one would validate the truth that
one needs to continually trust God no matter the situation and give thanks to
Him no matter whatever that happens, as job did even after losing all his
wealth and children he still worshipped and praised God instead of murmuring
and at the end the Lord restored in hundred fold everything Job lost to Satan
during his trail period. Job 1:20-22; Then Job arose, and rent his
mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped. And
said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither:
the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly –KJV. Friends,
don’t ever murmur nor complain no matter whatever situation you are passing
through, one thing I know that after your test period, there would be testimony
period. Our God never fails.
Some
myopic folks out there due to ignorance are asking; does God truly answers
prayers or helps in time of need or trouble?
However,
the faults are theirs, because they are ignorant of the way to approach the
Throne of Grace, and how to ask and receive from The King of Kings. They therefore
conclude that it’s either God does not exist or He does not answer prayers, they
become infuriated with God for not answering nor grant their prayers and
demands or for not preventing the disaster or problem that befell them or other
people close to them from happening. And in so doing they sacrifice their
destiny and blessings on the altar of ungratefulness, impatience and ignorance.
-Don’t
sacrifice or forfeit your destiny and blessings on the altar of ungratefulness,
impatience and ignorance –Anthony C. Josephat-Nwokolo.
Furthermore,
we are admonished by God’s word, that with joy shall we draw water out of the
wells of salvation – Isaiah 12: 3. In other words, with joy can you draw divine
blessings and answers to your prayers from God Almighty; no one can receive
anything from God with an angry spirit or with ungrateful attitude.
2.
By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let you
requests be made known unto God - Philippians 4:6
In view of the foregoing scripture,
we are admonished to be neither careful for anything nor to worry about
anything. We should not let our hearts be troubled because of any challenge,
rather we should be rest assured with confident that our God is able to do all
things. Believe that all things will always work together for your good,
according to God’s word in the book of Romans 8:28. We should learn how to
control the state of our mind and subject it to faith instead of fear whenever
we are asking or demanding anything from God, instead of being in a state of fear
and doubt. We should rather by prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving
let our requests be known unto God. And believe and behave as if your request
has been granted. And continue giving thanks to God with faith, as if your
request has been granted, even when your request is yet to be granted, and in
so doing, you shall provoke divine intervention and answers to your petitions.
That is the attitude Christ Jesus
manifested at the tomb of Lazarus, even before He raised him from death. He
began by giving thanks to God. He said Father I thank thee that thou hast
heard me – John 11: 41, and then he made his request to God that
Lazarus should come back to life and God granted his demand and Lazarus came
back to life, after being dead for four days – John 11: 32- 44.
Jesus lifted up his
eyes and said, father I thank thee for thou has heard me. I knew that thou
hears me always, but because of the people which stands by I said it, that they
may believe that thou has sent me. John 11: 41c - 42
Friends, before you
can be qualified to receive answers to your prayers from God, you must approach
Him with worship and thanksgiving, appreciate, acknowledge, appease God and
then make your request known unto Him. However, you must be born of God (Holy
Spirit) and become a member of His family before you can be recognized by Him –
John 3: 3, 4:24. The prerequisite is that you must be born again, you must
repent of your sins, and become a child of God (born of Holy Spirit) by accepting
and believing Christ Jesus as the Lord of your Life – Romans 10:9-10. This
is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to
his will, he hears us - 1 John 5: 14, Isaiah 59:1, 2nd Chron. 7: 14.
3.
Pray to God with
reference to His Written Word.
And
this is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his
will, he hears us – 1 John 5:14
Truly, nothing provokes and attracts God’s
attention to grant our petitions and demands, as when we pray according to His
will and word as written in the book of the law (the Holy Bible). When you
remind God of His promises in His word, it moves him
dearly. God’s word tells us that the Heaven and the Earth, shall pass away,
but the word of God shall never pass away – Matt. 24:35. It is written
that God honours his word above His name. For example when you are praying for
prosperity, you need to make reference to God’s word and promises concerning
the subject as stated in the bible and stand and capitalize on it.
For instance, when praying for spiritual,
financial, physical or material prosperity, you ought to demand for your own
prosperity by making reference to the book of 3 John 1:2; which says, Beloved I
wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy
soul prospers. Or to the book of Job 36: 11, tells us that, If we
obey and serve Him, we shall spend our days in prosperity, and our years in
pleasures. Or to Psalm 35:27; Let them shout for joy and be
glad, who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, "Let the
Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant."
NKJV.
So, when asking God to prosper you and the
works of your hands, always make reference to related bible passages to back up
your demand or claim. God’s word tells us, you will know the truth and the
truth will set you free –John 8: 32. Even in the world, the attorney who knows
and quotes the law before the judge, always wins his case. In the same vein, in
the kingdom of God the children knows, refers and quotes the words and laws of
the kingdom always have their requests granted.
Truly, God does not give you what you deserve;
rather He gives you what you demand. The blind man in the book of Mark
10: 46 deserve to see, but Jesus Christ granted him his demand and not what he
deserves.
In the light of this, I implore you to
therefore demand your own share of the blessings of God based on the foregoing
scriptural passages. Besides, Jesus Christ instructed us to ask God whatever we
need in His name and it shall be granted –John 14:14. Based on foregoing will
and the words of God, i therefore declare that I shall not be poor for my Lord
Jesus Christ became poor for me to be rich, it is my covenant birthright in
Christ Jesus in accordance to 2nd Corinthians 8:9; “For you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your
sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich - KJV.
