Prayer Investigator: Unlocking the Power of Specific Prayer with Wanda Knight McBrock

Are your prayers feeling stale and unheard? Discover the transformative secret to a vibrant prayer life that yields remarkable results. Join Linda Evans Shepherd as she interviews Wanda McKnight Brock who shares her incredible journey from generic prayers to a trail of answered miracles. You'll learn practical tips to elevate your conversations with God and experience the power of praying with pinpoint precision. Don't miss this life-changing episode!

Chapter Markers:

1. The Desperate Cry for Divine Connection
2. The Unexpected Answer to a Heartfelt Prayer
3. Evolving from Generic to Specific Prayers
4. Creating a Personalized Prayer Blueprint
5. Cultivating an Intimate Relationship with God

Reflection Question: 

1. Think about a time when you felt your prayers were not being heard or answered. What might help you move from generic to more specific, intentional prayers during those seasons?

2. Wanda shared how writing down her prayers helped her see God's answers more clearly. How could journaling or recording your prayer requests benefit your prayer life?

3. If you created a personalized prayer plan like Wanda's with different focuses for each day, what specific people, areas, or concerns would you want to include?

Join us on The Prayer Investigator as we explore the depths of faith, redemption, and the enduring power of prayer.

Linda Evans Shepherd is an international speaker and a best-selling author of 38 books including Praying Through the Hard Times. She is the CEO and founder of Right to the Heart Ministries which includes the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Arise Esther Movement, Leading Hearts Magazine, and the Arise Daily Devotionals.
Important Links:
Linda's Prayer Books: https://www.gottopray.com/linda-s-pra...

Get Linda's Blessing Gift Here: https://blessing.pages.ontraport.net/...

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Transcript

wanda_mcknight_brock_prayer_investigator (720p)

[00:00:00] My guest says that she has a trail of answered prayer. Surprised? Stay tuned to find out how that happened. Welcome to the Prayer Investigator. I'm Linda Evans Shepherd. My guest today is Wanda McKnight Rock. Wanda was in sales for 30 years. Today she has a podcast called Fuel Your Tank, where she talks about life balance, family and ministry.

[00:00:25] Today Wanda has come to share with us how to expect miracles. Welcome to the show, Wanda. Thank you so much, Linda. You are having a really difficult time in your prayer life. You were having a hard time hearing God, and you knew that you had to make a change. Can you tell us what happened? It was a very difficult time in my life.

[00:00:48] And I had been going to church and in a Bible study, but I would say I was one of those people that did not practice it on a daily basis. It was more like a weekend [00:01:00] thing that you go and then you're done. And so I very much compartmentalized that from my. Rest of my life. And at this point in time in my life, there were a lot of things going wrong.

[00:01:11] I found myself in a parking garage in my car, and I was just at a desperate place. I had been talking to God, and I had not been getting any answers. And what I had determined was, he's talking, but I can't hear it. And so that's what I told him. I said, I know, in fact, I was probably using a rather loud voice at this point due to frustration and all the things that were just wrong.

[00:01:41] And I said, I know you're talking, but I can't hear you. I know the reason I can't hear you because my relationship is not what it needs to be with you. I'm not praying enough. For me to be able to hear you when you talk back and in that desperation, I said, you know what, can you just send me [00:02:00] somebody who has that relationship, who can give me wisdom and guidance.

[00:02:05] And I want it to be from you, but I'm going to need somebody to help me. And so that day went on, went home, had dinner, did the regular thing, went to bed. The next morning. When I got up, and this was a time in our lives where we had home phones and we had answering machines, and so the little light would blink when you have a message, and I looked over there and thought, Oh, I've got a message, and I'm going to go see who that is, and it was a Bible study teacher that I had in the past, had not heard from her probably in over a year and she called and said, I'm just checking in on you.

