Ten Ways God Responds to Prayer

 
I suspect that I miss alot of the times when God is speaking. Sometimes I am not looking. Sometimes I am distracted. And if truth be told, sometimes I am avoiding God. It doesn’t happen too often that I am avoiding God, but every once in a while I get in a slump of sorts and find myself resisting time with God. When I am listening though here are ten ways I have noticed God responding to prayer.
 

1. Through the Word

I had a friend who was growing in prayer and one of the first conscious experiences of knowng God was trying to speak to him came when he had verses of Scripture ‘coincidentally’ come across his path in rapid succession. For example, he would pray about something and a verse would pop up in his life three times in the next 24 hours from totally divergent sources. The phenemonon recurred enough eventually he could no longer call it coincidence. I don’t necessarily experience a single scripture multiple times, but it is not unusual for me to pray about a concern only to find in my devotional reading the exact guidance, inspiration, comfort or conviction that I need.
 

2. Through people

God will use people to speak to you. Someone will share a story or call you just when you need it the most. Don’t be surprised if you pray for guidance and God sends you a person with the answer to your question.
 

3. Peace that passes all understanding

When I am facing a choice I often times sit in prayer with both options before me. Often times there is a very clear sense of peace about one choice over another. You can almost physically sense this peace. For me it is much like the sensation of release you have when you struggle to remember something and then it comes.  That sense of knowing is important to listen to.
 

4. Through signs

Scripture speaks many times of signs. I recall when I was considering my ministry call to Texarkana. I felt very confused. I had been through some similar searches with dissappointing and confusing results. I was beginning to doubt my ability to know where God was calling me. Twenty four hours before I went to my second interview and knew that the committee was going to be asking me to come to this church, I went off to my sit spot in the woods to pray. I prayed for a good hour. I finally said, “God, I need some clear undeniable sign to guide me in this. I am not certain what you want me to do.  I need it before we go to that interview tomorrow.”   That evening a member of the church, who was unaware of my situation, called to tell me that he had been on vacation and kept feeling like God wanted him to call me and tell me something.  Specifically he said, “You need to leave. You will never be able to fully use your gifts here. It’s time to go. I don’t want you to leave, but you need to leave.” That to me was a pretty undeniable sign. There was no ambiquity whatsoever.
 

5. Through dreams

Scripture contains many examples of God speaking to people through dreams. God will warn, comfort, and instruct through dreams. I have had a couple of experiences in which God spoke rather dramatically to me through dreams. Dreams from God have an uncharacteristic clarity to them. They are so vivid that they feel more like memories than dreams.
 

6. Visions

Visions like dreams are revelatory experiences attested to by Scripture.  They are also similar to dreams in that they tend to be extremely vivid.  If you have not expereinced a dream or visions by God you might be prone to think of these as extremely subjective.  The qualitative difference though between a revelatory experience of God and ordinary dreams or thoughts is undeniably distinct.
 

7. Circumstance

When you pray for guidance, it is wise to pay attention to what opportunities open up and which ones close.  Sometimes God leads us by opening and closing doors.
 

8. No, not now

God doesn’t seem to always respect my day timer.  I recall asking God for guidance on a retreat once about my vocation. Through a series of signs God slowly answered my prayer, but took three years to do it. Each sign was quite obviously from God, but each one only pointed me forward to the next step. All of the pieces didn’t clearly make sense until three years later and then the chain of response was evident.
 

9. No, not in the way you expect

I often times make very specific prayers to God. I find specificity to be very helpful. However, I always try to stay open to God answering in ways I never expected. I call it coming before God with an open hand agenda. I try to make a very clear request, but I don’t hold on too tightly. I know that God is capable of exceeding my thoughts on what is best. I do my best to trust.
 

10. No

Some Christian authors are very hesitant to say that God says ‘no.’  I am confident that God knows best and at times  my request is contrary to God’s will and God says ‘no.’  That’s okay.  When God says ‘no’ or I can’t see God’s ‘yes’ that is when I turst and lean on God the most.
 

11.  A resounding undeniable ‘Yes’

I recall praying once about about needing a mentor and a mentee.  Within an hour my phone rang and a young man called and asked if he could come shadow me at work because he was considering going into ministry.  Shortly after that I had lunch with a man who volunteered to mentor me in a massive project that I had undertaken.  Neither of these people were people I sought out.  They spontaneously asked to be mentor and to be my  mentor. 
 
