Asking for wisdom or any prayer
James 1:5 ESV
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Matthew 7: ESV
7"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.8"For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened
Sometimes things in the bible are hard to understand at first. Revelations and the end time was one thing I struggled for years to understand. But eventually I was given the wisdom to understand what it all meant. But do not lose heart if you don't understand something right away or you find a verse that scares you or upsets you. Just relax, make sure you are right with God your Father and ask Him for wisdom. It will come to you sooner or later when the time is right for you to understand it.
To make sure you are right with God your Father is the first step to getting prayers of any sort answered especially wisdom. That means if there is a favorite sin you don't want to really give up then don't expect God to say yes and let you know things or give you things. Sometimes you have to be willing to give it all up in order to keep it. This sounds strange but really is not. My children for example. It is really hard for a mother to want to give up control of them especially when they become adults. But really did you ever truly have control over everything they did? The answer is no. So sometimes you have to say okay Lord I can't do anything for them any more. They are really not mine to begin with they are yours so please take them under your wing and do with them what needs to be done to get their lives straightened out. Struggling over sins of addictions like alcohol is another one. Now lets face it drinking can be fun in moderation. But when you are addicted to it your really worshiping it over God. So you need to say okay Lord I do not have any control over my addiction. I am powerless over it. I admit it and I give it up to you. Please take it from me. Then one day at a time you decide to not drink for that day or that minute if the craving is really bad. You keep doing that and doing other things that are biblical and spiritual as you find in the twelve steps of AA which are biblically based steps.
God created everything in this world and nothing in this world in of itself is bad it is how it is used or how much or often it is used that can be bad. Any time we put something over God it is idolatry. Addictions are a form of idolatry. Money can be a addiction, so can power and yes sex can be one as well. Everything in moderation.
So asking God to forgive your sins and help with your sins is the first step to getting right with God. The second thing you need to to do get wisdom or any prayer answered is ask yourself honestly. Why do I want this? IS it for myself or for others? Will it help me or hurt me? Do I need this? Brutal honesty with yourself is necessary. God is more likely to answer prayers positively if it is for someone else rather then yourself. But He will give you what you need. Not what you want but what you need. Lets face it there are really only a few things we need and that is shelter, food, water, air, clothes and companionship even if it is just in the form of friendship.
Once you have determined you do not have a selfish motive for your prayer the last step is to say if it is your will. Sometimes God says no. You can not throw a fit if God says no or not right now. You always ask if it is your will. God can see the future we can't. So all the variables that this prayer entails He knows about. The effects on us and others and all the ripples down the line in the future of it. Even Christ when He was facing the death of the cross asked God the Father "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.". God of course had to say no. He knew this was the only way to ensure salvation for all of us. So sometimes God says no or not right now.
The last ingredient is of course faith. Even if it is just a tiny bit of faith as small as a mustard seed. Your prayers will be answered. IT may not always be the way you want it answered but He will answer them.
But I can guarantee that through the years more often then not you will see your prayers being answered in ways you never dreamed of and it will bring you the kind of joy that the ones who do not know Christ can not imagine or understand.
