1)God’s Law

Proverbs 28:9 “If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.” Matthew 7:24-27 – The two foundations; James 1:22 – Doer of the WORD!

God is the God of His word; God honors His word; God honors anyone who honors His word.  When we read the word, meditate on the word and obey God’s word, we form the foundation and basis for our prayers which God honors.  Build your prayer life based on your obedience to God’s holy word and you will sure to receive your answer from God.

2)Caring For the Poor

Proverbs 21:13: “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.” I Samuel 25:8 – David’s appeal to Nabal; Proverbs 3:27; Acts 10:2,4 – Cornelius as an example!

God’s mercy reaches the poor and the needy.  When your heart moves on the need of those that are hurting and reaches out to those, God sure will reach out to you and answer your prayer.  On the other hand, when you are merciless to those who are in need, God too will not hear your prayer!

3)Truth

II Kings 20:3-5:  "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly.  Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him:  "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD.” John 8:32 – Truth sets you free!

Live your life on God’s truth always and when you are in distress, you will have a foundation on which you will present the petitions to your Heavenly Father.  God will answer you.  Job 29 – Job’s resume of truth, righteousness, wisdom and helping the poor presented him with a platform to appeal to God and God, at the end, blessed Job twice as much as he was previously blessed!

4)Iniquity

Psalm 66:18: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.” Matthew 7:21,23.  Iniquity is self-will contrary to God’s will.

It is not just enough to follow God’s law but it is also equally important to follow God’s perfect will for your life.  When we follow our own plans contrary to God’s will, there is no guarantee that God will answer our prayers.  Consider the example of David who followed his own plan of taking Bathsheba from Uriah.  When the child born from that relationship was sick to death, God did not heed the intercession of David although He restored him later to bring the second child, Solomon to the throne!

5)Sin

Isaiah 59:1-2: “Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”

Sin is a stumbling block to your prayer.  Your prayer of repentance breaks through God’s silence and gets God’s attention.  A true-hearted confession must always be part of your prayer.

6)Forgiveness

Mark 11:25-26: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Jesus included in the “Lord’s Prayer:” “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” Matthew 6:12.  It is the law of reciprocity – As we forgive, we will also be forgiven.  Check your unanswered prayers against any area of unforgiveness that you have carried.

7)Belief

Mark 11:24: “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

If you do not believe, it is not necessary for you to pray because prayer with unbelief is the prayer that is unanswered.  One of the prayers that you must pray in the midst of your unbelief: “Lord, please help me with my unbelief.”  One of the root causes of unbelief is unforgiveness.  Beware that unforgiveness may cause unbelief!

8)Faith

Mark 11:22-23: “So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.’”

What is the difference between belief and faith?  Belief is where you begin but faith follows persistent belief.  Faith has a track record! 

9)Persistence

Matthew 7:7-8 (Amplified): “Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.”

Luke 18:1-8 – The persistent Widow before an unjust judge is the example.  Not repetition but persistence!  Repetition lacks passion but repetition does!  Elijah passionately prayed to God for rain seven times and the rain came, I Kings 18:42-46.

10)Unity (Power of Agreement)

Matthew 18:19-20: “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

Why does God answer the prayer of agreement?  Agreement cannot be possible without right relationship and right attitude.  When two shall become one in harmony, unity, attitude and agreement, their prayer becomes more effective and gets God’s attention.  Remember that the travail of a united God’s people provokes God to jealousy with His answer and His restoration, Joel 2:15-18.

  

11)Humility

Luke 18:10-14: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Humility is the prerequisite for access to God, increasing in wisdom, gaining honor, abundance of grace and answer to prayer.  Humility is the condition of your heart and not the consequence of your status in life!

12)Proactive Prayer (Pray before temptation hits you!

Luke 22:40: “When He came to the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’”

It is easier to pray to God when your backs are up against the wall and forget Him when things are going well.  Develop a consistent and a constant prayer life.  Prayer is the preventive medicine that builds your spiritual immune system!

13)Earnest Prayer in the midst of Agony

Luke 22:44: “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

In the midst of your crisis you trust the person that you are close to and the one whom you must trust must be God!

14)Clean Hands & Pure Heart

Psalm 24:3-4: “Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD? Or who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.”

The above verse describes the state of a child.  A child does not have distractions, impurities, iniquities, vanities and deceitfulness.  Become one to live in the presence of God with unbroken fellowship with the Almighty!

15)Praise (Adoration)

Psalm 100:4-5: “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good;
His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” 

Every prayer must have an important element of praise to our God!  God is known by His attributes – He is merciful, kind, gracious, loving, holy, righteous, true and just.  His attributes are His characteristics.  We must praise God for who He is!  Praising God recognizes and reveres Him in His true characteristics!

16)Thanksgiving

Philippians 4:6: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” 

Praise God for Who He is and thank God what He has done.  Every prayer must have this important element of thanksgiving to our God! Thanksgiving makes it personal and draws Him close to where we are!  We praise God who is on the throne in heaven and we thank God who is on the throne of our heart!

17)Confession

Psalm 51:1-2: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.”

Every prayer must have this important element of confession in two ways – confession of God’s promises for our lives and confession of our weaknesses to God!

18)Repentance

II Chronicles 7:14: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

One of the greatest examples of repentance is found in the Book of Jonah when Nineveh repented before God 40 days and 40 nights and God changed His mind concerning His judgment of destruction of the city, Jonah 3:8-10

19)Corporate Prayer

Acts 12:5: “Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.”

Corporate prayer cannot be possible unless the church in a city as a whole loves God and love one another.  When these two requirements are met, your corporate prayer takes on a whole new meaning!  It shakes the heaven; God sends His angel to break open the prison doors and the answer to your prayer shows up at the door as it happened in the above Scriptural reference!

20)Fervent Prayer

James 5:16: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

The words “fervent” and “zeal” both come from a root word that means “heat, glowing of solids, boiling of liquids!”  We must pray through until we are through in prayer.  Elijah’s passion shut out the heaven for 42 months and opened it again when he prayed earnestly.  Honest confession leads to fervent and effectual prayer!