These are  not the only ways God responds.  I am sure that you can think of others, but I hope by reflecting on these you will be influenced to be actively looking more closely for God’s  presence in your life.

Peace from The Practical Disciple

7 thoughts on “Ten Ways God Responds to Prayer”

  1. Hi John,

    What a timely post for me; I was just thinking about this very topic. I think I have experienced most of these at some point or another, especially epiphany through dreams. I wonder about number 6, Visions. It seems to be the only one that I can’t wrap my mind around. Have you ever personally experienced a vision? Or do you know someone who has? I know there are several examples in the Bible of visions, but was wondering how common it is today in our culture.

  2. I have had several revelatory experiences that revolved around images coming to me. The first occurred while walking a labyrinth. As I stepped onto the labyrinth, I felt called to pay attention to the images that came to mind. This was out of the norm for me in that I tend to be extremely verbal in my prayer life. As I was walking an image of a wounded hawk soring above a landscape came to mind. It was an image that latter became significant in a series of “God-incidents” that helped me discern a call.

    Most of my limited experiences in this have revolved around issues of discernment. Specifically, images came to me in times of prayer that became sign posts for me recognizing God at work.

    It’s hard to say how frequently people have revelatory experiences, whether the experience be a vision, dream or an experience of God speaking to them. I suspect that it happens more than we realize. I say that mainly because nearly every time I have shared one in a sermon or lesson, people approach me afterwards and share a significant revelatory experience from their own life. They often mention either never having shared the experience with anyone or sharing it with only a limited number of people.

    I know that the first dream I experienced, I initially only told one person for two reasons. First, I didn’t think people would believe me. I expected them to scoff. Second, I told him because he point blank asked me what had happened. He could see a marked difference in me because of the experience and wanted to know what it was.

    I have sense become more open with these God moments but exercise a lot of discernment on when or why I share them. I hope some other readers will respond to your question. I would love to hear their stories.

  3. Last night I was praying to God to help me hear his voice. Or more specifically, I asked, how will I know when I am hearing your voice, your response to my prayers. Today, while searching for something else entirely, I stumbled on to this article. It was the answer to my prayer!

  4. Hannah, that is so amazing. I love when God puts things in our path like that. A desire to help people in prayer was my very first inspiration around The Practical Disciple. I really struggled with how to pray when growing up and wanted to help people learn faster than I did. I just recently released an ebook called, Tips On Prayer, The Quickstart Guide to Improving Your Prayer Life. You may want to check it out. I particularly thought of it when I saw your comment because I give away a sermon series on discernment with the book. You might find the series helpful. Thanks so much for commenting. I love seeing God at work and when we share it inspires us all. You can check out the book by clicking here. Blessings Hannah, May God continue to reveal himself to you daily.

  5. I definitely struggle with how to pray so I am anxious to check out your book. God definitely revealed himself to me with your article this morning. Some may be quick to call it coincidence but after so many “coincidences” it is easy to see that God truly is revealing Himself. Thanks so much for your response! God bless.

  6. It was great reading this, this morning. I have felt stuck for 3 yrs, My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant. I feel confused because no doctor has told me that i cant get pregnant but because I have had issues with my tubes they say it will take a long long time and for that they have offered me fertility treatment,(IVF) I dont knw what to do, I dont knw if that is what god whats us to do. I still want to to beleive i can get pregnant without it but what if thats the way god wants me to go. I am praying for god to give me a clear sign as to what he wants me to do because i really want to be a mom. Thanks you article really did help thought!

  7. I wanted something so badly for years and years–to get married and have a family. I’m almost out of time and I can’t seem to find the person I’m supposed to be with, even with two very clear answers (the first was totally the wrong one, but I wasn’t very specific; the second had all the qualities I asked for–yes, every single one–but he left me). I am desolate over the second one but the entire time, I’ve had this persistent “Don’t worry…it’s okay…it’s being taken care of,” and a couple of days ago, “Be not afraid.” Well, it’s NOT okay! But now people keep saying “Miracles happen.” I had prayed for one. I don’t know what to think. I’m so confused and tired of hurting. I asked for a very clear sign as to what to do–if the second isn’t right, I don’t know where to turn. I tried for nine years to meet someone before I met him and there was nothing. I can’t go on alone and I don’t want to. Annoyingly, everything that could have made the long-distance thing between the second and I easier happened AFTER he left. I can’t see what this means, but I wish I could be with that person now. I may be bruised, but I can still love. And if the second comes back, I can forgive.

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