Answered Prayer

God will answer your prayers - giving you what you ask for. But He won't do it as a result of my positive attitude or my actually believing in prayer. Several conditions must be met in order for prayer to be answered in way that gives me what I've asked for.

1. You must be a Christ-follower. Your belief must have turned into action and changed behaviors.
2. You must not hold a grudge against anyone. Unforgiveness blocks effective prayer.
3. You must no be praying with selfish or otherwise wrong motives. Your heart must be aligned with God's.
4. Your request must be for the good of God's Kingdom - rather than for the good of your own current or near-future circumstances.
5. You must have faith in God versus faith in the object of your prayer. Believing on a promise or on a request is not the same as faith in God.

The kind of prayer that Jesus referred to in Mark 11 - that moves mountains - is prayer for the fruitfulness of God's Kingdom.