Prayer That Gets Answered

"And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (John 14:13–14). The promises of Scripture about prayer are extraordinary, and they were given to ordinary believers. Yet many believers have prayed for years with little sense that their prayers are doing anything at all. The reason is rarely a lack of sincerity. The reason is usually that no one ever taught them how prayer actually works in the Kingdom of God.

This pillar is dedicated to biblical teaching on prayer that gets answered — the prayer of faith, persistent prayer, intercession, praying in the Spirit, fasting, and the spiritual disciplines that put a believer in position to see God move in response to their prayers. Written for believers in small Pentecostal, charismatic, and independent churches across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and beyond who want their prayer life to produce real fruit, not merely religious comfort.

Prayer in the Kingdom Is Not Begging

Most believers were taught to pray as if God needs to be persuaded to be good. They beg, they plead, they try to convince God to act on something He is already willing to do. But the Bible's picture of prayer is fundamentally different. Prayer is the believer agreeing with God's will and releasing His power into a situation. Jesus did not teach His disciples to plead with the Father to be good; He taught them to pray "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10) — to release on earth what was already settled in heaven.

The articles in this pillar teach the difference between begging-prayer and faith-prayer, between praying about a problem and praying the answer, between religious prayer and Kingdom prayer. The shift, once it lands in a believer's heart, changes everything about their prayer life.

The Prayer of Faith

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him" (1 John 5:14–15). The prayer of faith is the prayer that knows it has received before it sees the answer. It is the prayer Jesus taught in Mark 11:24: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."

Articles in this pillar teach how to pray with faith — how to know what God's will is so you can pray with confidence, how to receive before you see, how to stand on a promise from Scripture when nothing has changed in the natural, and how to keep your spirit in faith between the prayer and the manifestation.

Praying in the Spirit and Praying with the Understanding

Paul taught the Corinthians, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also" (1 Corinthians 14:15). Both kinds of prayer are essential. Praying with the understanding is praying in your native language, articulating your requests and intercessions clearly. Praying in the Spirit — praying in tongues — is praying when your understanding does not know how to pray (Romans 8:26–27), and edifying yourself in the inner man (Jude 20). The believer who prays in both has access to a depth of prayer that neither alone can produce.

Articles in this pillar cover praying in tongues for personal edification, praying mysteries (1 Corinthians 14:2), and the role of fasting alongside prayer for breakthrough on harder situations.

What You Will Find in This Section

Articles cover the biblical foundation of prayer, the prayer of faith, persistent prayer (the Luke 18 widow), intercession for others, praying in the Spirit, fasting and prayer, common reasons prayers go unanswered (and how to address them), praying for your family, praying for your work and finances, praying through Scripture, and how to develop a daily prayer life that lasts. All grounded in the Bible, written from inside Pentecostal experience, and aimed at the ordinary believer who wants to see God move.

Connected Pillars

Prayer connects naturally with Faith That Moves Mountains — because the prayer of faith is the prayer that gets answered. It connects with Hearing God's Voice, because prayer is two-way: speaking to God and listening for His response. And it connects with Spiritual Warfare and Praying for Protection, where intercession and warfare prayer come together to push back the works of the enemy.

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