Has anyone ever had experience when they KNOW God answered a prayer?

[DiscipleHeLovesToo]

thanks tturt!!!!

 

[aiki]

There was an instance when I was a teenager where God answered my prayer in a remarkable fashion. I was fifteen when my Dad first invited me to go deer hunting with him. My Dad was not a sport hunter. He was a pastor with six children making $26,000 a year. Bagging a deer would go a long way toward feeding the family. Anyway, my Dad had invited me to join him on the hunt and I was excited to do so. Unfortunately, on the evening before we were to go hunting, my Dad informed me that he had just been told that all hunters had to wear bright red or orange coveralls when hunting. It was a new law, apparently, and my Dad had known nothing of it. My Dad had managed to scrounge up a pair of coveralls for himself from a friend, but he hadn't been able to find a pair for me. Well, I was terribly disappointed; it looked like I would not be going hunting in the morning. I moped about for a while until my Dad stopped me and asked me if I had talked to God about my need. I hadn't. It seemed to me to be a rather silly thing to ask God for. But on my father's urging I prayed and asked God to provide a pair of coveralls for me. I had little confidence that He would do so. God surely had much more important things with which to concern Himself. So, I almost immediately forgot about my request and resumed my moping. A couple of hours later my Dad reminded me to take out the garbage (which was one of my household responsibilities). It was winter time and I had put off the cold, dark trek to the garbage cans in the back lane. Pressed by my Dad, I collected the garbage bags and made my way to the snowy lane at the back of our home. I tossed the bags in the cans and turned to scan the lane. I don't know why I did this; it was dark, and very cold, and I would normally have hustled right back inside. Instead, I looked down the lane and as I did an odd lump half buried in the snow and ice only a few steps from me caught my eye. In the dim moonlight I walked over and began kicking at the lump. Again, stopping to do this in the freezing night was quite out of character for me. As I continued to kick at the lump and loosen it from the mud and snow in which it was thoroughly embedded, it became clear to me that it was an article of clothing. Of course, you've likely guessed at this point what I'd found: a pair of red coveralls. Once I had extracted the coveralls from the snow, I rushed inside to show my Dad. We laughed about it and my Dad pointed out how God had answered my prayer long before I had made it. Those coveralls had to have been in the mud and snow of the lane for several days to be so thoroughly embedded in it. They had just been sitting there waiting for me to find them. In any case, I washed the coveralls and went out hunting with my father the next morning.

God is good, is He not? He has often done "exceedingly above all that I ask." His greatest act of providence, though, makes my coveralls a terribly insignificant thing. If God never answered any of my many prayers as He has, He would still be an impossibly generous and gracious God for giving me the awesome gift of His Son. How good He is!

Selah.

 

[insurchoftruth]

You do not have to have experience, to know God has answered your prayer! We know that God answers our prayer, because the Bible tells us that He does. Mark 11:22-24. Any prayer which is according to the Word of God, is answered, because that is a prayer according to the will of God.

 

[LoricaLady]

Messiah performed miracles, gave evidence that He was Who He said He was, for one thing to help people believe, repent, and be saved. Of course He wants us to see the evidence that prayer works. What about that axe head floating on the water after prayer, and the wet and dry fleece? Those are just some of many examples in the Bible where Abba gave us evidence that prayers are answered.

 

[sunshine456]

It is better to leave matters of prayer and their contents between the heavenly father and the devoted. I will tell you though as the holy scriptures has....

James 5:16-18King James Version (KJV)
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

The communion of the believer with the heavenly father GOD and his son JESUS is vital and without the TRUTH; being JESUS we are lost and blind feeling our way around in the dark so to speak. Through prayer which should be private we connect and speak from our "hearts" to GOD through his son son JESUS.

We are however; to gather at times in congregations as true believers gathered for not just our benefit but for others and I would like to believe in general for the most part prayers are essentially private more than anything and a vital part of all true believers lives.

Overall to be exact....YES prayers are answered and any time they aren't it is usual not in our best interest or requests in prayer are to indulge or fulfill the flesh nature; which is as we are told.....

James 1King James Version (KJV)
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Because there is much wisdom in James and many references to prayer found with in I decided it was in our best interest to provide a plentiful bounty of sharing.

James 4King James Version (KJV)
4 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.
12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

LOVE one another praying earnestly with all humility........petty quarrels, discord, hatred, and indecisiveness has no place among the flock and true believers in JESUS CHRIST the son of GOD.

Praise be to GOD the heavenly father and his son lord JESUS CHRIST forever>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[NASA321]

I still don't get it. How did He answer your prayer? Because you heard Him say to you join that church? How has everything been SINCE then? I also don't get the meaning of the last comment about how you were supposed to sign up with that one pastor and what was so monumental about that?

Yes, more than once.

One particular time, my wife and I had just moved to Washington DC and were seeking a congregation to join. Our basic method was to visit one, carefully observe it, and then I'd pray through the week for the Lord to give us explicit word, yes or no, to join. If I heard nothing, we'd continue searching. I have to add that I don't take such a thing lightly--if I join, I'm joined. I do not "church hop."

We had gone through this process several times before we visited National Church of God in Maryland--then under pastor TL Lowry. It would have been a really big step for us--the first time joining a church with a pastoral staff of a different race (and we'd have to explain that to both of our families). But I prayed earnestly each night for the Lord's word.

On that Friday, the Lord spoke during my evening praise prayers. He broke into the middle of a Psalm and said, quote: "Tell them tomorrow that you will join."

So I got excited about that and told my wife. The next morning, Saturday, I waited until 9:00 am, when I thought the office would be open and called the church. I told the receptionist that we'd visited the previous Sunday and wanted to join. She seemed a bit flustered, but told us, okay, after service that Sunday just approach one of the associate pastors at the front and tell them.

About half an hour later, there was a knock at the door. It was one of the associate pastors. He explained that it was his normal practice to pay a visit to anyone who had filled out a visitor's card. He always tried to make that visit first thing in the week, but that particular week all kinds of unusual things had happened to him, and he apologized for it being so late before he'd had a chance to visit us.

I then realized, "Oh, I'm supposed to tell you that we want to join!"

 

[Goodbook]

The verse about us lusting to envy...yes God will not answer a prayer like that. For example, if you want someone else's job, thats not right. You can't have someone else's job. God will give you a job that's right for YOU and best fit for you. You can't fill someone else's shoes. Sometimes he's just preparing us for the work that He wants us to do, and a lot of the time that's unpaid.

 

[Goodbook]

An example is when I prayed for my purpose in life and things like career. Conventional wisdom would say when you apply for a job and get it, thats God answering prayer.
But that didn't happen for me. And the job I applied for and got, well, was that really God answering my prayer if I was working for babylon? Cos the only good thing about it was earning some money.

God answered my prayer in a way that I couldn't forsee. He knew whats best for me. And now he gives me jobs that I can handle and that are for His purposes. Not what I think I want (although He knows what I like). So yes, God answers prayer all the time but often not in the way we expect. He gives us so much more.