People pray, “Lord, if it be your will”…  The implication is that they can’t know the will of God, or that the will of God is so mysterious they’ll never understand it.  That’s wrong.  God’s will is consistent with His word.  So we can know the will of God by reading the word of God.  For example, we know that God is light.  That means God is against darkness.  Which means he is against the occult, because “occult” means that which is done in darkness.  So it is not God’s will for you to dabble in the occult.  You know that by the word of God.

We also know that God is life.  Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).  That means God is pro-life, and He’s anti-abortion.  I don’t have to pray, “if it be thy will.” when it comes to knowing whether it’s His will for someone to have an abortion.  I know His will.
God is peace.  That means he opposes fear.  He opposes intimidation…manipulation…domination…torment…anyone trying to control your life.  He wants you to live in the peace that He has for you.  God is love.  That means He opposes hatred, He opposes bitterness and He opposes racial strife.

God is forgiving.  If you bear a grudge…if you harbor resentment…if you rehearse the bitter scenes of the past in your memory…then you’re out of the will of God.  God is merciful.  If you’re as mean as a junkyard dog, you’re out of the will of God.  That’s the word of God.  God is holy.  I don’t have to pray about pornography…if it’s in your home, get it out!  It has no place in the house of the righteous!

God is righteous authority.  All authority comes form God.  If you’re in rebellion against God’s delegated authority, you’re out of the will of God.  A rebellious child fights his father.  A rebellious citizen fights the police.  Everything God does He does through righteous authority.  If you’re not in that divine authority you’re outside the will of God and you’re going to have a difficult life.

God is a giver.  Everything God controls gives.  If you are a tightwad…if you’re greedy…if you’re a selfish Scrooge…if you refuse to tithe…then you’re out of the will of God.  A man asked me once, “Will you pray with me about tithing?”  I said, “no”.  He looked shocked and asked why not.  I said, “Because the word of God says to do it.  You don’t need to pray about it.  You need to obey it.”  He said He never had heard it explained quite that way.

God is a provider.  If I need a job, food or clothes, I can pray and God will provide it.  I don’t have to say, “If it’s our will.”  I know it’s God’s will.  God is a healer.  His word says He heals all of my diseases.

God is a worker.  In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.  Jesus Christ was a carpenter.  The twelve disciples worked.  Work has become a dirty word in America.  The Bible says if you don’t work, you ought not eat.  And that ought to be chiseled over the doorpost of the Health and Human Services Department in Washington D.C.  If you can work and you won’t work, and you’re receiving welfare form the government, you should be ashamed.  You are a moral and financial cancer on the soul of America.

The next condition to answered prayer is to pray in faith believing.  Matthew 21:21 says, “If you have faith, and doubt not…you shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.”  And lastly, pray specifically.  Know what you want and pray for that.  Pray so specifically that when God answers you’ll know God sent it and it wasn’t random chance!

Devotion from Pastor Hagee’s book 12 Sunday Mornings – currently out of print