Another important thing is to have faith in our prayers. If the conscience is blameless, it is easy for faith to be strong, and if faith is strong, spontaneously our prayers will be answered.
What is faith? Faith is freedom from doubt. It is to accept God's promises in our prayers. It is God who asks us to pray and who wants us to pray. God said, "Concerning the work of My hands, command Me" (Isa. 45:11). If we pray, God has to answer us. Jesus said, "Knock and it shall be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7). It is impossible for Him not to open after we have knocked. Jesus said, "Seek and you shall find." It is impossible for us not to find after we have sought. Jesus said, "Ask and it shall be given to you." It is impossible for us to ask and yet not receive. If we do not believe this, what kind of God do we think our God is? We must see that God's promises are faithful and dependable. Faith is based on our knowledge of God. The more we know God, the stronger our faith will be. We are saved already; we know God already. Therefore, we can believe; there should not be any difficulty at all for us to believe. When we believe, God will answer our prayers. Learn to be a person full of faith from the very beginning. We should not trust in our feelings or our mind. Instead, we should believe in God's word. God's promises are like cash; they work. In fact, God's promises are God's work. The promises tell us of God's work, while His work is the manifestation of His promises. We have to accept God's promises in the same way we accept His work. When we believe God's word, abiding in faith rather than in doubt, we will see how real God's words are and we will find answers to our prayers.
We need to have the ambition to be a praying person, a person with power before God. Some people are powerful before God, while others are not. When some people speak, God listens. When others speak, He does not listen. What does it mean to be powerful before God? It simply means that God listens to the person when he speaks. It is as if God is happy to be influenced by such a one. Some people can influence God. Being powerless before God means that God does not listen to the person when he speaks. Such a one may spend much time before God, but God ignores him. We must have the desire and the aspiration to see that God often answers our prayers. No blessing can be greater than God answering our prayers all the time. We have to pray to Him, "May every request of ours be pleasing to Your ears." It is a most glorious thing for God to incline His ear to us. It is a tremendous thing for God to trust us to the extent that He can give us whatever we ask.
You have to present to the Lord the names that you are burdened with and pray for them one by one. See how long it takes for God to save them. If your prayers are unanswered after a long period, you have to deal with yourself and with God. In order for your prayers to be answered, it is often necessary to go through specific dealings. Unanswered prayer means that there is sickness somewhere. If you do not mean business in this matter, you will always fail.
This is why you need a record book. The record book will show you whether or not your prayers are answered. Many people do not know whether their prayers are answered because they do not have a record of anything. Newly saved brothers and sisters should learn to have such a record book. Then they will know whether or not their prayers are answered. They will know whether there is a problem between them and the Lord. They will know also when they have to deal with themselves and when they have to deal with God.
If you have prayed for a long time and there is still no answer, you should realize that there must be some hindrance. The hindrances always occur because there is sin in your conscience or there is a problem with your faith. New believers need not worry about the deeper aspects of prayer. They need only to pay attention to their conscience and their faith. Before the Lord, we have to confess, deal with, and refuse our sins. At the same time we have to genuinely and fully trust in God's promises. If we do this, we will see people being saved one by one, and our lives will be full of answers to prayer.