6 Biblical Examples of Answered Prayers

Sometimes in life, we may experience certain situations and circumstances that defy simple understanding and faith. Such situations may prompt us to question the validity of our faith and wonder whether the whole concept of God’s existence is a sham. At such times, having ready examples of those prayed and received answers to prayers will come in handy.

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We will review 6 biblical examples of people who prayed and received answers to their prayers and some lessons learned from their specific situation or circumstance. The list is by no means exhaustive and you are free to add to the list.

The 6 biblical examples of answered prayers we will be looking at are;

1. Hezekiah
2. Hannah
3. The Church
4. Joshua and
5. Jabez
6. The Syrophoenician woman

Before I start, I encourage you to keep a tab on true life Testimonies of Faith and Answered Prayers. You can right-click on the link and open in a new tab so you don’t forget to read these testimonies.

These testimonies will surely boost your faith.

Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:1-6)

The first biblical example of answered prayer we are reviewing is Hezekiah.

Hezekiah was sick unto death and to worsen the matter, God sent His prophet Isaiah to inform him of his impending death.

What was he to do? Here was a prophet of God sent directly to inform him to put his house in order and be prepared to die.

When he got the message, he didn’t waste time thinking about resigning to fate or how to put his house in order. Instead, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed reminding God how he had walked with Him in his youth.

Bible recorded that before Prophet Isaiah could leave the King’s palace, God answered Hezekiah’s prayer and sent the prophet to tell him He has added 15 years to his life.

For Hezekiah to have immediately thought of praying when he received such sad news of his imminent death, means he must have had an existing relationship with God and he knew his God.

No wonder the Bible says they that know their God shall be strong and do exploits. Dan 11:32b

It also goes to prove God’s promise to answer us whenever we call.

“It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. (Isaiah 65:24 KJV)

Another thing to note is; Hezekiah didn’t indulge in self-pity when he received news of his death date.

Instead, he quickly humbled himself before God and prayed.

Lastly, for him to be able to boldly call God to remembrance of his past deeds showed he had walked before God uprightly.

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Lessons Learnt About Hezekiah’s Answered Prayer

1. Serve God while you have the opportunity and be faithful to him.

2. Remind God of your faithfulness in times of trouble and ask him to help you in your predicament.

3. Pray for the impossible and expect answer from the God of all possibilities.

Remember to Pin for Later

Hannah (1Samuel 1:1-2, 6, 9-11,19-20)

The second biblical example of answered prayer we are examining is Hannah who was childless in a polygamous marriage.

It is rare for women in polygamous marriages not to compete and envy each other especially if the husband has favorites. That was the situation in Elkanah’s home, he loved Hannah more, though she was childless. This made “her rival” jealous, and she consistently taunted Hannah over her childlessness.

The fact that the Bible described Peninnah her husband’s wife as her rival reveals the atmosphere in their home. Without a doubt, it must have been a tense atmosphere where both wives were always trying to outdo each other.

To top it off, Hannah was childless while her rival had many children. But she never ceased to go up to the house of the Lord yearly 1Samuel 1:7.

1Samuel 1:7 And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat.

In the years before the Lord opened her womb, she could be tagged the “weeping Hannah” because in vs 7 to 10 we see several occurrences of the word wept. Bible also recorded that she was grieved and in bitterness of soul.

Sorrow was part of her daily life due to her inability to bear children and her rival’s constant provocation.

But it is pertinent to note that she always went to the house of the Lord despite her sorrow.

She didn’t use her sorrowful state as an excuse to stay away from the house of God. She sought God despite her childlessness and in due time God answered her prayers and opened her womb. In the year that God answered her, she went to Shiloh as at other times and prayed fervently, pouring out her soul to God.  In vs 20, she got the answer to her prayer, a male child Samuel and five additional children.

Read: Answered Prayers: Love Letters from the Divine

Lessons Learnt About Hannah’s Answered Prayer

1. A time of sorrow is not the time to abandon God or become scarce from his house. Rather it is the time to seek God more.

2. When in sorrow, anguish, pain, or bitterness of soul, etc., pour out your soul to God, tell Him how you feel, and don’t withhold a thing.

3. Seek God for who He is and not just for what you can get.

4. Desperate situations call for desperate actions, so make a vow to God and endeavor to keep the vow when the time comes.

