Have you prayed to God for something and have not received an answer? There are many, many scriptures that direct us to pray and ask God for the things that we need and desire. But there are also instances where the answer does not come according to our timetable.

Some say that if you do not receive, then for some reason God does not want to answer your prayer. "Maybe it is because you are not good enough," they say, or, "You're petition is too selfish or greedy." But scriptures do not support that kind of rationalization.

There is a parable in the gospel of Luke that sheds some great understanding on the topic of prayer. It is important to understand that the purpose of a parable is to focus on one point. In other words, there may be a number of details to the story, but the parable makes one important point.

Jesus spoke many things in parables and their meanings were hidden to those who did not believe. But those who had eyes to see could understand his parables. At times the disciples would ask Jesus to explain the meaning of a parable, and, in the case of the parable in the gospel of Luke 18, we are told the meaning of the parable even before we read it.

I was talking to someone once who was adamant about a certain parable, saying that it was a true story. I tried to reason with him that a parable is a figure of speech, and that the story was told to make a point, but that the story itself was not true. He would not be persuaded.

The story in Luke 18 about a widow woman who was treated unfairly is told to make a very important point. The point of the parable is that we ought to always pray, and not faint. In other words, continue in prayer and be persistent. Seeing and understanding that one point can change your prayer life.

In the story, the widow woman was relentless in petitioning an unjust judge, who didn't care about people or God, but finally got tired of her bugging him. He then, to get her out of his hair, granted her petition. Jesus said that if an unjust judge who didn't regard people or God could grant a petition, what about God, Who hears the cries of His people?

Now God is certainly not an unjust judge, not regarding people. Prayers do not have to be only for an injustice. Those are elements in the story, but not for comparison; they are not the point of the parable.

The point of the parable is very easy to see and understand, because we are told of its meaning before we even read it. We ought to always pray and not faint. In other words, continue to be persistent.

George Muller, who lived in England in the 1800's, kept a journal of all of his answered prayers. His life, and what he did for the orphans, was a real testimony of praying and believing God. He really tried to show people that you could pray and ask God and God would answer you.

He said, "I live in the spirit of prayer. I pray as I walk, when I lie down and when I rise. And the answers are always coming. Tens of thousands of times have my prayers been answered. When once I am persuaded that a thing is right, I go on praying for it.

The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God's glory, they should pray until they get it."

That quote sounds a lot like the parable in Luke 18 doesn't it? There are times in our lives when an answer to prayer does not seem to be lining up with our timetable. In those times, we ought to remain persistent in our prayer.

There are those who just pray once and if they don't get an answer that moment, or, right away, they just forget about it. Some even go so far as to say, "Well God must not want to answer that prayer." I wonder if those who say that have actually heard God telling them that He didn't want to answer that prayer; if not, how do they know?

The Bible is full of exhortation to us to pray. The Bible also states that God's ears are open to our prayers. If God did not want to answer our prayers, why is there so much ink about it in the Scriptures, and why would God want us to waste our time asking?

We can see documented in both the scriptures as well as other people's lives that God does indeed answer our prayers. If we are persuaded that a thing is right, we ought to go on praying for it. We ought to continue and persevere in our prayers to God, expecting an answer.

About the Author

Michael A. Verdicchio offers a FREE eBook, "9 Keys to Answered Prayer!" for signing up for his FREE weekly news letter, "The Pep Letter," at:nhttp://www.ConfidenceAndJoy.com nMichael is a husband, father, minister, author, broadcaster and the voice on numerous projects and productions, Get a FREE Lifetime Membership to EnrichingYourLifeNow.com when you subscribe for FREE to his inspiring blog.

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What exactly is meant by the term 'manifesting abundance'? In all likelihood you've probably heard many people say that life is what you make of it. Perhaps your own parents told you that on several occasions when they were trying to boost your confidence. In fact, even that voice inside our heads tells us that this is indeed true. Unfortunately however, there are just so many people out there who simply refuse to take any notice of what that voice is trying to tell them, and as such, they only have themselves to blame if they're not happy with their life.

The truth is that at some point in your life someone has more than likely told you that you are a master of your own destiny, and that you get to choose the life you wish to live. What you need to realize is that everyone possesses the power to manifest abundance, and everyone controls their own manifesting process.

There is no better time than present to face up to the fact that the life you have now, is unfolding the way it is because that's the way you want it to be. Your failed career, your broken marriage, and even your mountain of debt, are all present in your life because of you. You and you alone are responsible for manifesting your current circumstances.

The sooner you realize that you are to blame, and that you have carved out our own destiny, the sooner you'll be in a position where you'll have enough power to bring about a change. This is because you do have the ability to manifest abundance in your life, and you can start right now simply by changing the way you think.

The most powerful things you have are your thoughts. You create the life you want by the way you think and how you think. All those worrying thoughts of how to pay the bills only creates more bills. When you spend time worrying about money, you only create more money problems for yourself. If you only focus on the bad things in your relationship, you only create more problems within the relationship.

Instead, start to think about the positive things you have in your life. This is the first step to manifesting abundance. Focus on the good things to start with. Think of even the little things; for instance, you have a home to go to, food on your table and so on. If you even have this, you already have a lot to be thankful for. Once you can be grateful for the things you have, you can begin to shift your focus outwards to the good things you want to bring into your life.

First and foremost, you need to stop blaming other people for your misfortune, bearing in mind that the life you have now is simply a result of the way you think. Even though you may be thinking that you want to become rich, you want to be successful, and you want to be happy, you're still not focusing on the good things you have.

As an illustration, try one of the thought experiments which follow. These will show you the power that your thoughts have. When you change the way that you think about life, you will change your life. You have to stop worrying about money, especially about having enough money or wanting more. Don't think about any of these things at all. What you should focus on instead is what you already have - think about how you are financially well off enough to pay for the things that you have now.

You need to think and believe that you have all the money you need. Pay close, conscious attention to your thoughts, so that they do not slip away and allow your old thinking patterns to sneak back in. You have to think that you already have everything you want in your life when you want to manifest abundance.

Remember like attracts like. This means in order to draw more good things into your life, you need to focus on the good things you have. It is you who can improve your life, and have the life you want. You are the only one who can manifest abundance in your life right now.