Question: If the power of life and death are in the tongue, can continually confessing positively change God's will and give me what I speak? Profile:Female 18-30 Africa
God’s will be done (see the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10), so nothing that any of His children say will change that, unless God, in His mercy decides to grant our requests.
When Abraham heard that God was going to destroy the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, he pleaded for mercy with God because his nephew, Lot, lived in Sodom. Through his persistence, Abraham seemed at first to convince God to save the city if He (through His angels) were able to find just ten righteous people living there (Genesis 18:32). As it turned out, there were not 10 righteous people, and both cities were destroyed (Genesis 19:12-13), but at one point Abraham’s sincere and persistent pleas (prayers, of sort) carried some weight with God. So, prayerful petitioning of God has an impact.
The Bible tells us when we ask God, we must believe in His power and glory to answer our prayers. In the book of James we are told: “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:6-7). “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives…” (James 4:3a). “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up” (James 4:10).
If we believe, God shall answer our prayer. Jesus said during His famous Sermon on the Mount, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). Finally, James says “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).
Used by permission from GotQuestions.org.
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