You may also like: Answered Prayer… Guaranteed!: The Power of Praying with Faith

The Church, When Peter Was Imprisoned (Acts 12:1-17)

The account in Acts 12 is the third biblical example of answered prayer that we will talk about. It’s an account of how King Herod arrested Peter and put him in prison to please the Jews. He had previously ordered the killing of James and since it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take Peter.

Something different happened however because the church offered continuous prayer (v5) to God for him. The incessant prayers reached God’s throne room and He sent His angel to miraculously rescue Peter from the prison where he was bound in chains between 2 soldiers. It was a miracle because the 2 soldiers he was bound in between didn’t realize till daybreak that Peter was gone.

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Lessons Learnt About the Church’s Answered Prayers

1. Pray without ceasing

2. Desperate situations require desperate actions, don’t be too lazy to observe prayer vigil.

3. When you pray, be expectant. Expect the miraculous.

Joshua (Joshua 10:11-14)

The fourth biblical example of answered prayer to be reviewed is in the book of Joshua.

It is true when we call on God in the day of trouble, he will answer us.

Psalms 50:15
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

When the five Kings of the Amorites decided to attack Gibeon for forming an alliance with the children of Israel, they cried out to Joshua for help. Joshua responded by assembling his army of mighty men to war against the five kings of the Amorites.

God fulfilled his promise to Joshua and delivered the Amorites into the hand of the Israelites but there was a setback.  It was getting dark and the war wasn’t over.

You may also like: Fasting and Persistence in Prayer

In the heat of the battle, Joshua did a new thing by commanding the Sun and Moon to stand still. God answered Joshua’s prayer and the Sun stood still in heaven and didn’t go down for a whole day.

That is the God we serve, he is swift to respond to us in times of distress or need. He answered Joshua’s prayer on the spot!

Lessons Learnt About Joshua’s Answered Prayer

1. God is reliable and will answer our prayers whenever we call on him.
2. When we pray, we need to believe that God will answer us.

Jabez (1chronicles 4:9-10)

The fifth biblical example we will be review is the story of Jabez.

Although Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, he had a “but” in his life. The “but” was that his mother bore him in pain and because of that she gave him a name that means sorrow.

So everywhere he went, he was called and addressed as sorrow.

Read post: Keys to praying and receiving answers to prayer (3)

Sorrow followed him everywhere because of his name until he prayed to God for a change. Part of his prayer was that God should keep him from evil so that he will not cause pain and God granted his request. 1Chron 4:10.

Lesson Learnt About Jabez’s Answered Prayer

1. Prayerfully reject whatever you don’t want in your life.

The Syrophoenician Woman

The sixth biblical example of answered prayer we shall examine is that of the Syrophoenician woman in Mark 20: 25-30.

Her daughter was sick with an unclean spirit and she asked Jesus to heal her by casting the demon out of her daughter. However, Jesus told her that He had other priorities as she was a gentile, and His focus was on the Israelites at that time.

He responded and told her that the children (Israelites) need to be satisfied first and dogs (gentiles) should not eat the children’s food. I won’t go into the details of what the statement means in this post since that isn’t the focus, but basically Jesus rejected her prayer request.

Thankfully she did not relent and went further to bring forth her strong reason as to why her daughter should be healed by reminding Jesus that even dogs eat crumbs from their masters table.

Due to her response, Jesus commended her faith and proclaimed healing on her daughter and the bible recorded it that the demon was gone from her daughter by the time she returned home.

Lessons Learned From the Syrophoenician Woman

The lesson we can learn from the story of the Syrophoenican woman is that of persistence in the place of prayer.

Indeed the Bible enjoins us in the book of Isaiah 41:21 to present our case and bring forth our strong arguments. And that is exactly what the Syrophoenician woman did.

She was unperturbed by the reference to her as a dog, instead she focused on what she wanted to get out of her encounter with Jesus and she got it.

Conclusion

In this post, we have reviewed 6 biblical examples of answered prayers and I hope you have been inspired and your faith charged as mine is everytime I read this post.

Finally, doors answer to keys, the right keys. In the same vein, there are keys to praying and receiving answers to prayers. Avail yourself of the free prayer resources on this site and watch your testimonies increase.