Praying In Vegas

I don't know about you, but many times it feels like I am praying in Vegas. I had that feeling more as a new Christian, but I still get it every now and then. What do I mean by praying in Vegas? It's where you pray, but you really don't know if your prayer is going to be answered. You have no assurance. When someone gambles they don't know whether that slot machine is going to pay off. They don't know what card is coming, or where the ball will land. That is how our prayers can be sometimes. We are just pulling the lever so to speak, or just rolling the dice and hoping they will land on our number. How can we fix this? How can we get more assurance when it comes to praying?

There are many aspects to prayer, but on this post I would just like to help us get started. I would like to help us to get on the right track.


"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)


The above verses from the Bible tell us that one thing we do to get our prayers answered is to ask according to His will. I guess I could try to simplify this concept by asking you to remember when you were younger and you wanted something. Now the process was usually that you had to go to your parents and ask them. But weren't there times you were more confident you were going to get what you asked for because you knew your request was going to be ok with your parents? On the other hand, weren't there times you weren't sure if you would get your request because you already knew that it might be something that your parents wouldn't go for? You were either asking according to your parents will, or asking not in accordance with your parents will. Then there were times you simply didn't know what your parents will was, so you just asked to find out.


The Bible tells us that if we ask according to God's will, He hears us. Then it goes on to say that since He hears us,  He will answer us. So how do we get to know His will? By reading the Bible. When you and I read the Bible we get to know what God is like. It is like spending time with someone. The more time you spend with them, the more you know whether they will do something for you or not.

As I stated earlier there are many aspects to prayer. Even when we pray according to His will, there are times we have to be patient, times it looks like He is not answering but in reality He is. All of that can be for a later time. But on this post I'm hoping to get us on the right track. A safe way is to pray is to pray according to God's will. Spend time with God by reading the Bible and you will begin to learn what His will is. Let me add also that by praying , you learn how to pray.

I hope you will begin to learn what God is like. I hope you and I continue to learn His will. I don't know about you, but I want to pray with some assurance that what I am asking is going to be answered. I don't want to pray Vegas style anymore.

Troy