There are many books written on the subject of prayer. However, I find none as fresh and practical as “How to Pray a Prayer That Changes Things – A Christian Guide to Victorious Living” by Dr. Carl Bentley.

“How to Pray a Prayer That Changes Things” offers a unique approach on “how to” pray, our attitude in prayer and the effects of prayer. This book is designed to help one establish a solid prayer life so as to bring forth positive results. Dr. Bentley’s understanding and practical methods to the importance of prayer brings clarity to areas we have long struggled with in our efforts to reach God. Dr. Bentley channels the mind of Christ as he presents postures and mannerisms needed when approaching the throne of grace.

This book can serve as a text book for training congregations and classrooms alike with chapters on fasted prayer, prayer covering, travailing in prayer, prayer for the incarcerated, and praying down the power of darkness, to name a few. The examples set forth also lead the believer to draw on the passion needed to add fervor to one’s prayer. As a training tool, the fundamentals listed can provide a solid foundation for believers to understand and successfully fulfill that which God has called them to do. This book will ignite the believer to a deeper sense of responsibility, stirring up a holy boldness needed to meet today’s ministry challenges.

Dr. Carl Bentley has proven to be a leader for this day and time. He is sold-out to the Lord and strives to live the life he preaches about. He is one who is equipped with a keen insight into the Word of God, and a strong desire to love and please Him. He has exhibited an anointing and passion that gives him the ability to touch the hearts of many with a revelatory Word from God. This book will not only bless you but it will inspire you to walk in victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

First, I give praise to my Lord and Savior, Jesus, who is the author of my faith and the finisher of my salvation. I thank Him for deliverance from, and victory over, forces which have sought to destroy me and this ministry.

Secondly, I thank God for this literary work, the purpose of which is to advance the Kingdom of our Savior and to edify others in their walk with the Lord.

Thirdly, I thank God for the officers and members of First Baptist Church in Woodford, Virginia, where I have had the privilege of serving as Pastor since 1985. My congregation is special to me and has served as the threshing floor where the Lord has shown me how to say what is said in this work.

Finally, I thank God for all who encouraged me along the way to finish this work, that souls might be strengthened as they press onward to the Way, the Truth, and the Light.

This work would not have been possible without the administrative and editorial assistance of Sisters Carolyn Bohanna, Freda Freeman, Veronica Childs, Florence Bailey, and Marguerite Young. Special thanks to Brother Aulander Skinner who labored intensively with the graphics designs until they represented the concept given by the Lord, Dr. Kenneth J. McEastland for his theological insight and prompting, to Sgt. Clarence Parker, who has composed video marketing that this product might reach those to whom the Lord intended it to go, and to Lori McMaster for the executive coaching that pulled me through periods of procrastination .

May the Lord bless you all.

At the beginning of my pastoral career, Dr. E. McKinley Taylor, a dear friend and mentor, gave me two very significant pieces of advice that have shaped the course of my ministry. First, he said, “You can’t pastor people if you are afraid of them.” Secondly, he said, “Sometimes you have to try a lot of things before you see a change, but you cannot give up.” As a new pastor, and one who was young in the ministry, I took both of these ideas quite seriously. The first idea does not necessarily coincide with the content of this book; but the second is certainly germane to the topic at hand.

That God answers prayer is a given. That God answers prayers in different ways, unexpected ways, and under different circumstances is also a given. God might not answer the same prayer in the same way; neither might He answer the same prayer in the same way for different people. God is unpredictable!

Earlier in my teaching career, I learned about an idea termed “conscious competency.” The notion behind the idea of conscious competency is that sometimes we engage in strategies that bring results, but we don’t know how we arrived at success. The result is immeasurable, and could almost be attributed to “luck.” That’s called “unconscious competency.” On the other hand, when we perform a prescribed behavior and it brings the result we seek, that’s called “conscious competency.” Conscious competency allows us to eliminate error from our repertoire of strategies, thus generating the result that we seek. When we are able to eliminate error from our prayer life, we are able to pray prayers that cause things to change.

Prayer That Changes Things is a brief compendium of prescribed behaviors, attitudes, and disciplines that can be engaged to increase the probability of bringing about change in conditions and situations. This writing is based in part, upon sermons on prayer that I have preached over the years. Though sincere efforts have been made to “sanitize” the mechanics, my sermon style shines through periodically as you are reading. Against the advice of my editors and proofreaders, I have left inflection cues and intonation indicators intact. These only serve to emphasize the concepts that the Lord would have me to share. The ideas in this book are not new. Each is scripturally based, and designed by God to bring you success. It is my prayer that you will find this information to be a helpful resource that brings to your remembrance whatsoever the Lord has already said unto you.

