HOW TO PREVAIL IN PRAYER
(First part)
Memory verse: (James 5:16) “ Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much ”
How to prevail in prayer means ‘the way we pray to see great results’. So many people pray daily but not many get answers. The scripture above said that the prayer that avails much is the prayer that is fervent. Prayer is more than verbalizing empty words in a vacuum. Prayer is more than a mental activity; it’s more of a spiritual activity. People have had so many exhortations about the need to pray but still nothing much has been done to raise the church to its prayer position. These guides are not to serve to make you a professor of prayer, because the problem today is not that people don’t teach about prayer but that people are not praying. What God needs today is to see the church pray.
I don’t presume to be teaching you to pray, for the true prayer-teacher is the Holy Spirit (Rom8:26). But am just trying to remind ourselves that let’s get praying now. The best time to start praying is now. You’ll never start until you start. The best way to start praying is just to start. Just get started. There’s no better way to start than just starting now. How we pray determines the results we get. Two men went to pray, one a Pharisee another a sinner, the both prayed but the sinner was answered and the Pharisee not. The Philistines attacked Israel and Saul decided to go and pray to get answer from God but God never answered him (I Sam28:3-25). Abel gave a sacrifice to God and God answered him by sending fire to consume his sacrifice but Cain gave his sacrifice and God sent no fire. Men like Elijah made simple prayers that brought fire from Heaven. Israel spent many days praying but without answers from God, they thought you only need to open up your mouth and God answers, but it was not so. Until God told them, his mouth is not dumb that he can’t answer them, or his ear heavy that he can’t hear when they prayed. In fact in (Is 59:1-2) Children of Israel began to go beyond praying. They prayed and there was no answer, they decided to pray and fast. But no answer came. They began to complain to God why they could afflict themselves with fasting and God refused to listen to them. God‘s answer to them is a great lesson to people who would engage in the vocation of prayer (Is58:1-12)
How are we praying? Let us get some clues that will help become effective in our prayer business.
Tomorrow we will see: ‘ Praying fervently ’
(Second part)
Memory verse: (Romans12:11) " not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord "
Prayer is more of a heart-activity than a mental art. The heart of a praying man or women is supposed to be fervent. Jeremiah said of an experience that he was undergoing. God’s word in his heart was like fire shut up in his bones (Jer20:9). In other words, he was burning. He was being consumed and he could not withstand the fire of God’s word. The scripture says of John the Baptist, that he was a burning and a shining light (Jn5:31-35). John the Baptist taught and said that Jesus would baptize us with the Holy Spirit and fire. And the bible talk about our God as a consuming fire and that God is living inside of our lives (Heb12:29). We are temples that are housing the consuming fire. When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit your life is set on the fire of God. You can’t be filled with the Holy Spirit and remain cold. The fire of God brings spiritual activation in our lives. We are to be burning and shining lights of this world and then burn for God.
Another former revivalist said he gets up every morning and spend time with God and in evenings multitudes come to watch him burning. A fervent heart is a mighty weapon of prayer. A Fervent heart prays without ceasing. A heart on fire enjoys prayer. Like attracts like, a fervent heart releases the fire of God. Men with fervent will pray until the answer comes. Only fervency will cause men to endure with burdens of prayer until they prevail. A fervent heart will give you breakthrough in prayer. People fervent in heart are not limited by time in prayer but by the burden. The fire will keep burning until the burden is lifted. Men of fervent heart don’t watch the clock while praying they only pray until their heart feels peace about the requests they are praying for. Men of fervent hearts are only sensitive to breakthroughs and peace in prayer. Elijah was an example, He prayed and nothing could discourage him until rain came. If your prayers have been weak, it’s because your heart is fireless. Cry out to God to send fire of the Holy Spirit to fill your heart. May the consuming fire fill your entire body until you won’t be able to sleep, or have peace like Jeremiah, so that you can pray fervently. Our generation will not remain the same as men and women on fire begin to pray fervently. Their prayers will affect heaven and shake the gates of hell. Their prayers will open the heavens and release GOD’S POWER UPON THE EARTH.
