Prayer and the Word

Friday 29 September
READ: Matt. 4:4-10   
MORE LESSON:  Heb. 1:1-3

The Word of God is the shell in which prayer is incubated and hatched. It helps to make our prayers acceptable to God. It shows us the requirements for answer, gives the appropriate words and compels God to act because He cannot break His Word. In Matt. 22:29 Jesus told the Jews, ...Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. The Word of God keeps us from error and opens our eyes to what God can do. God will never do what His Word forbids, no matter who prays it or how much fasting goes with it; neither will He refuse to perform His Word whatever the situation, ...for I will hasten my word to perform it: Jer. 1:12.

At Gethsemane Jesus asked that the cup be taken away from Him and got no answer. However, the moment He added, ‘not my will but thine be done,’ an angel came to strengthen Him because that was God's will;  And we have seen and do testify that  the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world: I Jn. 4:14.

Make the Word of God the bullet of your prayer gun, and there is no rock you cannot blast into pieces. Without the Word, prayer is mere noise, an empty toy gun without bullet, which can only scare an ignorant enemy. The moment the enemy discovers that your gun has no bullet he will deal a decisive blow on you even with your empty gun in place. The more of God's Word you know, the more live ammunition you have and you can dare the devil to any extent. God's Word applied in the place of prayer will quicken Heaven to answer and compel hell to submit; For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven: Psa. 119:89.

Each time I see people use the Psalms of David, I feel challenged that someone's personal prayer of over 4,000 years is still relevant today. Beloved how many of our prayers today can be used for others today not to talk of years or generations to come. The secret of such use is the inspiration and the biblical backing of the words in David's prayers. Heaven cannot reject such prayers nor will it ever become irrelevant. 

Prayer/Action
* Ask God for grace to saturate your life with His Word, in order to enjoy the blessings of prayer.
* Ask God to hasten His words to perform as you present them to Him in prayers.
*Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the Word you need to back up your prayers.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Father, for every reason I have cried this year, there shall be a sound of celebration and rejoicing, I shall be the celebrant of the year, in the name of Jesus.

Key to Self Discipline in Prayer

Wednesday 27 September
READ: 1 Kings 18: 41-46 
MORE LESSON:  Psa. 28: 1-2

Having earlier emphasized the importance of discipline in handling the flesh, there is need to still look at certain features of the life and teachings of Jesus. This will enable us to learn from the things that helped Him to keep a disciplined life of prayer.

First you need to train your mind to think about pure things by setting your mind on God and His Word. You must deal with the hindering spirits and make conscious effort to bring your mind back when it is distracted by the enemy at the place of prayer.

Also, always exercise spiritual authority over territorial spirits ruling your location of prayer. Go ahead and pull down all satanic strongholds and cast down his imagination before you fully engage in prayer. Every territory has a prince controlling it and no such spirits will want you disrupt their territory with your prayer. That is why you need to bind and incapacitate them before you fully go into prayer.

Discipline and wisdom will help you to avoid foods that make you too heavy to pray, especially when you are going for meetings like night vigil or your own private hour of prayer. You must also mind the hour or time and location you choose for prayer. Jesus' hours of prayer are very instructive - either very early or late in the night and most times in lonely places (Mk. 1:35). I also guess that before the Gethsemane prayer He ate only the communion and with the burden in Him, He was fit for rigorous prayer.

Finally, be flexible in the posture of prayer - kneel, lie, stand. bend, roll or pace around, so long as you keep awake. Note that the Bible doesn't specify any posture in prayer, so you can use any posture that helps you to be alert and sensitive when praying. I guess that the need to be alert and sensitive must be part of Elijah's reasons for the posture he took in the prayer at Mount Carmel.

Maybe he also  didn't want to look at the sky until the miracle has happened in the sky. But then it was a lot of discipline to have chosen a mount to pray after a rigorous all day encounter and contest with the prophets of Baal (1 kings 18: 26-29). And getting to the mountain he chose to put his head in between his knees for only God knows how long. This is instructive for young people who cannot stand to pray or sing for few minutes in church.  

Prayer/Action
*Ask God for help to be disciplined in maintaining a consistent and vibrant prayer life.
*Pray against every distraction you face in your place of prayer.
*Ask God for grace not to be judgmental but to also bless in the place of prayer .

