I saw my grandmother and my own parents pray their children and grandchildren into God's kingdom, over a period of many years. They never gave up, and neither will I. They lived to see all of these relatives come to the Lord. And so will I.
Once, several years ago, a church was having a one-day seminar to introduce transcendental meditation (under a different name) to it's members. I talked to the pastor about it, and gave him information which showed that this was a New Age religious method which would put people in contact with 'another Jesus' and the demonic world. I asked him not to do it. A week or so before the seminar, he emailed me an article about the benefits of this 'prayer' and encouraged me to come and become involved. I replied that I was well familiar with it and could not approve of it or attend, but I told him what I would do instead was to spend the entire six hours alone in prayer for him and for the church. Which I did. A few days after the event, I received a cassette tape of his introduction to the 'prayer method' at the seminar, but significantly it did not include the actual session. The introduction, I noted, was full of disclaimers of how this was not New Age. Of course it was. I'll never know the results of my prayers that day, but I am certain there were results. It's not necessary for me to know the details. That's the Lord's business.
How often do I spend six hours in prayer? Not often - but when necessary. I will never be satisfied with my prayer life. Prayer is one of the most difficult parts in the lives of most Christians. We shoot up a prayer here and there and go on our merry ways. The first thing we need to do is set aside a particular time every single day, a definite commitment to spend that time with the Lord. This is very difficult at first. That's why it's called a discipline. :-)
I started by spending an allotted time for Bible study, followed by prayer time. The prayer time was the most difficult. After a while, I decided not to try to do what I thought everyone else did during prayer time. We imagine that every other Christian is a prayer warrior and spends hours in wonderful fellowship every day. But the truth is that since prayer is a conversation between two individuals it is a very personal thing. My own prayer time is not exactly the same every day. There are days when it's very routine and rather unsatisfactory to me, but I know the Lord hears and honors the commitment. There are other amazing days when I'm on my face before the Lord in wonderful blessing and exchange, and I can hardly believe the time spent. That's what all personal relationships are like. They're never predictable.
James 1:6-7 says, "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering." Otherwise, "let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord." The key to power in prayer is faith. And even faith is a gift from God. Do we have power? James 5:16 says that "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." The key to powerful prayer is obedience. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." (Psalm 66:18.) The reason there is so little power in our prayers is that we are walking in disobedience rather than in the light of God's Word. To receive the light of God's Word requires actually reading it!
When we get all of this untangled, understood, and we walk in obedience - then, we will see power as an expected result of our prayers. Our relationship and conversation with the Father will grow and mature over time if we discipline ourselves to it in the beginning, always remembering that Jesus himself is our intercessor, as is the Holy Spirit - right there to speak the words we sometimes find impossible to formulate.
Here is the thing of which we may not be aware. Satanists have prayer warriors. They target and infiltrate churches. They are very organized. And very committed. It's a priority with them. That's how they've de-fanged the church in the U.S. and transformed our culture in the wrong direction. This is war - is our side as dedicated as theirs?
Our citizenship is in heaven, and even though we're physically here on earth at the moment, we have real access to the heavenlies. Think about it. It's thrilling ... and powerful ... if we make it our priority.
Royal Heir
Posts