Tomorrow we will learn about ‘ Only the pure in heart will see God ’
(Third part)
Memory verse: (Matthew5:8) " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God "
The ultimate goal of prayer is to see God. Without seeing God our praying cannot be effective. We need to see God because it’s God who answers prayers. Prayer is a two-way communication between man and God. Daniel said that the people who know their God should be strong (Dan11:32). Our intimacy with God determines the power of our prayers. But to see God, it’s requires that our hearts should pure. Moses on mount Horeb tried to get closer to see the strange sight of the burning bush, it was not a bush but God the consuming fire. When he began taking steps, God called to him and instructed him to remove his shoes because the place he was standing was holy (Ex3:3-5). God spoke to the Israel that He had neither a hearing problem, nor a speaking problem but that it was their sins that had caused God not to answer their prayers. When King Saul began to walk in rebellion against God and other sins, Saul prayed in time of trouble and God never answered him. Sin separates man from God. We need to keep our lives holy if we will see God in our praying.
The scriptures say that the prayer of a sinner is an abomination to God. We need to walk the walk of holiness. It’s the demand of God. He says, be holy because am holy. Holy living makes powerful praying. Someone said a sinning man stops praying and a praying man stops sinning. The instruction has said, the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The praying man or woman should be a righteous one or else heaven will not listen to him and therefore his prayer would be a waste of time and energy. Only clean vessels can be of great use in the kingdom of God. These holy men of bible days prayed and heaven listened to them, angels were summoned to bring answers to them, they got heavenly interventions, they shook the gates of hell, they destroyed idolatry in their times, they were miracles workers. God’s ear was always opened to hear their prayers and his mouth was always open to give them the needed answers. Its time we get our vessels purified and then carry the fire of prayer that will open the heavens and destroy the works of the devil in our generation. Holiness attracts God and sin repels Him. Sinfulness of people cause God’s presence to depart. And when God’s presence is absent prayer dies.
Tomorrow we will learn ‘ The power of spiritual hunger and thirst’
(Fourth part)
Memory verse: (Matthew 5:6) " Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled "
One of the greatest forces in living things God created is hunger and thirst. In the natural, if a person fails to eat and drink, then what follows is death. Therefore there’s no life without hunger and thirst. The same is true in the spirit, without spiritual hunger and thirst there’s no spiritual life. The Lord Jesus taught and said a man or woman in possession of this wonderful commodity is a blessed one among men. He went on to say that such hungry and thirsty men in the spirit should be filled. When you’re empty then you lack hunger and thirst for God and His things.
God created us to be filled with his life, joy, peace, Holy Spirit, power, wisdom, and all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. We’re spiritual vessels to carry spiritual treasures. Today’s greatest crisis in the church is its spiritual poverty. Its time to cry out to God to create in us spiritual hunger and thirst for God. When people are hungry or thirsty, they lose peace and comfort and they can’t rest until they have found what to eat or drink. The whole body system gets upset when one is hungry, and one has to seek what to eat. Even spiritual thirst and hunger is vital key to prayer. When God’s hunger and thirst come, you can’t sleep, there’s a spiritual restlessness, you lose appetite for things, joy for other things disappear until you go to seek God and this feeling can’t go away until the river of God flows into your life. Spiritual hunger and thirst is a spiritual substance that only God can impart in your life. We need to desire it and cry out to God for it earnestly until it fills our hearts. Hunger makes our prayers powerful and effective. David experienced this hunger and thirst and cried out to God: " My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?" (Ps42:2). Hunger and thirst keep us running to God in prayer unceasingly. As longer as the thirst is there, prayer will keep flowing out your heart. The day you lose hunger is the day you stop praying. But again, we don’t need to sit down and tell God: " you see God I don’t have hunger therefore I can’t pray ". Stir up yourself and cry to God to give you thirst from heaven and he’ll do it. Jesus called out on the day of a great feast in Jerusalem, that any one who was thirst should come and drink (Jn7:37-39)
Tomorrow we will see ‘The Holy Spirit Baptism’
(Fifth part)
Memory verse: (Rom 8:26) " Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered "
Prayer is a spiritual activity. Prayer is not a fruit of flesh. Scripture says that what is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. So, prayer is a spiritual product. Zechariah inspired by the Holy Spirit said " it's not by might nor by power but by the Holy Spirit " (Zech 4:6). One of the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to teach us and empower us with heavenly ability to pray. Effective and prevailing prayer is a product of the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer. The Holy Spirit gives us the direction in prayer, He anoints us in prayer, He envisions us in Prayer, He imparts the thirst for God in our spirits, and He gives us the utterance while praying in tongues. He imparts God’s burdens and feelings in our spirits while interceding etc. He’s a true helper in the trade of prayer.
