Prevailing Prayer

 

Prevailing Prayer

Prayer is a big subject and there are many various ways to pray. Today we are going to examine simple Prayer, which is like talking to God.

Most of you are too young to remember being taught a prayer at school, but in my day, we learned a short prayer to say before we drank our milk and ate our cookie. “God is great, God is good, and we thank Him for this food.” It is good to pray and thank God for your food, before you eat your meal.

It matters not if we are at school, or in the work place, because doing this is a silent testimony to others who are watching you.

When you were a small child you may have learned this prayer; “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep; if Jesus comes before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. amen”

As we grow older, the only other prayer that many of our citizens know is the Lord's prayer, where we honor our Father God, we realize that his will has pre-eminence over our will; we ask Him for provision, care and protection, to forgive our sins as we forgive others, to keep us from yielding to temptation, and again we show reverence by acknowledging that His kingdom is for ever and ever and his will must also be on earth as it is in heaven.

The next prayer is very important, in fact it is a matter of life and death. Let me ask this first, “If you were to die tonight do you know without a shadow of a doubt where you would go? Heaven or Hell? It is always good to have a back up plan, so there is a variety of prayers some short some long, but they are referred to as “The Sinner’s Prayer”

Some of you are thinking, “I am not a sinner.” Well let me ask you, have you ever told a lie? Even one lie? Then you are a sinner.

If you have never invited Jesus to come into your life and change you into another person, this is the time to do so. Are you ready? Repeat this with me and mean it with all your might, strength and your spirit.

“Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins. I believe You rose from the dead. I turn away from the sins of my past, and I invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow You as my Lord and Savior all the days of my life. Amen”

The Bible tells us that if you say with your mouth, “I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he died on a cross, and that He rose from the dead;” you will be saved and when it is your time to leave this earth, you will go to heaven.

Now how many believed and prayed this prayer and invited Jesus into your heart? So then where is Jesus now? The answer is simple, by His Holy Spirit, Jesus now lives in you as a believer.

You now have power with God and man that you never before knew existed. Not your own power but power and authority through Jesus who IS the power to deliver, and heal and take care of you.

You can pray and expect answers from God.

James chapter 5 tells us that the prophet Elijah was a man just like us. He had emotions, he was discouraged at times, he grew tired, but he also knew God had his back. He prayed and told the rain not to rain and the rain stopped. At the end of 3 years and 6 months, Elijah prayed again, this time earnestly; but at first nothing happened, so he kept praying seven times until a small cloud appeared. Elijah knew that small things were as good as getting it done, so he proclaimed to the king; “You had better run for shelter, because the rain is coming.” Elijah prayed and believed and God heard and answered his prayer.

I have good news for you, because as believers, you have authority given to you by Jesus, to ask and expect to receive. You have prayed the prayer of Salvation, and are now a child of God and you have rights and privileges in the Kingdom of God. You were once a sinner, but now according to the Bible, you have been clothed with the righteousness of God, so now, because of Christ Jesus, you can enter boldly into God's very throne room and request from God that your petitions receive answers.

The Bible tells us in James chapter 5 that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous person avails much.

Of yourselves you are not righteous, but because you asked Jesus to live in you, you now have His righteousness and can stand before God clean and holy because of Jesus. You have the right to do what we are about to do. We are going to pray for one another as James tells us to do in Chapter 5.

Jesus told us in Matthew 18:18 to bind the negative and to loose the positive. Over some now listening to me today - there are spirits of heaviness, spirits of restlessness and unrest, spirits of fear and anxiety and depression; so we take authority over these unwanted spirits and tell them to leave in Jesus Name, then we must replace those unwanted spirits with an opposite spirit, so we request that a spirit of joy come, a spirit of rest to come, a spirit of peace and comfort to come and to stay.

Lift your hands to heaven as an action of submission to God, Now pray for your brothers and sisters that what ever is troubling them in their lives will be put to nothing and that it must go, and that peace and rest will come instead and that joy and contentment shall reign in their hearts. It doesn't need to be a long prayer, because God answers prayer short or long. Okay, now pray for one your neighbors, your loved ones and for your self as well. Determine to change your thinking according to the scriptures that tell us to think on good things, to bless others, and to not waver but to stand strong.