[00:02:45] I just felt like I needed to reach out to you and I'm just calling to check to see how you are. And the best I could tell when I calculated that she had left that message because answering machines say the date and the [00:03:00] time that the message was left, it was about 10 minutes within the time that I said that greater.

[00:03:06] And that got my attention in a big way. Okay. And it was like profound. I was like, Oh my gosh, prayer does work and you do get answers. It was like he was saying, I am listening. So I realized at that point that things needed to change about the way I had been praying and that I needed to be more serious about it.

[00:03:29] I would pray generically. That's what I did. And I think that a lot of us get caught in that because we're too busy, we're too stressed, we're too distracted, all those things. And so my generic prayers were the same every day, take care of my family, provide them protection and good health, and about two minutes and you're done.

[00:03:49] And I realized that just wasn't exactly what he was looking for from me, and that it needed to be something better than that. [00:04:00] And so that started a process. And I'll say that season of my life, it's not like he just answered the prayer and that everything went away and it was great. That season of my life probably lasted six or seven years.

[00:04:15] I think you said it in one of your articles, Linda, that it's like the hurricane season, but Hurricanes come and go pretty quick. This season lasted a long time and it was almost like being in the middle of a very long panic attack that just kept getting worse. And so I did pray a lot during that time, but it wasn't quite what it needed to be because it was really more about what I needed.

[00:04:43] Help me with this, help me with that. I need this, I need that. And I eventually got through that season. But I still needed more and I needed to perfect what I had started. And so that just was a journey for me to [00:05:00] get through that, honestly. And that led to a lot more things in my life that helped me with my whole relationship.

[00:05:09] I couldn't get there in the prayer life because I didn't have the relationship either. And so you can't just do one without the other. So how did your prayer life change from that day to now? I think what happened is I decided that I couldn't rely, I couldn't rely on just my mind anymore to just off the top of my head.

[00:05:32] Because in the mornings I was too tired and at night I had so many distractions. And I thought, you need to just start writing things down. So I started with writing my prayers, and that was better, because then I could go back and actually date when they were answered, which was impactful to me, because I guess I still like to see proof that there are results, [00:06:00] and it helped me with that.

[00:06:02] And then I went a step further and decided You know what, I think I need like a tip sheet because a lot of the times I was flying out the door and you're trying to have a prayer time, but there's just so many things that interrupt you, phone calls you've been waiting for and you have to take, things like that happen, especially in the mornings.

[00:06:24] And I thought if I had something I could take with me, I think I could do better. And so I put together a prayer format and that basically every day. Was going to be different and I would take one family member on every day of the week, a different one because they had different needs. They're not the same person.

[00:06:45] They have different things that they struggle with. And so I wanted it to be specific. And I also wanted to pray for things that were bigger than just my family. I thought, what about the town I live in, the community, my country, my [00:07:00] neighbors, my friends, and so I divided all those things up onto different days as well.

[00:07:06] Then I thought, what about you personally? You need to be praying for some things for yourself. And so I added, On there, something for myself every day. It might be more compassion or it might be to be able to see people as God sees them instead of how I see them. I came back to it again and said, I need to thank him every day for things.

[00:07:27] And so I added on there different things that I would thank him for each and every day, something different, like your five senses, just the ability to see and smell and taste and I had a friend that lost some of her senses, and I thought, you know what, I can see that's important. And I found things that I wanted to include every day, and I put those on there too.

[00:07:50] And throughout that, it just evolved into a tip sheet for me that I could put in a plastic cover and take [00:08:00] with me, and I have one in my briefcase, and I have one in my purse, and I have one here at the house, if I'm able to be here, and you can just pull it out. If you get interrupted, it's okay because you can come back and you know where you left off.

[00:08:13] Or if you have to do it as you're doing something else, you can do that too. If I'm driving to work, you can just have it on the seat beside you. Every time you're stopping at a stop sign, you can glance down, okay, yeah, that's next. And it just works. And I think for a lot of people, it's not that they don't want to pray or that they don't believe in it.