Prayer is what happens when we talk to God for the purposes of giving Him praise, or for expressing our needs and desires. There are more than 250 examples of prayer in the Bible. Prayer is essential for victorious living. If you are lucky, you can live your life without prayer. You might be prosperous, but if you are a Christian, you need to pray in order to have a successful, fulfilling life. You need to pray in order to maintain your relationship with God. You need to pray in order to maintain your fellowship with God. You need to pray in order to maintain your communication with God. You need to pray so that God can use you as a vessel. You need to pray so that God can use you to bless somebody else. You need to pray in order to walk in the protection of the Lord. Prayer is a necessity for victorious living.

Daily communication with our creator is facilitated through prayer. Prayer provides the means for us to share life events with the Lord. Prayer gives us an opportunity to acknowledge the blessings of the Most High. Prayer provides an opportunity for us to confess our sin and to ask forgiveness for our transgressions. Prayer fortifies our relationship with God.

One of the disciples asked Jesus to teach him how to pray (Luke 11:1). Jesus instructed “When you pray…” not “If you pray.” (Saint Luke 11:2). Then Jesus taught that “Men ought to always pray and not faint.” (Saint Luke 18:1). The Apostle Paul said that “men ought to pray everywhere” (I Timothy 2:8). Prayer is an essential practice of Christianity that we must engage in if we are to be true followers of Christ.

God wants to answer your prayer. Answered prayer is God’s idea. Answered prayer is not man’s idea. Man did not come up with this. God conceived the notion of answered prayer. One of the earliest stories about answered prayer is found in I Kings:

God is the one who started us thinking about receiving answers to our prayers because it is his desire for our prayer requests to be granted. The Lord answers prayer. When prayer is not answered, it’s not God’s fault. When prayer is not answered, it could be an indicator that we need to become more disciplined in the area of prayer . Learning how to pray prayers that change things is a sign of Christian maturity and victory.

In some churches, prayer has become nothing more than an art form, and prayer time has become entertainment time. In other settings, prayer has become a performance. Prayer time has become an opportunity for the person praying to use all of the phrases that are popular with the people; but the prayer does not make things change. Effective prayers make things change. In some churches, people rise up to out-pray others; and still in other churches, people rise up to out- perform others. But I’d rather listen to somebody who can get a prayer through than to listen to twenty thousand prayers that just entertain me.

When prayer is just an art form, it is a people pleaser and a crowd dazzler, but it has no real power. When prayer is just an art form, it entertains, but it does not liberate. Prayer that is an art form pleases people. But when prayer is spiritual, you please God. When prayer is an art form, you touch the people. But when prayer is spiritual, you touch God. When prayer is just an art form, you might know what to do. But when prayer is effective, not only do you know what to do, but you also know how to do it, and you get results from heaven. I’d rather for your prayers to change my circumstances, and I’d rather for your prayers change my conditions than for your prayers to simply “tickle my innards.” In fact, I don’t want your prayers if all you do is stir me up on the inside but leave me in a mess on the outside. If someone is to pray for me, I want him /her to lead a disciplined prayer life so that his or her prayers will avail much on my behalf (James 5:16). Effective prayers make things change!

There are important reasons why one should possess a disciplined prayer life. First of all, scripture promises affirmative responses to our prayers when our lives reflect contrition, whole-heartedness, faith, righteousness, and obedience. Some people pray because they want God to give them stuff. However, such self-centered prayer fails to bring glory to God’s Kingdom, and often fails to yield the best result.

Prayer must possess certain spiritual attributes in order to be effective. Prayers must be spiritual in order to reach God. Emotional prayers might not get through. Soulful prayers might not get through. Intellectual prayers might not get through. Common prayers might not get through. God is a Spirit and He not only seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, but He also seeks those who will communicate with Him in the Spirit. Conversely, the spirit of man is the Lord’s candle (Proverbs 20:27). God communicates with us via our spirits.

James 5:16 teaches us that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. For fervent prayer to avail much, our earnest, heartfelt prayer must be full of zeal and compassion. The Amplified Bible says that it “makes tremendous power available.”

There is a dynamic in fervent prayer that many fail to achieve. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed so hard that His sweat was like great drops of blood falling to the ground (Saint Luke 22:44). Fervent prayer is not formula prayer. Formula prayer is cute, pre-planned, and sometimes rehearsed. Conversely, fervent prayer comes from deep within (I Thessalonians 5:23), and possesses your heart-felt passion. Fervent prayer does not have to be loud, but it can get loud if you get caught up in the Spirit. Fervent prayer does not have to entertain, but it is interesting to see somebody get caught up in the Spirit. Fervent prayer is serious and sincere. Fervent prayer is like water that has been heated to its boiling point. When you turn up the heat, the water moves. When you pray a fervent prayer, it will make you move. Fervent prayer makes you hot. Fervent prayer gets results. It avails much. The best kind of prayer is prayer that gets results and avails much. Fervent prayer is a form of prayer that changes things.