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Thank You Jesus, You are working all things out and well, no more delay, no more “No” for answer, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Missiles against Prayer

Tuesday 26 September
READ: Matt. 4:1-11 
MORE LESSON:  I Cor. 2:11; Eph. 6:10-18.

Satan specializes in attacking good things. So the moment you decide to start an effective prayer life, expect satanic missiles aimed at making you to give up. In the temptation story the devil waited until the forty days and forty nights of fasting were over, and then he came against Jesus. Sure, the delay was a strategic decision.

The devil will not sit back and watch a believer or a church use prayer to destroy his work. He will go to any length to distract, discourage or stop a praying man. We must be conversant with his many wiles which include: making prayer time difficult, causing loneliness and total separation from God, which can be very overwhelming. He can bring memory of past sins to cause tiredness even after a lot of rest. Dryness, blockage or heaviness of the spirit, visitors or deep sleep are other wiles of the devil against prayer.

To conquer all these, you must learn to pray out loud. The Bible says that if you open your mouth wide, God will fill it. As for visitors at the time of prayer, just excuse yourself courteously, or take permission from them to observe your prayer hour. Smith Wigglesworth, the great apostle of faith, took a decision to pray every half an hour. Just then he had to travel and for over an hour he could not pray. Suddenly he remembered and began to shout at the driver to stop the car. Hurriedly the young man stopped, fearing something was wrong but only for Wigglesworth to announce, ‘But we have not prayed in the last one hour’. Of course he was right! 

When we forget to pray, something has gone wrong; so wrong that anything evil can happen. But while men slept, his enemy  came and sowed tares among the  wheat, and went his way: Matt. 13:25. Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Prov.6:8-9.

This generation must awake out of spiritual slumber; this is the call of heaven right now. There is too much slumber in this generation and until we awake to prayer, Satan will take advantage of us. Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy  city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean:  Isa. 52:1

Prayer/Action
* Destroy every weapon of Satan fashioned against your prayer life.
*Pray that each time you go to God in prayer you will stand in the righteousness of Jesus and no condemnation of the devil will weigh you down.
*Ask that there will be no distraction in your place and hour of prayer.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Streams, streams in my desert today, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Desire and Prayer

Monday 25 September
READ: Mk. 11:20:26 
MORE LESSON:  Prov. 10:24; Lk. 22:15

Another vital thing Jesus taught us about prayer is to have a desire; Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray...: v24. Desire is an essential ingredient  for answer to prayer; but beyond that, desire is also the need to pray. Desire, not just prayer, is essential for any achiever in any area of life. David said; One thing have I desired of the  LORD, that will I seek after; that I  may dwell in the house of the LORD  all the days of my life...: Psa. 27:4. He also said, As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God: Psa. 42:1.

Strong desire was one of the secrets of David's encounters with God. Without desire, hardly can a man encounter God. So to become prayerful like Jesus, the first step is to desire the Spirit and the life of prayer. Desire is a strong craving or longing for something. It is an unquenchable thirst and hunger, and God normally satisfies such a longing soul. Today, God  is raising great endtime prayer warriors like Jesus. You must desire to be enlisted, then you can move from desire to asking and from asking to believing; ...What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them:
Mk. 11:24.

Do you therefore desire anointing for prayer like Jesus? Ask for it in prayer. Go beyond the desire; ask, believe and God will enlist you. When the disciples were challenged by Jesus' prayer life, they asked Him to teach them to pray and He obliged. At the initial stage they were weak in prayer but eventually after Jesus’ ascension to Heaven, they did not only pray; they prayed continuously; But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word: Acts 6:4. And they prayed until the earth shock;  And when they had prayed, the  place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness: Acts 4:31.

God has already made a promise to whosoever is thirsty;
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye  to the waters, and he that hath no  money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea,  come, buy wine and milk without money and without price: Isa. 55:1. God is faithful to all who thirst!

Prayer/Action
* Ask God to create a desire in your heart for the establishment of His purpose here on earth.
* Ask God to take away the craving for the things of the flesh that weaken your desires for prayer.
*Pray that  your expectation shall not be dashed.

TODAY’S PROPHETIC PRAYER
Like Haman, he who plots my death shall take my place in the grave this month, in the name of Jesus.