Are Your Blanket Prayers Working?

What on earth are blanket prayers? Glad you asked because this is going to be an eye opener for some of you.

Too many times I’ve heard people pray prayers that I call blanket prayers. They’re praying all around the world but to no avail. When I hear this, I wonder to myself if they ever see results. But alas, I think not. Why? Because God has given us instructions on how and what to pray. Let’s look at some scriptures.

Acts 1:8 (KJV) ⁸  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Here we see that we’re to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Notice that you are to start where you live, then spread out. For example: first to your immediate area—family, friends, neighborhood, then city, then state, then nation, then to the uttermost parts of the earth. We each need to take responsibility for our own area. If everyone did that, what a difference it would make!

But as you know, we can’t all just get up and go out preaching to all parts of the earth. So what do we do? We send those who are called to that vocation and we support them. And when we do, God says that we get part of the same reward they get. That’s what happened to David’s men. Not all the men went to battle. Some stayed back and protected the homeland.  But they still got part of the spoil.

1 Samuel 30:24 (KJV) ²⁴  For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.

It’s the same with us. We support those who are called to go and preach but we get part of their reward.

That’s why you can’t just throw up a prayer like, “Lord, save the whole world!” It might make you feel good but it does nothing. That’s because we’re not told to pray that way in the Word of God. If we could, Paul and the disciples would have prayed that way and didn’t have to actually go and preach the Word.

Matthew 28:19-20 (KJV) ¹⁹  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
²⁰  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Matthew 28:19 (AMP) ¹⁹  Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:19 (YLT) ¹⁹  having gone, then, disciple all the nations, (baptizing them–to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

We see here that we’re told to teach all nations – not just to make converts. We are to make disciples of all nations and that means teaching them the Word of God, not just have them say the salvation prayer and throw them back to the wolves!

Now let’s look at another example of praying.

Mark 11:22-24 (KJV) ²²  And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
²³  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
²⁴  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Here we see that Jesus is telling us to specifically speak to the problem and tell it to go! We’re not to doubt in our heart but believe that what we say will come to pass. Next we’re to believe that we receive when we pray.

You see, we can’t receive for someone else. We can pray for them to be healed, delivered, and to receive but we cannot do the receiving for them. That’s why blanket prayers don’t work unless the whole group we’re praying for is receiving. [In the case of children and incapacitated people, those are a different kind of case.]

Yes, I know people pray the wrong way a lot but what kind of results are they getting? Perhaps just feeling like they’re doing something is all they want. Maybe they really aren’t expecting any results because they haven’t gotten results before. I like results and always expect results when I pray in faith according to God’s Word!

So what am I saying in all this? Prayer is definitely good and we should pray for others. But if you want to get results, pray for those within your realm of influence and as the Holy Spirit leads. If you do this in faith, you will have more results and get blessed doing it. One of the best encouragers is answered prayer.

Remember, we can’t just shoot up any ol’ kind of pray and hope it works. Pray in faith, according to God’s promises, and you’ll get your desired results!

— Pamela