This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you believe that God can grant you what you ask for? How do you communicate with God to make sure your prayer gets heard?
Having trust in God allows you to overcome any obstacle. According to Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking, God will answer your prayer if you ask without doubt and with specificity.
Here’s what pastor Vincent Normal Peale has to say about the power of trusting God.
Norman Vincent Peale: Put Your Trust in God’s Hands
The power of trusting God allows you to achieve tremendous things. You develop trust in God by reading the Bible and memorizing important passages such as the 11th chapter of Mark, which says, “Have faith in God. . .Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” Throwing mountains into the sea represents casting aside your challenges, while not doubting in your heart means truly believing—having no deep, fundamental doubt in your subconscious.
Absorbing such passages can actually change you, developing your faith power, and turning you into someone for whom great things happen.
Specificity is important in faith power; great things don’t happen for some people because they’re not being specific enough. For example, in the passage above, note that it says “anyone says to this mountain—a specific mountain, or challenge to overcome. This means don’t apply your faith power to the whole mountain range—all of your problems—but rather attack the one thing that is holding you back in the moment.
When you want something, first ask yourself if you truly should want it. Be honest. If the answer is still yes, ask God for it with no doubt and with specificity.
Don’t allow doubt to creep in when you’re asking God for something; doubt closes the flow of power, while faith opens it. To boost your faith power, tell yourself every day that God gives you the power to achieve what you want. Never mention or even think about a poor outcome. Rather, repeat many times daily that you expect the best and God can help you get it. This conditions your thoughts toward the best outcomes and will guide the best to you.
God will always answer if you put your trust in Him. To communicate with God, you need to state your problem, then ask for a specific answer. Believe you will get that answer and believe that right now you are gaining the power to deal with your problem.
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Here's what you'll find in our full The Power of Positive Thinking summary :
- That there is no problem or obstacle you can’t overcome with faith, positive thinking, and prayer
- The practical techniques of applied Christianity
- How to take control of the events in your life rather than be directed by them