When you need significant changes, “twinkle, twinkle little star prayer” won’t work. “Now I lay me down to sleep prayer” won’t work. The prayer that changes things occurs when you go beyond the veil to stand before the Lord with your heart open unto Him. It happens when you present yourself unto Him, and cast your cares upon Him. Then you must exercise faith to believe that you have received what you have asked from the Lord. I like what Jesus said in Mark’s eleventh chapter:

When you begin to believe that you have received, your prayer approaches “fervent status.”

In many instances, association causes assimilation. That means that we take on the characteristics and behaviors of others with whom we are in close proximity. Often, we find ourselves doing things that others in our environment do because their behavior makes subliminal impressions upon us, and we tend to replicate their behavior in our own personal settings. Sometimes people who pray publically tend to imitate others who also pray publically, and become a part of a succession of folks who pray prayers that do not change things.

Sometimes, the prayers we hear others pray are unscriptural. Unscriptural prayers are prayers prayed that have no scriptural basis. Unscriptural prayer is wrong, wrong, wrong. Unscriptural prayer sabotages correct prayer and itself needs to be nullified. Unscriptural prayers can sometimes turn into “performance prayers.” Performance prayers rely on the reaction of the crowd to gauge success. If the folks like certain prayer phrases, they are incorporated into successive prayers again and again over a period of time, because they bring a good reaction. It is important, however, that we control what comes out of our mouths (unless praying in the spirit), and it is more important to please God than to please others who hear our prayers. It is best to pray God’s Word, because the Word does not generate a void return (Isaiah 55:11, paraphrased).

Let’s discuss where your prayers go after you pray. Hebrews 12:2 tells us

Jesus is in heaven. He hears our prayers and goes to God on our behalf. Jesus is not on the cross. He went from the cross to the grave. Then He rose from the grave and visited the upper room. After the resurrection, He walked the earth as a resurrected man until He ascended up into heaven. Now He is with the Father. The last thing He said before he ascended is “you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you” (Acts 2:8). Then He was taken up into the clouds.

When we pray, we look to Jesus who is at the right hand of God’s throne. We do not look to Jesus on the cross. He’s not there. He endured the cross, but He ascended up to heaven and he is now in the throne room of intercession. We have to make sure that our prayer reaches the correct destination. The destination for our prayer is God’s throne in heaven – not the cross. It might sound good to say “Jesus I see you up on that cross looking down upon me,” but look again, and stop saying something you heard somebody else say. Jesus is not on the cross. And if you are sending your prayers to the cross instead of to the throne, your prayers are going to the wrong destination!

Another prayer paradigm is the belief that “sometimes God says ‘no’ when He answers prayer.” Believing that God says no to our prayers opens the door for us to accept defeat before our prayer escapes our lips. “Lord, I know you say no sometimes, but please answer my prayer if it be your will.” This background belief causes one to pray in doubt.

First John 5:14-15 tells us “This is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything (not something, but anything) according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petition that we desire of Him.” If it were true that God says no sometimes, and our prayer was not answered, it would either mean that the Lord did not hear us, or that our prayer was not according to His will.

It is important to ask according to the will of God. If we pray His will, He hears us and we have what we pray. We know the Will of the Lord by knowing God’s Word. His Word is His Will. When we pray the Word, we pray according to His Will.

Isn’t it amazing? There are people who live in failure and defeat because they thought God might say no, so they prayed timidly and in doubt instead of praying effectively and fervently. The truth of the matter is that they didn’t pray “right” (according to God’s Will), and the Lord did not grant their petition. Then when their prayer was not answered, they said “I guess God said no,” because they could not explain it. Well…

If you pray right, the answer is always yes! When you pray right, you are supposed to get a yes answer every time – not sometime, but every time. Through Christ, the promises of God are yea (Second Corinthians 1:20).

Can you imagine how your life could be if every prayer you prayed was answered yes? Pray God’s Will by praying The Word, and God will answer your prayer every time. Beloved, let’s make up our minds to pray prayers that change things every time we pray!

Symbolically, the tree represents Israel. Israel was a nation who was supposed to be giving, productive, and nurturing. The religious heritage of Israel professed piety and exhibited outward forms of righteousness; but inwardly Israel’s people were deficient in the area of faith in Christ as Messiah. The Israel of Jesus’day professed faith in God, but denied the Son of God.