Pause - - Now if you were hurting anywhere, check yourself out and see if you are better or healed. How is your mind doing? Are you calmer? As you go about your day, keep in faith and believe for a great and blessed day.

When we pray, we just have a conversation with God, We thank him first for all he has done for us, and know that we can openly and unashamed tell him what is on our heart and He will listen. Then God desires that we open our spiritual ears, and listen - - because he will speak back to us in that still small voice inside of us. By His Holy Spirit, He will help us make quality decisions and to make necessary adjustments that will be for our good.

Understand that a conversation is not you doing all the talking. Stopping and being quiet and listening will reveal truth to you. We must always remember to be grateful and thank God for his goodness and his mercy to us. A thankful heart will have favor with God and He delights in our happiness and in our success in life.

What should we pray for? Pray that your faith fail not when negative thoughts hit your mind. Understand that condemnation and weird thoughts come from our enemy the devil and you must realize they are not your thoughts. You can change the channel and begin to praise God and on purpose count your blessings and think on good things.

We should pray for the Lost, because it is not God's will that anyone be lost, because He sent His only begotten son, Jesus to die on the cross, but because God gave us a free will, we each must chose to follow Jesus. So we pray that laborers will be sent to take the gospel to the lost, and that they will have tender hearts, hearing ears, and seeing eyes of the spirit to understand and invite Jesus into their lives.

We should pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, because the Bible says those who pray this way will in turn be blessed.

John reminds us in his book First John to pray that we may prosper in our pocket book, and to be in health as much as our spirit prospers. 

There are times we pray in groups and agree together for certain things to come to pass. One shall chase a thousand but two shall chase ten thousand. There is power in prayers of agreement. Pray loud enough so those agreeing with you can hear what you pray and consequently agree with you.

Many times we need to pray violently. “The violent take the answer by force;” as this is a war against powers and principalities who seek your harm.

God answers prayers of desperation. These types of prayers are often loud, with shouting, sobbing, and crying out. When we are so burdened that words allude us, we may groan, moan, or pray allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us, often in other tongues as we intercede.

There are times you will sing a prayer, this is usually a praise to God coming from your spirit and often in words you do not know or understand.

Paul and Silas prayed and sang while they were in jail, and God shook the prison and unlocked the chains and the doors. Praise will often set you free if you are in a bad mood or depressed. You may think you don't feel like singing or praying, but do it anyway and expect bondage to be loosed and freedom and light to come and illuminate the dark places.

You can prophesy as you pray; What I mean is to pray the answer that you believe God is bringing about. Thank God that prison doors are opening, Thank Him that sickness must go, that deliverance is happening and that God is changing the situation for good. Pray the solution not the problem.

When you pray, “See the Answer.” Use your imagination to visualize God performing healing and deliverance, opening doors for you. If you are praying for an individual, see their face as you pray and ask God to bless them, heal them and show them His love.

Many of the Psalms are prayers that prophesy how Great God is and How He desires to deliver.

Yes, You can use the scriptures as you pray.

Jesus prayed that we be one, that we be united in purpose and willing to follow Godly leaders by submitting to authority in church, in government and even at work and at school.

There are prayers of surrender: Jesus prayed that God would find another way to save the world from their sins, but in his heart, He knew he was the one sent to be the answer, so His final prayer was one of submission and surrender to God's will and not his own.

We must always realize that at times we are selfish and want to control God, but that is not possible, so we must be willing to accept God's will over our circumstances. We come humbly before God asking in faith.

Jesus emphasized the importance of being willing to forgive others, and declared that our forgiving heart will grant us answers to our prayers. Many prayers are hindered because we hold grudges and unforgiveness in our hearts.

Jesus told us in Matthew 25:25-26 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.  But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Notice this verse in Matthew says when you stand praying. Posture is not really important. Kneel if you can, sit, stand, lay on your face; God is looking at your heart not your mode or style of honoring Him.

I peter 3:7 tells husbands: Be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

James chapter 5 tells us to anoint with oil and lay hands on the sick as we pray for them. James also tells us to repent of any sins in our lives before we request a healing prayer.

A good time to pray is early in the morning. Set your alarm to get up an hour earlier than usual and spend that hour reading from your Bible and talking to God and listening. While a devotional book is helpful, do not use it alone, but open a good study Bible and search the scriptures.

