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Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit….—Ephesians 6:18

There are different kinds of prayer, just as there are different games in sports, each with its own set of rules. Rules that apply to baseball do not apply to football. If you tried to use the same rules, you would get confused.

Similarly, there are rules or spiritual laws that govern certain kinds of prayer, but do not apply to other kinds of prayer. We make a mistake by lumping together all kinds of prayer, because if we take the rules that govern one kind of prayer and try to apply them to another kind of prayer, we won’t see the desired results.

As we look in God’s Word to discover the kind of prayer that gets results, notice again our text, Ephesians 6:18. Moffatt’s translation reads, “. . . praying . . . with all manner of prayer.”

Still another translation says, “Praying with all kinds of prayer.”

For example, some people think every prayer should end with the words, “If it be Thy will.” They say this is the way Jesus prayed. But Jesus did not pray this way every time. When Jesus prayed at Lazarus’ tomb, He didn’t pray, “If it be Thy will.” He said, “… Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41). He then commanded Lazarus to come forth, and Lazarus came forth.

This prayer was one to change circumstances. When you pray to receive something or to change circumstances, never pray “if.” If you do, you’re using the wrong rule and it won’t work.

The only kind of prayer in which Jesus included an “if” was a prayer of consecration and dedication. In the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). Jesus wasn’t praying to change something. He was praying a prayer of consecration and dedication. And in this prayer, we should put an “if” because we want to be ready to do what Jesus wants us to do.

When it comes to believing God for something, we should not pray, “If it be thy will.” We already have God’s promise in His Word. It is His will that our needs be met. We read in Mark 11:24, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” We should realise it is God’s will that all our needs be met — spiritual, physical, and material.

Although we don’t live under the Old Covenant, we can better understand the nature of God by studying the Old Testament. There we find that God promised His people more than spiritual blessings. He also promised they would prosper financially and materially. He promised He would take sickness away from them, and the number of their days He would fulfil (Exodus 23:25,26).

In Psalm 105:37 we read that when the Israelites were delivered from Egypt, there was not a feeble one among them— although there were some two million people!

God is interested in everything that touches our lives, and He has made provision for us. He promised the Old Testament saints if they would keep His commandments, they would eat the good of the land. This implies we are to prosper materially. The New Testament essentially says the same thing: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth” (3 John 2).

Jesus said He would give good gifts to His children because He is concerned about us. He is talking about the desires of our hearts, and He tells us how to get them. Let’s go according to the rules!

The Scripture that says, ‘What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them”(Mark 11:24) is talking about the prayer of faith. This primarily is an individual situation. It pertains to your desires. It is you praying; not someone else praying with you. It’s not someone else agreeing with you. When you pray, you believe that you receive. If you’ll do that, you’ll have “what things soever ye desire.” You’ll get results!

I can make this work for myself, but I can’t always make it work for you. Your will is involved. One person’s unbelief can nullify another person’s prayer of faith. Baby Christians usually can be carried on a mature Christian’s faith, but after a certain period of time God expects them to develop their own prayer life and their own faith.

I’ve seen this demonstrated many times during my years in the field ministry. In those church meetings, I would teach mainly on faith and healing. Toward the end of the meetings, we would allow time for questions and answers. One question asked repeatedly was: “Why is it when I first got saved, I got my healing every time I was prayed for, but now I don’t ever get healed?”

I would answer by saying that new Christians are like babies. No one is born a full-grown Christian. God wants us to grow and to mature. We feel pity for those who are physically deformed and who never have developed fully. We ought to have the same compassion for those who do not grow spiritually.

By Kenneth E. Hagin, Praying to get results,Second Edition, 1995