Be Specific When You Ask
Gideon said to God, Don't let your anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once: Please let me make a trial just this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew. God did so that night: for it was dry on the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground. — Judges 6:39-40
For most assuredly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and doesn't doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says. — Mark 11:23
Author
E. M. Bounds
Summary: Faith and prayer must be clear, definite, and specific. It is not enough to believe abstractly that God can and desires to act on our behalf; we must present precise requests and expect to receive what we ask for. When faith and the request are well defined, the answer is likewise definite: what has been spoken will be done. This assurance has no limit in either quality or quantity. By choosing specifically what we ask for, we place an unequivocal request before God, and Christ answers the prayer of faith exactly and completely, according to the terms in which we present it.
Faith must be definite, specific; it must contain within itself an unequivocal and precise request for the things for which we pray. We must have much more than an abstract belief in God’s ability and willingness to act on our behalf. Our requests must be specific and definite, expecting to receive the things for which we ask.
Whenever faith and the request are definite, the answer will also be definite: “what he says will be done for him.” The guarantee is unlimited, both in quality and in quantity.
Faith and prayer select the things that are to be asked for, thereby determining what God is to do. Christ will meet, exactly and completely, every demand of the prayer of faith. If we present the request before God in a clear, specific, and definite manner, God will fulfill it exactly according to the terms presented.
Source: The Necessity of Prayer