100% Answered Prayer- the Vital Steps Dag Heward-Mills Parchment House Unless otherwise stated, all scripture quotations are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible. Parchment House ISBN 9988-596-06-5 Copyright © 2002 Dag Heward-Mills 1st Printing 2000 All rights reserved under international copyright law. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles. DEDICATION I dedicate this book to Jasen Gannon & his dear wife, my sister Julia — Thank you for all your hard work in making the books. Contents You Can Have 100% Answered Prayer................. 1 Praying to the Father ............................................. 5 Abiding, Obeying and Bearing Fruit..................... 9 The Failure-proof Keys: Faith and Persistence........................................... 13 Praying Amiss...................................................... 22 All Kinds of Prayer ............................................. 31 For additional information on Dag Heward-Mills’ books, tapes and videos write to these addresses: In Africa: Parchment House P.O. Box 114 Korle-Bu, Accra Ghana-West Africa Rest of the world: Lighthouse Chapel International P.O. Box 3706 London NW 2 1YJ Website: www.lighthousechapel.org Parchment House CHAPTER ONE YOU CAN HAVE 100% ANSWERED PRAYER P rayer is a privilege that God has given to His children. We can talk to our heavenly father directly and receive answers. I realize from the attitudes of many Christians that they do not believe that God really answers prayer. But why pray if you will not get results? I believe that you can have one hundred percent results every time you pray. Why pray if you will not receive an answer? Many people take prayer to be some kind of religious routine they must perform. God’s Word guarantees us a hundred percent results every time we pray. If you look closely at the scriptures which speak about prayer, you will discover that Jesus did not say that we might possibly (perhaps, maybe, in the sweet by and by, all things being equal) get an answer to our prayers. He said that we would get an answer. I wrote this book for you! I want you to receive one hundred percent results every time you pray. If it is real, it is real! If it is not real, it is not real! If God exists, then He can answer your prayer. Is God alive? Is He real? Can He hear? Is He deaf? I am sure you know the answers to these questions. God is alive and well and He wants to bless you. If my God were a piece of wood or a stone, I would not serve Him. We do not worship the sun, the moon or the rivers. We worship a Living God who has power to save and to deliver. Elijah once challenged the false prophets of Baal. He told them, “There is no use in serving a god who is not available. Our God is either alive or He is dead.” …Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking or he is pursuing [using the bathroom!], or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked. 1 Kings 18:27 The god Did Not Speak! Some years ago, a friend of mine went to a city about a hundred kilometers outside of Accra. He was accompanying his parents to their hometown. Whilst in the town he had the urge to urinate. Unfortunately, there was no appropriate toilet around so he went into an open space to relieve himself. As he was urinating, he heard screams and shouts from behind. Since he was already in the process, he had to finish. Then he turned round to face the anger of some local residents. “What are you doing?” they exclaimed. “How can you do this?” They went on, “You are urinating on our god!! Don’t you know that the stone on which you are urinating is a god?” This young man apologized profusely but there was nothing he could do about it. He had already bathed their god in his urine! When I heard this story I thought to myself, “If you are a god, can you not say anything when people urinate on you? Can you not protest at the first sprinkle of urine?” If you are a god, at least say something when someone urinates on you! What am I trying to say? If God is alive, then He must be able to respond to you. He has given us His Word and He has promised to answer our prayers every time. He shall call upon me, and I WILL answer him. Psalm 91:15 Then shalt thou call, and the Lord SHALL answer… Isaiah 58:9 These scriptures tell us that God will answer us. God shall answer! How much more definite can it be? Either the Bible is true or it is not true. Either you believe it or you do not! Jesus said, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Luke 11:9 There is no word that expresses a stronger assertion than the word shall. I see God answering your prayers right now! By the time you finish reading this book, you will experience 100% answers to all your prayers. You must know the rules of operation for every gadget you acquire. For instance, a car runs on fuel and not Coca- Cola. If you put Coca-Cola into your fuel tank, you will discover that your car will not work. If you put the right liquid into your fuel tank you will get one hundred percent results every time you drive your car. God wants us to have one hundred percent results when we pray. I want to share with you some important steps which will help you to achieve one hundred percent results every time you pray. I have used these steps, and I believe that I receive virtually one hundred percent results every time I pray. CHAPTER TWO PRAYING TO THE FATHER And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. John 16:23,24 (cid:1) The first step to one hundred percent answered prayer is to learn to pray yourself. Jesus taught us to pray to our heavenly father. Many people do not know how to pray themselves. They want somebody else to pray for them. They ask the pastor to pray for them. They kneel down before prophets and request special prayers. There is nothing wrong with being prayed for. But God wants you to learn how to pray for yourself! There are some pastors who entrust themselves to prayer warriors. They depend on other people to pray for them. I cannot entrust something as important as prayer to other people. I pray for myself. I consider the prayer support of friends and prayer warriors as an extra bonus. If it