When you are full of the Holy Sprit, prayer becomes the most enjoyable and fulfilling adventure. One of the hardest works to do is to pray in the flesh. Praying in the flesh in true hard labor that can never make a man prosper in spiritual things. When there’s no Holy Spirit in your life, prayer is a mechanical activity. Many people find prayer a hard exercise, boring, this is because they lack the anointing of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Without the Holy Spirit in your life, you don’t have help in prayer and you’re bound to fail. All men and women who were mighty in prayer were people with the touch of the Spirit of God upon their lives. Jesus said to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. When it comes to prayer, the flesh is a weak instrument. Let's depend on the Holy Sprit he will make us men and women mighty in intercession and prayer. In prayer all our battles are won, our heavens are opened, Our destinies are guarantied, our lives are changed, our lives experience breakthroughs, God's power is released upon us, our lives are anointed, we discover our callings and purposes, gates of hell are destroyed etc. A life that has failed at praying has doomed itself to a fruitless and worthless life. We need to cry out to God’s Spirit over and over. We need to be filled daily. We need to allow this river of God’s life to flow endlessly. We need to be mighty when we come in the place of prayer.
Tomorrow we will see ‘ Life with a purpose ’
(Sixth part)
Memory verse: (Rom12:2) " And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God "
The greatest discovery in life is to find out the reason of your creation. There’s no person God ever created without purpose (Eph2:10) You are great because it’s God who made you and made you for a peculiar purpose. It’s you who don’t know it but the God who made you has it. Our great responsibility is to seek God our maker and find out from him the reason he made us. The bible teaches how, by refusing this world to make us anything it desires some people say we’re products of environment but God says: " Don’t allow the things around make you another person other than who I made you to be ".
God says to us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and then we will understand God’s perfect will for our life. You begin to live the day you discover your purpose in life. You become significant when you find out what you’re made for. You know your value when you know what you were made to do. You know your position when you know your purpose. You understand the place of your function when you know what you’re made for. Purpose in life gives you direction, focus, vision and passion in life. Without vision people have no reason for prayer.
Vision is the mother of prayer. Men and women with vision are like pregnant women. When Mary the mother of Jesus met Elizabeth, they both exploded with praise because of what was in their wombs. When spiritual wombs are pregnant with God’s purposes, they won’t need motivators or provokers to birth prayer out of them. Certain things are common to all pregnant women, and so are with purpose driven men and women. They all begin to pray. Purpose produces prayer. Vision catalyses prayer. Vision is a burden that will always disturb you enough to make you pray. If you’ve been a believer for a long time and your prayer life is weak, tell God to impregnate your spiritual womb with a heavenly purpose. What God put in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit is what caused a river of praise out of her lips. The things God makes you to see with your spiritual eyes captivates your heart, they stir you up. When God opened the eyes of Nehemiah to see the state of remnants of Jews in terrible conditions, he could not eat, he could not sleep, his comfort was destroyed, he wept and interceded fervently and he rose up to do something.
Have a purpose finding weekend.
