WHAT PRAYERS ARE DEAL-BREAKERS?
………..(by Dr. Robin Starbuck)

● I will never hang my head in abject humility again and pray as I did in my early years, “Father, if it be Thy will, could you …” because that’s a deal-breaker! . It puts our prayer into neutral. We have every reason to know that it IS God’s will – anytime, anyplace, anywhere – to answer our prayers.

1 John 5:14-15 KJV
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
[15] And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

● People say Jesus prayed such a tentative prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, but that’s not true. He said that he didn’t want to be made sin/evil and die but that he would obey his Father’s will. That’s very different from saying, “I have no idea what Your will is, so I’ll just wait and see!

Mark 11:24 KJV
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

● So, we need to pray according to His will and we need to believe. “According to His will” is met when we maintain a close, personal relationship with God; and, “believing” is met when we let all of our own stuff go and put Jesus before everything. But, you see, He’s already there. He was never not there.

● “Oh, Lord, if it be Thy will …” is a faith-killer, ergo, a deal-breaker as it saps an otherwise effective prayer of its vitality and credibility.

3 John 1:2, KJV
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

● This is God’s will: His will is His Word. Our being indecisive is what stymies our prayers. “Father, I KNOW it is your will” has many scriptures to back it up. I Peter 2:24 tells us that by His stripes, YOU were healed. Acts 10:38 tells us that Jesus went about everywhere doing good and healing everyone who came to him.

● Matt 8:2,3 tells us of a man who was a leper. He said, “Oh, Lord, if you will … ” But he didn’t have the New Covenant, so he doesn’t count!! Of course, God healed him: He doesn’t pick and choose who He’d like to heal. He healed them all.