Our prayers will prevail because God has chosen you and anointed you to go forth in His name.

We are all in this together, and we are just plain simple persons, each of us are peculiar at times, but we are willing to accept one other as brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God.

Now I want you all to envision with me a theater and we are all seated waiting for the curtain to go up.

We don't know what is on the other side of the curtain, but we are excited and are anticipating a great performance. The star of the show is a man named Jesus, but He follows the script and only says what his Father, the author tells him.

The co-star with Jesus, is the Holy Spirit and there is a host of other players called angels who carry out the commands of the leading person, Jesus.

How are we going to get that curtain to open?

Some curtains, have ropes and pulley's but many are operated by a remote control that sends a signal to open the mystic curtain and begin the program that is all lined out in advance, by the writer of the plan.

Each individual is ready knowing what is their part in the performance. It matters not that some have a small place, or that others will work behind the scenes, understand that ALL are important to this event.

This particular curtain has a name and it is called “Prayer.” It is voice activated, and nothing will happen until we begin to say with our mouth.

The Bible outlines that we begin to move the curtain by giving Praise to God. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Hallowed be your name.

As the curtain goes up, the plans that God has for you can now begin to unfold.

The next prayer you pray will be one that will give you power to live a life pleasing to the Father.

“Thank you Lord Jesus for my salvation and now I ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to receive His Gifts.”

You may wonder what are the Gifts of the Holy Spirit? Some theologians argue that the gifts are not relevant in today's world. But let me assure you that the Gifts are more needed today than ever before.

The first gift is praying in other tongues in languages known and unknown to mankind. This gift while downplayed by some, is very important, especially when you haven't your own words to pray. Simply it is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through you according to God's will.

The other gifts are equally important; prophesy, healing, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discerning of spirits both bad and good, including visions and interpretation of tongues.

Paul says all of these gifts operate by LOVE and unless love works in you, they become worthless.

Paul also said to covet earnestly the gifts, but especially to prophesy.

However Paul went on to say that he prayed in tongues more than you all.

Why did Paul say he prayed in other tongues so much? The reason was that this was his conduit into heaven. Praying in tongues was his power source to work with the Holy Spirit to perform miracles and bring deliverance.

Praying in other tongues would open certain curtains of opportunities, anointing and revelations that are not found in prayer books.

Praying in the Holy Spirit brings power to your ministry whether it is preaching, teaching, sharing, or simply living and being a good example to others. You do know that you each and every one of you have a ministry?

In general there are many kinds of prayers, we have named some already.

There is fasting and praying for our spiritual enrichment and enlargement will draw us closer to God.

As you progress in God, and learn to hear His voice, there will be times you will not pray but will merely SAY and speak out what God is doing.

In Mark 11:23 Jesus told us to speak to our mountain of adversity and tell it to be removed.

I am reminded when we lived in Oklahoma and there was a tornado warning. You could hear it coming like a freight train. We were urged to go to the nearest shelter. My husband said, “Get ready, we are leaving.” So we did, but first I opened the back door and shouted: “Tornado hear me, You shall not come neigh my dwelling.” Then in wisdom we went to the shelter. An amazing thing happened to the tornado that was heading straight for the city of Broken Arrow - - as it got real close, it lifted and went over the city off into a desert place and collapsed into nothing.

If we could only see behind the curtain of the supernatural, we would be amazed and energized at all that is ready for us. We are to give the signal with our voice of prayer and praise and the curtain that is before you and me will open. Exciting things are already happening and you may join with other Christians to be a participator in all that God is doing here in our city and also in this world. Today is a new day, and as you leave this place you will discover curtains opening for you as you voice your requests to God.

Allow me to pray over you this day - - -

Prayer: Father God, I thank you that you have touched hearts today, and that each of us will be energized and renewed in you. Thank you Lord Jesus that the curtain of the supernatural is before us and we are willing as your people to see our personal curtain open into the things of God now - in front of us as we pray like you have shown us. Go before each individual today and grant them seeing eyes and hearing ears and a heart of understanding to realize there is so much more you have for them and that you are merely waiting for each of us to pray that curtain open and begin to follow the script that you have prepared for us as a corporate body and as individuals.

May rest, peace, joy and thankfulness be renewed in each person reading today and grant them a blessed day as we trust in you. We ask this in the precious name of Jesus, amen.