When you pray, do you desire to pray accurately and to see your prayers answered? I believe it’s safe to say, yes, we all want this. God in His infinite wisdom gave us a way to do just that.
God’s Word, the Bible, is His will for mankind. He has not left us in the dark concerning His will for man. It is His desire that His will be carried out in our lives here on earth, but we need to read His Word in order to find out what His will is for us.
Once we have done this, we can go to the Lord in prayer, asking for these things, knowing confidently that we have our answers. Consider what it says in First John:
And this is the confidence, the assurance, which we have in Him: that if we ask anything according to His Will, in agreement with His plan, He listens to and hears us. And if we know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know, with settled and absolute knowledge, that we have granted to us, the requests made of Him.
(1 John 5:14-15)
I don’t know about you, but that piece of information excites me. Faith begins where the will of God is known. You cannot pray in faith if you do not know it’s God’s will for you to have what you are praying for.
Jesus also told us to pray to the Father God in Jesus’ name. In John 16:23-24 it says, “And when that time comes, you will ask nothing of Me. I assure you, that My Father will grant you whatever you ask in My Name.” The “time” Jesus is talking about here is after He was resurrected from the dead.
Notice we must ask the Father in Jesus’ name…not ask Jesus:
Up to this time you have not asked a single thing in My name, but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy, gladness and delight, may be full and complete.
(v. 24)
We can have faith in God and trust Him to answer our prayers when we pray according to His instructions. Jesus said in John 15:7, “If you live in Me and My Words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will and it shall be done for you.”
Guard Your Heart
Jesus was giving us a very important key to prayer in this verse. He said that we must live in Him and let His Words remain in our hearts and then we would receive whatever we asked. Whatever you allow to enter your heart and remain there is what you will receive. It’s very important to guard what enters your heart and mind.
The old saying, “garbage in, garbage out” is appropriate here. If you allow doubt and unbelief to enter your heart, then doubt and unbelief will eventually come out of your mouth and will affect your prayer life. Flood your heart with God’s Word and when the time comes that you need to be strong in faith, when you pray, you will be!
The Lord also gave us a way to pray beyond our own natural understanding, when we don’t know how or what to pray for in a situation. I’m so glad our God thought about everything, aren’t you?
How many times have you found yourself in this situation, not knowing what or how to pray? Thank God the Holy Spirit knows how and what to pray! In Romans, we see the Holy Spirit can go to work in prayer for us and help us to pray effectively when we don’t know how to pray:
So too, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weaknesses; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Holy Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplications and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.
And He Who searches the hearts of men (God) knows what is in the mind of the Holy Spirit, what His intent is, because the Spirit intercedes and pleads, before God, on behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will.
We are assured (therefore) and know that God, being a partner in their labor of prayer, all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good to and for those who love God and are called according to His design and purpose.
(Rom. 8:26-28)
Glory to God!
In Part Two, I will continue to discuss “Keys to a Successful Prayer Life” and finish on the topic of praying in the Holy Spirit.
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Pastor Anthony Storino was born in Newark, New Jersey in January 1949 and grew up in the Pine Beach and Toms River areas. He, along with his father and brothers, were local businessmen in Toms River since 1955. In 1982 Pastor Storino answered the call of God on his life to enter the ministry. He moved with his wife, Carol, and three sons, Anthony, Eddie, and Joseph, to Broken Arrow Oklahoma where he and his wife attended RHEMA Bible Training Center, Kenneth Hagin Ministries.
Upon graduating from RHEMA in 1984, they returned to their home in Toms River and began Abundant Grace Church, a full Gospel Interdenominational Church. Their vision was to reach the community of Toms River and Ocean County with a message of Love and Hope for ALL People. Pastor Storino was the United States, North East Regional Director for RHEMA Ministerial Association International, an organization whereby ministers are licensed and ordained with a system of accountability. There are more than 2500 Pastors, Itinerate Ministers, and Missionaries throughout the world in RMAI.
Pastor Storino believes that a strong family structure is vital to a healthy community. If we strengthen our families, we strengthen our community. Young people, today more than ever, are searching for a purpose for their lives. Pastor Storino believes that everyone has a purpose to fulfill and wants to help young people discover this purpose because their lives are important and they do matter.
Pastor Storino and Abundant Grace Church purchased the former Moravian Church on 108 Indian Head Rd. (Rt. 571) Toms River in December 1994. There has been a gradual increase in attendance weekly because the full Gospel that is preached is a message of prosperity for man's spirit, his soul, and his body; the total man, and God is interested in the total man. This is Good News and people need Good News. Since the inception of Abundant Grace Church in 1984, they have reached out to the community with a clothing and food pantry, a soup kitchen, FREE Family Fall Festivals with food, games, rides, and prizes held in Huddy Park; and now they continue to reach out to the community through their facility which houses a Gymnasium, a Youth Center, and The Manna Cafe and coffee bar.
In December of 2020, Pastor Anthony Storino entered his eternal reward in Heaven. His wife Carol Storino, his son Pastor Eddie and the rest of the Abundant Grace staff are dedicated to carry on his mission of bringing the Love of God to a lost community.