Folks, these are the keys or call it the
principles for asking and receiving from The Most High God. It would interest
you to discover the truth that God values his word so much that he cannot fall
on the ground without accomplishing his purpose; ‘’As rain and snow comes down
from Heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth, making it bud
and flourish, so that it yields seed to the sower and bread for the eater, so
is my word that goes out of my mouth, if will not return to me empty, but will
accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it - Isaiah
55: 10 (NIV)
The above stated scripture is where you shall
stand and ask God to fulfill his word and promises concerning your life or
situations etc. In the book of John 4: 3 - 10; when Jesus was tempted by the
devil after fasting to forty days and forty nights, the power and authority
which Jesus used to overcome the devil was His declaration that, It is
written Man shall not live bread alone, but by every word that comes from the
mouth of God. Even the Devil also refers to the word of God as written
in the book of Psalm 91:11-12 to tempt Christ, if you are the son of God, he
said, throw yourself down, for it is
written; He will command his angels concerning you and they will lift you up in
their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, again answered him,
‘’It is written do not put the Lord your God to test. And finally, Christ
told the devil, It is written; worship
the Lord your God and serve him only. And then the devil departed from him.
In view of the foregoing, you will understand
that the weapon our Lord used to destabilize the plans and temptations of the
devil is by referring to what is written. You will also observe that even the
devil was quoting and referring to what is written to prove his point, which
tells the importance of referring to what is written – Matt 4:4-6.
The word of God is defined as a double edged
Sword – Hebrew 4:12, Hammer and Fire –Jeremiah 23:29. Learn to use God’s
word to proclaim God’s promises concerning you, as well as to use it as fire,
sword and hammer to consume, destroy and break the plans of the devil and its
cohorts, and you will always emerge victorious as Christ.
Friends, we are instructed and mandated according
to God’s word, that if we shall ask anything according to the will of God that he
hears us. Therefore the key to asking and receiving is; to ask according to the
will of God, in other words you should not ask amiss to consume it on your lust
– see James 4:3.
What
You Demand is What You Receive
The fastest way to receiving is by asking. A
wise man once said that God don’t give you what you deserve, rather
he gives you what you demand, and I concur. Everyone deserves the good
things of life, good health, good success, joy and fulfillment etc. But until
you demand for it, you might not receive. That is how blind Bartimaeus In the
book of Mark 10:46-52 recovered his sight because he demanded for a particular
thing and persisted on his definite demand to receive his sight, and he got it.
Whenever I study that encounter between Bartimaeus and our Lord Jesus Christ I learns
some lessons from it, let me share it with you briefly.
The No. 1 lesson, is that until blind Bartimaeus
swallowed his pride and gentleness and shouted violently and aggressively on
top of his voice demanding the attention and the assistance of Jesus Christ,
and persisted even when the
disciples of Christ are ordering him to hold his peace, he rather persisted and
kept demanding for help and assistance from Jesus Christ, and at the end of the
day he received what he demanded for.
The No. 2 lesson is that he persisted and kept demanding
for what he desired, irrespective of the opposition before him and he
eventually received more than he asked for.
The No. 3 lesson I learnt from that event is
that you
must also be definite and specific about whatever you are asking for at any
particular time, and also have faith that the person you are asking from is a
capable to grant your request. Receiving is a product of asking and
favour, and favour is better than labour, favour makes a man or woman to stand
out among his or her peers.
About the Author
Anthony
C. Nwokolo,
is the Managing Partner of Success Strategies Consulting
& Solutions. He Leadership, Marketing and Business Growth Expert and
Motivational Speaker. A certified Software, Web & Mobile App
Designer &
Developer, an ICT & E-Business Solutions Provider. He is also a
Minister of God at The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Lagos.
He worked with MFI &
Associates (a consulting firm based in Lagos before establishing Success
Strategies Consulting & Solutions in 2008. He has attended various
programs
and courses on High Performance Leadership, Sales and Management
Training
Programs oversea. Tony’s goal is to help individuals and organizations
discover
and maximize their potentials, achieve their dreams and goals, lead in
their
filed, as well as solve business problems by advising, empowering,
inspiring,
developing and deploying strategies, solutions, software applications
and systems.
Tony is an Inspirational Speaker, Bestselling Author, Entrepreneur,
Software,
Web & Mobile App Developer, Online Marketing Strategist, Writer,
Teacher, God’s
Minister, Consultant, Publisher, Success Strategist and Leadership
Coach. He is
a highly sought-after gifted and dynamic, Trainer and Consultant; he
speaks to
business staff, managers and executives. He is the Author of 10
COMMANDMENTS OF
SUCCESS OF FULFILLMENT, Publisher of SUCCESS STORIES Magazine
<www.successstoriesng.blogspot.com>, Producer and Presenter of
SUCCESS
STORIES RADIO & TV Programs, Founder, GOOD DEALS ONLINE STORE <www.gooddeals.com.ng>
Developer, LEADERS E-LIBRARY APP., Developer, GREAT QUOTES MOBILE APP., Tony is
passionate about identifying and fixing needs, a serial entrepreneur par
excellence.
You can reach him via email : chiugo.nwokolo@gmail.com or via telephone: +234-806-829-6897
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