Today I would like to share the grace of God under the title, “The Prayer to Be Answered.” Jesus said, “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” In order to have our prayers answered, we need passion and patience. English poet, William Cooper said, “Those who give up prayer is like those who give up victory in the battle.” We should not give up prayer because prayer is the spiritual warfare. In order to receive answer to our prayer, the Lord said, “And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him." If we do not receive any answer to our first prayer, we must keep praying until we receive answer from God no matter how many times we have to pray. Therefore, we must stick to the prayer with a definite goal. God wants to know what you aim at in your prayer. “For what do you work?” We must set a goal! As a new year is approaching, many magazines have sent reporters to me for an interview. There was the most awkward question which asked me, “Pastor, what will you do in the new year?” I answered, “I have preached the gospel for 60 years and in the coming new year I want to go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation again. Then the Holy Spirit said to me, “You did a good job! Only then can you become a leader! Anyone who doesn’t know what to do tomorrow can’t be a leader!” You know, whosoever has a clear goal no matter how big or small it may be can become a leader and God will answer to his prayer. Next, in order to receive an answer to our prayer, we should repent our sins before God. Psalm 66:18 says, “If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” If we cherish sin in our hearts, God won’t listen to our prayer. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” God is waiting to forgive us our sins if we confess them. Sin is one of the greatest obstacles that separate us from God. Isaiah 59:1-2 says, “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Therefore, when we repent of our sins, God will listen to our prayer. When your children come home after playing outside, you will say, “Wash your hands first and then go to the dining room. First wash your hands.” They may say, “Oh, I am so hungry. I will eat first and then wash my hands later.”“What are you talking about? You must wash your hands first and then eat!” Parents insist that their little children wash their hands first not because they do not want to give them food but because their hands may be infected with germs so they can be sick. When your children ask you to give food after playing outside with dirty hands, you must order them to wash their hands first. When they eat with their dirty hands, it makes them sick. So you always ask them to clean their hands first before eating. Likewise, God the Father knows that if we just pray with dirty hearts, it makes us sick. Repentance prepares a clean vessel by washing our hands first. Then God will put His answer in that vessel. Next, in order to receive an answer from God, we must inscribe dreams on the tablet of our hearts. Where there is no vision, the people perish. We must write our dreams on the tablet of our hearts. With a clear goal, we should dream a God-given dream and prepare the site where God works for us. Dreams are the delivery bags of answers from God. “And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.”(1 John 5:15) When we come before God with dream, God will fulfill that dream. Psalm 81:10 says, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” As God promises that He will fill it greatly, we can be strengthened by this. And then we should not just envision our dream but go with faith. We must invite our good God into our hearts and pray until our dream becomes faith. While looking at dream, we must say, “God, please help me fulfill this dream. I believe.” Then in our positive hearts, dreams are spread and when we pray with this dream, faith of miracles will happen and when we confess with our mouths, “It will be done according to your faith.” Luke 12:29:30 says, “And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.” 1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” God says this very firmly! God wants to give us good. Jesus said in Matthew 7:9-11, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” We as children of God pray to the Father. As God is a good God, He will answer to our prayer surely. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” We should pray with faith that as long as our prayer is God’s will, He will surely answer our prayer. We must believe that God calls things that are not as though they were. Romans 4:17-18 says, “As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed--the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.” It is Abraham’s faith that says the corps live and that calls things that are not as though they were. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’” In order to receive God’s love, we must dream and believe in God. When we have dream and believe it and confess it with our mouths, God will all smile and answer us, saying, “Your faith is great. I will answer you.” We ought to dream with positive, active, and bright hearts and minds. We should have a good dream and when we pray with this good dream, faith will happen to us. We can believe things that are not as though they were. When this happens to us, we should not just believe but cry out loud and confess it with our mouths. “It is done! It is done! It is accomplished.” Then the Holy Spirit will comfort and encourage us. It is very important to believe and confess things that are not as though they were. Please repeat after me, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24) Unbelievers accuse us of saying wrong things, but those who use the fourth dimensional language call things that are not as though they were. As the new year is approaching, we must have our new year’s resolutions and put them at the center of our hearts by the blood of the cross and dream about them. After we dream about them, we should believe and confess what we believe through our prayer and mouths and then miracles of God will follow. “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”(Romans 10:10) We must believe with our hearts and confess it with our mouths. Numbers 14:28 says, “So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say.” When we say to God, “I can’t make it. It is impossible. It can’t be done. I am ruined,” God will say, “I will do to you the very things I heard you say.” It shouldn’t be done like that. We must say, “I can make it. It will be done. Let us do it!” As we already have God’s promise and the Holy Spirit works for us, let us think and believe and do things that are not as though they were.” Then God will say, “I will do according to your mouth confession.”“From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.”(Proverbs 12:14) Mouth confession is a great thing!