Jesus’actions foretold that judgment would indeed come to Israel because of her empty faith declaration and her rejection of the true Messiah. Chronologically, Saint Matthew’s version of the barren fig tree is also coupled with Saint Mark’s version of Jesus cleansing the temple.

Jesus cursed the barren tree on His way to Jerusalem, and drove thieves out of the temple after He arrived there. In Saint Mark’s version, Jesus arrived in Israel on what we call Palm Sunday. There was profound fanfare and celebration at the beginning of the week on Sunday, but by the weekend on Friday, the crowd wanted to crucify Him.

While Israel is the focal point of the story, the curse pronounced by Jesus is said by some to extend beyond the fig tree and the wayward nation of Israel to the Christian community. It serves as a warning to Christians whose lives are fruitless. The tree tells Christian people that we should bear spiritual fruit, and not just masquerade in the form of godliness. If we have a good relationship with Christ, abide in Him, and let his Word abide in us, we will bear much fruit.

Now, let’s go to a higher level: The lesson learned from this pericope is the dynamic power of the believer’s prayer, and its ability to supersede the limits of our imagination. Jesus not only pronounced judgment on Israel, but he also demonstrated his ability to carry it out. On the next day, when the disciples saw the withered tree and questioned the Lord about it, Jesus told them:

First, let’s take a closer look at the word “thing.” In our world, the word “thing” is used in many ways and contexts. “Thing” is a word that describes an item that has an existence separate or apart. “Thing” also describes an item that is the subject of concern, discussion, feeling, or action. Things can be possessions, and referred to when you say phrases such as “Put all of your things in the closet.”

A thing can be an inanimate object, such as a pencil or a book, but a thing can also be a living being, such as an animal. There used to be a movie about a monster named “The Thing.” In the gay community, friends sometimes affectionately call one another “Ms. Thing.” Sometimes, however, if you call a person a “thing,” he might become angry because the term almost means something less than human.

Beyond the realm of people and objects however, a thing can also be a detail such as “don’t forget ANY thing when you pack;” and a thing can be a piece of information, like “he wouldn’t tell us ANY thing.”

I had a friend (now deceased) whose wife died and he started dating. He had a little money, but his newly acquired girlfriend did not. Eventually, he let his new love go, because she said she needed “things” that he wasn’t willing to buy her.

She wanted diamond rings and fancy things, and he wasn’t willing to spend the money required to satisfy her whims.

A thing can be an idea. “The thing is to get ahead.” “I have heard some things about that place.”“Don’t say things like that.” A thing can be a fad - like “it’s my thing.” Coca-Cola even came out with a slogan called “it’s the real thing.”

A thing can be a fixation. “She has a thing about cars.” A thing can even be a hallucination –like when you see things that are not there, or “things that go bump in the dark.”

In our world, there are some familiar phrases that contain the words “all things,” You have heard phrases such as “all things bright and beautiful,” or “all things good and fair.” “All things considered.” X Files even has an episode called “All Things.” If you Come out of the world, however, and get into the WORD for a moment, the phrase ALL THINGS appears more than 221 times in the Bible. Let’s explore some of these:

Finally,

Let’s focus on how Jesus used the words ALL THINGS in this verse.

Did you know that “All” means “All?” All does not mean some. All does not mean part. All does not mean a portion or a percentage. All does not mean a fragment or a morsel. All means All. All means the sum totality of a whole. All means the aggregate compilation of entirety. All means everything and nothing left. All means the greatest possible in any degree. All means ALL.

What a promise Jesus made: And ALL THINGS, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Do you realize what Jesus is saying to us today? Do you have enough faith to believe this word is true?

We know what the word “all” means. We know what the word “things” means. Now Jesus is saying whatever you ask in prayer (that is in line with His Word and His Will for your life) if you believe it, you shall receive it.

All right. Many people have told me “don’t preach this way,” They said, “you might hurt somebody’s feelings.” They say “if somebody prays for something and they don’t get it, you might make them feel bad about themselves. You might make them think that their faith is not strong enough.”

Well, you know what? I didn’t write the Bible. The Bible was here before I was born, and these are not MY words. This is what Jesus said. Jesus said

You have often heard me say “if you believe you receive it you shall have it.” Well those aren’t my words either. Jesus said that In Saint Mark:

It’s reinforcement for Jesus’ teaching in Saint Mark 9:23

I just want to encourage somebody’s heart today. I want you to know that God’s availability to you is proportionate to your accessibility to Him. He’s available to you if you let Him get to you. The success of your prayer life depends directly on the amount of belief you can generate.

Don’t let your feelings get hurt if your faith is weak, but just make up your mind to do a better job of believing, and you will do better at getting answers to those prayer requests that you thought were impossible.