“ This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him”- 1 John 5:14-15

One issue confronting us is how to manifest our prayers. Ideally, we ought to get results anytime we pray to God, but very often, it turns out the other way. Most pastors and great men of God do encounter series of unanswered prayers, and I must let you know that these incidences are usually difficult to explain, other than the fact that God will answer at the appropriate time. Effective prayer ought not to fail if done with confidence and according to God’s will. This is because the word of God which carries into manifestation our desired prayers do not fail. Faith plays a vital role in the manifestation of prayers. Faith is confidence that God hears us when we pray, and that what we are praying about has already taken place. But when confidence fails, Faith is lost!. So you have to try to keep faith or confidence alive! Patience is another key factor in the manifestation of prayers. This means that after we have prayed, we have to wait patiently for God to answer us. This makes a logical sense for the reason that everything in life has a life cycle. For instance, a baby has a nine months gestation period to come out alive as a human spirit. Therefore, no miracle will make a baby in one day! Even lower animals such as mosquitoes and house flies do have their periods of formation from the cell's stage to full-blown flies or mosquitoes. Therefore, depending on what your prayer is all about, you have to be patient while your prayer is going through the formation stages. However, the pitfalls of prayer are ANXIETY and LACK OF WORK.

Anxiety does two things to our prayers:
1. It weakens the power of the word of God in us to manifest things. Remember, the word of God is the creative force that manifests ALL THINGS and it’s in you already ( Colossians 1:26-27 )
2. It scoops up your faith and makes you lose confidence. Without confidence or faith, manifestation will be difficult (Matthew 17:20)
3. Anxiety kills patient right from the time you set out to pray. When you are anxious, you are hardly ever patient! (Philippians 4:6-7)
Jesus warned us against the spirit of anxiety when he says, “Do not be anxious….” (Ref: Matthew 6:25-34) One thing that you must bear in mind is that everything you need for your genuine spiritual and material wellbeing, according to His will have been provided already, you only need to pray them into existence. When you are not anxious but believe that God would make these things available to you as the need arises, you will receive a response to prayer in good time. However, your work plays a vital role in manifesting your prayers. Miracles won’t happen without work. God says he will bless the works of your hands! Therefore, food and medicine are very important for the sustenance of life. If you starve yourself of water and food for too long, you might die! Same applies to medicines when you are sick. Medicine aids the natural healing process of the body to work properly. It is dangerous to be sick and not take medicine; death can occur! In extreme cases of ill-health, surgery is very important. Please listen to your doctor when he advises you on taking surgery as an alternative to medicine. Prayers heal, but it must go together with medicine. Prayer will open the door for you to get a job, but you must work all the same in order to earn money for the things you need.