How to Ask God for a Miracle

How to Ask God for a Miracle

Since everything is possible for God, (Jesus says this in Mark 9:23 “Anything is possible if a person believes.”) we can experience miracles in our lives when we invite God to intervene – even in situations that seem impossible. But too often, people neglect to ask God for miracles in their lives, and end up settling for far less than God’s best for them. It is important for us to stop a moment and look at what the Bible says about “asking”. James writes in verses 4:2-4 that “Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”

We can always approach God with confidence if we trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. So we don’t need to hesitate to pray about anything, including miracles! Paul tells us to not “ …worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Here’s how we can ask God for a miracle:

Forget formulas and simply seek God’s presence. “Search for the LORD and for his strength; continually seek him.” (Psalms 105:4)There are no magical formulas to use to conjure up miracles. Instead, miracles happen whenever we welcome God’s powerful presence into the situations we face. So we don’t have to worry about trying to pray perfect prayers to convince God to do something miraculous in our lives. Simply invite God to work in every situation in which we’re seeking miracles, and trust Him to do what’s best after we ask Him to intervene.

Consider what may be blocking miracles from happening in our lives. Sometimes the particular miracle we’re seeking isn’t God’s will, sometimes spiritual warfare is occurring in our lives and evil is blocking a miracle from happening, sometimes we have sin in our life (such as bitterness) that is preventing a miracle from taking place. David says “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalms 66:18) And sometimes we don’t have enough faith to believe that God can really perform the miracle we’re hoping for. Remember when Jesus came down from the “mountain of transfiguration” and he cast out a demon, his disciples asked why they couldn’t perform this miracle. Jesus told them: “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” (Matthew 17:20)

Pray about each of these potential blockages, and then relax, trusting that God has the situation covered and will answer our prayers with what’s best.

View miracles as expressions of how much God loves us. Recognize that every time God does choose to perform a miracle in our life, He is showing us His love for us in a tangible way. Be sure to thank God for His love whenever we experience a miracle.

Ask God to guide us to the truth about His will. If we’re not sure whether or not it’s God’s will to perform a particular miracle in our life, we need to ask Him to make His will clear to us and tell Him that we want His will – not our own will – to be done. Remember Jesus praying in the garden at Gethsemane - “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Mark 14:35)

Ask God to help our unbelief. Remember the story of the father that came to Jesus to help his son? The father says to Jesus “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22-24)

Confess our doubts and lack of faith to God and ask Him to meet us where we are spiritually to help us believe that He is able to do what He says He will do in our lives.

Obey God’s command to forgive so our prayers won’t be hindered. Jesus said “But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15) If we’re unwilling to forgive someone who has hurt or offended us, that refusal to forgive can hinder our prayers from being answered, because God sometimes (maybe most of the time) waits until we obey His commands before answering prayers. Remember how much God has forgiven us, and let that motivate us to obey His call to forgive others. Ask God to help us forgive; we can choose to forgive even when we don’t feel like it and rely on the strength God will give us during the forgiveness process.

Fight evil through spiritual warfare. Paul writes to the church at Ephesus “…Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12)

If evil in the spiritual realm is hindering miracles from happening in our lives, pray breakthrough prayers against evil to clear the way for more miracles to occur in our lives. We should start by confessing our sins that come to mind, and then repent of each one specifically. Next, ask (in Jesus’ name and through the power of His blood) for the Holy Spirit to help us and the people we’re praying for be victorious over all evil attacks. Ask God to protect us and those we’re praying for from future attacks by evil. Pray for any bondages that we (or the people we’re praying for) are under to be broken so we and they can experience the freedom God intends. As we’re praying, mention each issue specifically – from unhealthy addictions (such as to alcohol or pornography) and personal struggles (with jealousy, greed, gossip, lying, anger, anxiety, or any other issues) to negative words that others may have spoken about us. Then ask God to bless us and those we’re praying for in the name of Jesus.

Praise God more through worship. We can experience more miracles when we spend more time praising God in worship, because worship ushers God’s power into our life in fresh ways and helps us to “hear” His voice more clearly as He leads us toward miracles. Make a habit of praising God for who He is, during both good and bad times in our lives.

Live a life that’s completely devoted to God. “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God.” (Romans 6:13) When we devote ourselves to God completely – in every area of our lives – we’ll notice more miracles happening in our lives. Seek God’s guidance before making any major decision, and ask the Holy Spirit to change our own desires to reflect God’s desires for us. Live for God (rather than for ourselves), and be willing to say “yes” whenever God calls us to help people in need.

Take the steps that God shows us. As we seek God’s will for our lives, sometimes God will give us clear signs to follow, and sometimes He will simply give us a sense of peace. Humbly pray for wisdom every day and step out in faith whenever God shows us a way in which he wants us to put our faith into action. In the process, miracles can happen.

Don’t give up until God answers our prayers. “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”

6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:1-8)

Since God’s timing (which is perfect) often takes longer than the immediate results that human beings like to see, many people give up praying for miracles when they don’t see answers to their prayers right away. (I often tell story of an older, very nice and wonderful lady that once told the pastor “to take ____ off the prayer list because he wasn’t going to get any better.) But God will always answer our prayers with either a “yes” or a “no” or “not now” that’s clear; we just need to patiently wait until the right time for the answer to come. In the meantime, never give up praying and trusting God to do what’s best.