God Answers Prayer 1: Lessons from Hezekiah

Do you know the story the King who prayed for God to change His verdict within minutes after hearing it? His name is Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz.

There is something special about this King and his story because when God told him that his time was up, with no child, he was able to “convince” God to change his story. And received 15 more years.

What made him special and how relevant was he after his dead?
What can we learn from his story in order to tap into that “soft point” of God to have answers to our prayers quicker?

His Life in Summary:

He became king at age 25 and reigned for 29 years.
He did what was right in the sight of God.
He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor were before him
He held fast to the Lord and did not depart from following him
He kept God’s commandments.
God prospered him wherever he went.
When the enemy threatened him with letter, he took the letter to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord, and prayed.
He had no child, got sick and was near death
God sent Isaiah to tell him that it was over. So he should prepare and come home
He immediately turn his face toward the wall and prayed to God.
Before Isaiah got into the middle court, God sent answers to his prayer.
He got additional 15 years and gave birth to Manasseh who became king at age 12.
He died rich.
Jesus Christ was traced to him
What a life he lived.

It’s easy for many christian to want to pray and expect God to treat them like He did with Hezekiah. But they pay less/no attention to what Hezekiah did to attract that favor. Bishop TD Jakes once said that In order to enjoy what TD Jakes is enjoying, you must be ready to sacrifice and do what TD Jakes did. In other words, You can’t simply wish for a person’s successes without being ready to pay the price.

Three Things to LEARN:

He feared God and served Him diligently: How is your relationship with God like? Do you have reverence for God? Do you give Him your BEST (time, energy, and other resources)? Do you obey His commandments? Do you serve Him with your gifts? Do you honor God with what you have, including your body? Do you love Him with all your heart, soul, and strength?
He Trusted in God: Trust is fundamental to any great relationship. Proverbs 3 says Trust in the Lord with all your heart. How committed are you to God? Do you Trust him enough to let him handle your cases or situations? Do you Trust His promises concerning your Life? Are you able to wait and trust His timing? If He says “GO“, do you just go or apply some reasoning/logic? Do you really TRUST God?
He talked to God about everything: When the enemy sent him the letter, He presented the letter to God. This show how close he was with God. He said (in my own words) “God do you read what I read? what are you going to do about it? if you don’t act, they will destroy your people”. When last you heard that good/bad news, who was the first person you talked to? How close is your relationship with God? How often do you talk to Him? And what do you talk to Him about? It’s interesting that as soon as he heard news about his death, he immediately turned to God. This was his habit.

God is able to give you the desires of your heart. He is faithful to His word and if you would diligently seek Him, you will find Him. If you draw near to Him, He will draw near to Him. Don’t just hope for the supernatural but begin to live in ways that would trigger the supernatural.
God answers prayers because He remains committed. The question is How committed are you?