How to Pray According to God’s will

Hi John:

John, when you need to seek the Lord about an issue that is not urgent, what you said about praying is appropriate, but the way you are praying is incorrect, bringing your petitions to God and then just waiting upon Him passively with your mind open. Let me explain. God never asks us to seek Him passively, with a passive open mind. That always opens you up to trouble, to Satanic suggestion. A passive mind is an open door for Satan to place his suggestions in. When you are seeking the Lord about something or the Lord tells you to set aside your activity and just seek Him, He does not mean passively. The way you seek the Lord and wait upon Him is by first bringing your requests too Him, and then while waiting upon Him you read His word, you do something positive and active with your mind, you do not just want to sit there with a blank mind waiting for God to say something to you.

"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success." (Joshua 1:8)

Note that the Bible’s definition of meditation is never blanking one's mind and just waiting on God, it is always actively doing something with your mind. Christian meditation is never passive, it is always active. You are to study, meditate on and memorize God’s word while you are waiting upon Him. As you do, God will break through and minister to you the answer to your needs. Jesus said,

"Sanctify them in the truth, Your Word is truth." (John 17:17)

"He who is of God hears the words of God." (John 8:47)

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you." (Phil 4:8-9)

"For the word of God is spiritually-alive and energetically-effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the conscious-reasonings and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

It is only as we meditate upon God’s Word as we wait upon Him in prayer that He says we are of Him and that He will reveal Himself to us:

"He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father; and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." (John 14:21)

So when you stop to seek the Lord about a matter(s), you do this by doing three things

1. First, you start by worshiping the Lord and thanking Him for His goodness and all the good things He has done for you:

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name." (Psalm 100:4)

Since He says He will reveal Himself to you when you obey Him, and since He commands us to approach Him with worship and praise, His promise is that when you approach Him in obedience to Him, he will reveal himself to you. As I start in this way approaching God in prayer, I will worship and praise Him and pray in the Holy Spirit, in tongues. As I do, at some point the Holy Spirit will say to me "What are Your requests." Most the time the Lord will quote to me Mark 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." That is the Lord’s indication that I now have His full attention, that I am in the Holy Spirit, and to bring my requests to Him.

2. Second, bring your requests to the Lord:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Praying to God about our needs is never telling God what we want, but seeking God about what He wants concerning our needs or about a legitimate need at hand. So I pray like this I say "Lord, I have this need I don’t know what to do about it, I ask for Your will in this matter? What do I need to do?" Then I pray in the Holy Spirit about it, in tongues. Paul wrote,

"And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." (Romans 8:26-27)

"Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also; I shall sing with the spirit and I shall sing with the mind also." (1 Corinthians 14:13-15)

When we are praying in the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit praying through us exactly what we need according to God’s will. Why then do we need to pray for an interpretation of what we are praying for in the Holy Spirit? John tells us in 1 John 5:14-15,

"And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." (1 John 5:14-15)

God promises to answer any prayer that is according to His will. However if we just pray in the Spirit about it, the Holy Spirit may be praying for what we need according to God’s will, but if we don’t know what God’s will is, how can we pray according to the will of God? Therefore according to God’s command in 1 Corinthians 14:13-15, we need to then ask God for the interpretation of what the Holy Spirit is praying through us so that we can know God’s will in the matter so that we can then pray with our understanding, with our mind for the need in cooperation with and according to the will of God. We are then assured that He will give us our request because He promises to answer any prayer that is according to His will (1 John 5:14-15).

3. Third, meditate on God’s Word while waiting upon the Lord for His answer.

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:16)

Why does God want us to meditate on His Word while waiting upon Him? Because whatever God’s answer is to our need, it will never be contrary to His word because God never leads us contrary to His word.

"He who is of God hears the words of God." (John 8:47, Isaiah 8:19-20)

"And when they say to you, ‘Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." (Isaiah 8:19-20)

God never leads us contrary to the teaching of His Word, so He is always pleased to reveal Himself to us while studying His Word because then we will know if it is of Him or not.  It is never a lack of faith to seek confirmation of what we think is God's answer to us, this is His command:

"Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses." (2 Cor 13:1)

"Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." (2 Peter 1:10-11)

Where do we go for confirmation?  We go to God's Word.  Since God will never lead us contrary to His Word, if it is of Him it will never be contrary to His Word.  If it is, it is not of Him, it is to be rejected.  I encourage you to read Chapter 2 of Section 4 of the Basic Textbook titled How We Relate to Jesus for the Answer to Our Needs.  In this Chapter I go into greater depth on this subject.

Now the way this works is like this. When I have needs I need answers to, I get on my knees and I start worshiping the Lord, I thank Him for His goodness and for the good and the bad in my life specifically and for the past answers to my prayers. I continue to do this until the Lord tells me to bring my petitions, requests, to Him. I then bring my requests to Him and then pray in the Holy Spirit about them. I do this until I feel the Holy Spirit indicates to me it is enough. I then ask the Lord for the interpretation. While I am waiting upon the Lord for the interpretation to my prayers in the Spirit, I meditate on His word either by reading the Bible or memorizing Scripture. This is how you pray according to God’s will and get answers to your prayer confirmed and backed by His Word and thus know it is truly of the Lord:

1. First, Worship the Lord

2. Second, bring Your requests to Him

3. Third, While waiting upon God for the answer, Meditate upon, study and memorize His Word.

Seeking God about our needs is always active, never passive and always involves being in full control of our minds and doing something with our minds, never just sitting there leaving our minds blank. Doing that will open you up to suggestions of the enemy just as you expressed was happening in your letter when you left your mind passive. Meditation in the Bible is always active, never passive, choosing to do something with your mind: meditating upon, studying and memorizing God’s Word, the Bible, while waiting upon Him for His answers. God Bless.

Sincerely in Jesus,

Dale P. Kruse
Pastor Evangelist