Pastor Blog

What is prayer? James 5:16

April 24, 2015

Prayer is man communing with God and giving Him the legal right and permission to interfere in earth’s affairs. Thru this communion with God, man is essentially giving God access to interfere in earth’s affairs thru man himself who is God’s delegated authority on earth. Prayer is therefore not an option for mankind but a necessity. If we don’t pray, heaven cannot interfere in earth’s affairs. It is imperative that we take responsibility for the earth and determine what happens here by our prayer lives.

Genesis 2:26

Then God said, “Let Us make man in our image, according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” NKJV

Then God said, “Let us make people in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals,and small animals.” NLT

Man’s authority on earth was dictated by his communion with God. When Adam and Eve sinned, they broke that communion. By this act of rebellion, man alienated himself from God’s rule on the earth and Satan effectively became ruler over man.

In spite of man’s rebellion, God still maintained His original purpose for man to rule the earth. FOR GOD CANNOT CHANGE! The Lord has been drawing man to himself in order to restore man’s focus so that He can accomplish His purposes on the earth. However, God is holy and cannot go against His own WORD and interfere in man’s affairs on earth, without man’s invitation. From the beginning, He gave man dominion over the earth; He cannot take it back, so He waits on men to seek Him out and to make their requests known that He might work on their behalf.

This is what prayer is — man giving God access to do the things that need to be done on the earth. This is why man needs to pray — So that God’s will might “be done on earth as it is in heaven”. This is why when we stop praying, we allow God’s purpose for the world to be hindered. If we don’t pray, our world would be influence by Satan and sin.

Keys to Effective Praying

Although God loves mankind so much and is waiting to work on our behalf, because He is holy, He cannot respond to every request. He tells us how we should pray in order for our prayers to be answered.

READ vv. 13-16

First! We must have an intimate relationship with God. We must know God’s purpose and pray according to God’s will. Jesus prayed according to what God had already spoken and promised to do. We are to imitate Christ.

Second! Effective fervent praying does not mean trying to convince God to do our will. It means that we submit our wills to Him that His will might be done thru our will. The key to effective prayer for us as individuals is to understand God’s purpose for our existence. Once we understand our purpose, it becomes the ‘raw material’ and the foundational matter for our prayer life.

Faith is a key element of prayer. Faith is active belief: it is belief combined with expectation and action. God speaks with faith and His words become life. We are created in God’s image and need to operate the same way that He does—thru words of faith.

There are two kinds of faith — negative faith and positive faith and both come by the same means. It comes by what we listen to and believes. The kind of faith needed in the believer’s heart is the faith that comes by listening to God’s Word.

Romans 10:8

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): NKJV

Salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is the message we preach—is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, “The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.” NLT

But what does it say? The Word (God’s message in Christ) is near you, on your lips and in your heart; that is, the Word—the message, the basis and object – of faith, which we preach. AMP

Answered Prayer

The only way to ensure that our prayers are answered is to stay fully connected to God. When we spend time before God in prayer, God gives us His thoughts so we know what He is thinking and wants done. When we pray like this, our prayers must be answered. That is why one of the important principles in praying is to spend time in quietness before God before we begin to make any requests.

I John 5:19-20 NLT

We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the power and control of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we are in God because we are in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.

This is the pattern: Matthew 7:7

  1. READ GOD’S WORD
  2. SPEND TIME WITH HIM TO KNOW HIS HEART
    [What He wants to accomplish in you, thru you & around you]
  3. PRAY THAT HE WILL BRING IT TO PASS

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