[00:08:37] I think they just can't quite figure out how to fit it. into their life. And it does take some planning. You have to sit down at first and think about it all and put it together. That's how it has evolved. And what I say on my podcast is, when you stop praying generically, and you start praying specifically, [00:09:00] It changes everything.

[00:09:01] Is that what you mean when you say that your prayer life is now a trail of miracles? I feel like that there are a lot of things that were going on in my life in a positive way that I was not recognizing. And I think that when you start writing your prayers down and then you go back and read them, you go, Oh yeah, I forgot about that.

[00:09:28] I forgot that I asked for that. Oh yeah, that, that got answered. And I forgot, so I think it just makes it more obvious and no, they weren't all miraculous like curing of a disease or something, but they were meaningful enough that I prayed for them and then they were answered. In other words, you think there is a correlation between praying specifically and getting specific answers.

[00:09:54] That's exactly what I mean. Yes. If you're always praying generically, [00:10:00] you're not able. To tell when things are answered as much. So I feel like that the specific prayers, they just help me to be more focused and observant of what's going on and I do think that my relationship, of course, has improved dramatically since that time.

[00:10:22] And it's hard to hear God's direction if you don't have that relationship. So it helps in that way too. So relationship is key, you're saying. And so how can people have a deeper relationship with the Lord? It's not like it's a secret and it's not hard. Prayer is one piece of that, reading your Bible is another big piece of that.

[00:10:43] If it was a person, you would have to spend time with them to know them. It's the same thing with God. You have to spend some time with God if you want a relationship. I know that there are people viewing right now who are saying, I want a relationship with God like that. How can I get started? Can you just pray with them right now [00:11:00] to help them get pointed in the right direction?

[00:11:03] Absolutely. Dear God, I just pray for these people that are listening today that desire a relationship with you. I pray that they would be able to hear your voice and feel your presence with them and to know that you desire that too and that you would love for them to take time just to spend with you and help them along the way.

[00:11:28] Help them to find some kind of guidance there that they need. them with encouragement, help them with just their schedules so that they are free enough that they can spend and carve out time to be with you every day. And then help them to feel that joy that you get when that relationship starts to grow.

[00:11:47] And that reward would help them to continue on just growing closer and closer to you each and every day. We love you for the fact that you are a God that wants to have a relationship with us. [00:12:00] And we pray that. In Jesus name. Amen. And i'm going to add a little prayer to that dear lord There are people who are saying yes, I do want a closer relationship with you And I do want to know how to better talk to you So lord, I just ask that you would guide them and whether it's creating a list writing up their prayers reading the word We ask that you guide them into the best way for them to not only pray, to hear your voice and to see your answers.

[00:12:32] Because answered prayer, Lord, let's face it, those are your miracles, your gifts to us. And I just pray miracles over everyone as they go deeper into their prayer life with you. What else do you have to encourage our listeners today? I guess what I would say is most of us, you go through life, you're going to hit some bumps.

[00:12:54] And unlike me, it would be wise for people to go ahead [00:13:00] and prepare now. Go ahead and have a relationship. Go ahead and learn how to pray. Don't wait until you're in the midst of some desperate spot in your life. So that you are. prepared and ready. If you know a storm was coming, you would go and do things to prepare for that.

[00:13:20] Life is like that. There are some storms out there that we all run into. And what social issue was important to you that you might want to pray for on certain days. And it will just be a guide so that you aren't missing things that you really care about and that need to be prayed for. Thank you so much for being a part of our show today.

[00:13:44] Thank you, Linda. I really did appreciate the time, and I hope that someone who's listening Needed to hear this. I know that it was an encouragement. Thank you. If you enjoyed Wanda and our broadcast today Would you like share subscribe [00:14:00] comment? We'd love to hear from you and we have a blessing for you is a blessing You can play pray and print just go to my prayer gift. com to get your copy And remember God loves you and he wants you to talk to him. See you next time