This article is about the secret of performing miracles. This secret was revealed by Jesus and yet it is still a secret to many. You find it in Mark 5, where a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years and had been dismissed by her doctors believed that if only she could touch the garment of Jesus she’ll be healed. So she came from behind and touched his garment. She was healed instantly. Jesus became aware of it when he saw an energy leaving him. That is when he revealed the secret. “Daughter,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you; go in peace and be free of your affliction.”

Right after that a man whose daughter had died came for help. People told him to go away and don’t bother. There was nothing Jesus could do for a dead person. Jesus overheard their conversation and said to the man, “Do not be afraid; just believe.” He then went to the house of the man and ordered the deceased girl to get up. There you have it again. The secret is belief.

I used to say to people who asked me about prayer pray to a chair because the result will be the same but at least you’d be praying to something that has physical existence rather than to a figment of your imagination. The fact is that the reason prayer work sometimes and don’t work other times and as such they are no different than fluke is because we don’t know how to pray.

There is a science to prayer. Science is systematic knowledge. If something is testable, repeatable, and observable, it is scientific. Does prayer fall into this definition? Yes, but you have to know how to pray.

Baking is a science. Anyone can bake as long as they follow the recipe. To bake a bread you need to mix flour, water and yeast. As long as your proportions are right and your method is correct you will have your bread. Is that enough? Of course not. You just made the dough. In order to convert the dough to bread you need to trust it to the oven and wait. It is the heat that transforms the dough into bread. This is the science of making bread.

Prayers have their own science. If you do them the right way they produce miracles. Like baking a bread, you need several ingredients. The first ingredient you need is gratitude. Start by giving thanks to God for all that He has given you already. There is plenty to be grateful for. Thank for your children, for your health, for the food, for the roof over your head, for your parents, for your friends, for your pet, etc.

This set the atmosphere and puts you in tune with God. Once you are thus synchronized, as if having entered in the presence of God, you then ask anything you need. Don’t be afraid to ask big things and you won’t be bothering God by asking small things. Things are small or big only to us. To God they are all the same. He is not inconvenienced by our prayers. He loves to give. That is how He exercises His Lordship. This is what gives Him pleasure. God as a warehouse of infinite size of all sorts of gifts, ready to be given away to anyone who asks. They’re free, but you must ask if you want to receive. He has a buffet. It is eat all you can restaurant and it is free. But it is a self service. There are no waiters to serve you and there are no deliveries. Go as many times as you want and eat as much as you can but do not expect anyone to bring the food to your table. It won’t happen.

At this stage, after you verbalize your prayer. you must do something that is counter-intuitive. You withdraw whatever you asked and say, Father, this is my prayer, but please ignore everything I said and let your will be done not mine. This was the lesson Jesus taught in his last night on Earth on the Mount of Olives. Fully aware of the fate that was awaiting him he withdrew from his disciples and prayed, Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

Prayer is not to fulfill our will. It is asking God to make us a conduit so His will be fulfilled. We don’t come to this world to fulfill our desires, but to complete God’s plan. That is what is best for us.

Not long ago, I was afflicted by insurmountable problems. Everywhere I looked I saw a huge wall in front of me. I had become a victim of an injustice and was about to lose everything. I made plans and prayed. To my astonishment all my plans were destroyed. Everything I did failed. It was as if some force was deliberately undoing whatever I did. I did not lose faith. I asked others to pray for me and many did. I felt the reassurance. My heart was confirmed but my problems were not resolved. Then the miracle happened. God removed all my tribulations and restored my peace. He gave me more than what I was praying for. Only then I realized why he made all my plans fail. Drowning in the sea of tribulations, I was trying to cling to anything, but God had sent out a ship for me. Had He answered my prayers, I could not receive what He had in store for me.

When you pray and get a no as response. Praise the Lord because He is sending something better than what you are praying for. Sometimes we want things that are not good for us. You may fall in love with someone who is completely wrong for you or you may pray for wealth that will destroy you and your children. Wealth is not always a blessing. It is often a curse. We don’t know what is good for us. The beauty of prayer is that God gives only what is good for us.

If you did everything as explained above, you have done your job, but this does not mean that your prayer will be answered. Just as a dough does not become bread without the heat of the oven, prayers will remain unanswered without the faith in God. Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.” This is the promise of the Lord and our God does not give false promises.

Here is why most prayers don’t come true. People pray sincerely but they doubt the result. They tell themselves, maybe they are not good enough for God to listen to their prayers. They remember they are sinners and think of themselves unworthy of God’s attention. That is baloney and a terrible mistake. If this were the case the sinner’s prayer would have no meaning. God does not care whether we are holy or sinners. He answers all prayers.

When we doubt the answer to our prayers, we doubt God. The key is belief, the opposite of doubt. It is our faith in God that makes prayers come true. With faith we can do miracles. Jesus said, truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. This is the secret that can transform the world into a world of miracles.

Everyone can be a miracle maker. All miracles come from God. He wants to use us as his tools to perform His miracles. The secret is belief.

[Another Admin’s Comment: Please pray to God to rid mankind of Islam, whereby Muslims will leave Islam realizing it is false and dangerous, and the world will see peace. And after Islam, other ideologies like Maoism which are also resulting in deaths.]