COME, LET US PRAY
Introduction
I welcome you to Fireinthebone in Jesus name
Prayer is an important key in the Kingdom of God. According to John 14:14 says "If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it". This is an open cheque from the Lord you cannot ignore.
But, prayer is more than a grocery list of what we want the Lord to do for us. Prayer should be seen first as communication with the Almighty God. It is the priviledge of believers, which solidifies the relationship we have with the Almighty God.
There is no relationship without communication, and your life as a born-again Christian begins to have meaning when you pray to God daily and hear His voice often. What kind of relationship will you have with someone you talk with once a week? How would you describe your relationship with someone whom you do not talk with for months, can he/she be your friend?
But, when you go to God daily in praises, worship and prayer, you know that your relationship with the Lord is vibrant. If you make it a habit to pray daily and share your life with God, your challenges, pain, and troubles as well as what you need for the time, He will answer your prayers. When you pray to Him daily, He knows your plans and needs, as a son or daughter.
Go to God in Prayer Daily
Every child of God knows that God delights in giving us what we ask from Him. So, if we make it a duty to confess His love and goodness in our lives, praise and worship Him and commit our life and activities into His hands, He will answer our prayers and meet our needs.
It may not be easy at the beginning, but if we recognize the importance of prayer and start for some minutes every day, confessing our faith and belief in God, His power and ability to meet our needs, it will be well with us. We appreciate His goodness when life is beautiful, and when it is tough.
We give Him thanks for the job we have, the husband and wife, children, godly friends and destiny helpers He sent our way to assist us. We confess our belief in His word and His promises. That the Lord is a great and mighty God, the creator, author and finisher of our faith, a wonderful God worthy of all worship. Tell the Lord why you will serve Him all the days of your life.
But, prayer is more than a grocery list of what we want the Lord to do for us. Prayer should be seen first as communication with the Almighty God. It is the priviledge of believers, which solidifies the relationship we have with the Almighty God.
There is no relationship without communication, and your life as a born-again Christian begins to have meaning when you pray to God daily and hear His voice often. What kind of relationship will you have with someone you talk with once a week? How would you describe your relationship with someone whom you do not talk with for months, can he/she be your friend?
But, when you go to God daily in praises, worship and prayer, you know that your relationship with the Lord is vibrant. If you make it a habit to pray daily and share your life with God, your challenges, pain, and troubles as well as what you need for the time, He will answer your prayers. When you pray to Him daily, He knows your plans and needs, as a son or daughter.
Go to God in Prayer Daily
Every child of God knows that God delights in giving us what we ask from Him. So, if we make it a duty to confess His love and goodness in our lives, praise and worship Him and commit our life and activities into His hands, He will answer our prayers and meet our needs.
It may not be easy at the beginning, but if we recognize the importance of prayer and start for some minutes every day, confessing our faith and belief in God, His power and ability to meet our needs, it will be well with us. We appreciate His goodness when life is beautiful, and when it is tough.
We give Him thanks for the job we have, the husband and wife, children, godly friends and destiny helpers He sent our way to assist us. We confess our belief in His word and His promises. That the Lord is a great and mighty God, the creator, author and finisher of our faith, a wonderful God worthy of all worship. Tell the Lord why you will serve Him all the days of your life.
If you will give thanks and praises to God daily, closed doors will be forced open for you. His presence with go with you and spiritual and physical roadblocks will give way to your victory. Pray always in the Holy Ghost.
Prayer Burden: Intercessors know that when you sense a burden to pray about something, it is an indication that there may be a danger, the enemy is planning an attack. If you pray when you feel the burden to pray, you are praying according to God's will.
Prayer Burden: Intercessors know that when you sense a burden to pray about something, it is an indication that there may be a danger, the enemy is planning an attack. If you pray when you feel the burden to pray, you are praying according to God's will.
Importance of Prayer
1. Prayer is very important if we want to see the glory of God. If we want to see the move of God in our situation, we must take the matter to God and ask for His intervention. Children of God must pray and invite God into their matter before the Almighty God will rise up for them.
2. This is a spiritual principle every believer should understand because it is a reality that people that pray always receive divine attention. Prayer is communicating with the Almighty God, and the more you are communicating to God, telling Him your problems and challenges, the more your name and matter is being registered in the book of remembrance.
3. The more you call upon the Lord in faith, the more you understand His will for your life and the more attention you will receive from the Lord.
4. Prayer releases the provisions, which the Lord has ordained for you, which is being hindered by the agents of Satan or your own sin. Sometimes last year, I was discussing with the wife of one of our Deacons and she told me she has only one child.
The moment she said only one boy, my eyes opened in the spirit to see her with more children. Then I told her she could have more children if she wanted. God ordained more children for her, but she has only one, and she is getting close to her menopause. Prayer will destroy hindrances like that.
5. Prayer is the best offensive weapon against our enemy. The devil can do everything we do in the church, except to pray, because there is no one to pray to. Prayer is a great priviledge in the hands of believers. Through prayer, we bring God into our situation and our story changes.
If the battle is a serious one, we ask the Lord to bind the devil on our behalf. We can bind the demons, but we cannot bind Satan, only the Lord can rebuke and bind Satan. If you discover that it is the devil himself that comes to confront you, you should pray the prayer of Angel Michael: "The Lord rebuke you Satan in Jesus name" and he will leave.
6. By prayer, we destroy the works of darkness affecting us, we are able to reverse evil decrees standing against us. Through prayer, we decree what we want and it is established for us. We are also able to create the future we desire by faith and the word of our mouth.
7. We can call forth things that be not as though they exist if you have faith in God and we have acquainted ourselves with the Word of God and know the will of God concerning the matter. Then, we can decree a thing and it is established for us and the light of the Lord shines on our path. This means that we will see the glory of the Lord.
Factors that make prayer Effective:
Holiness:
There is the key to abundant Christian life called holiness. If you live holy, all doors will look in your direction and open. Many people think they can get rich through fraudulent means. Yes, but it won't be for long. When you remove God from your income permutation, you are only procuring curses for yourself. When you are rich without Christ, you will not be innocent. Any blessing without God is a curse.
Holiness will help you obtain wealth that will endure. When your money is from genuine sources, legitimate businesses, it will endure for generations after you. A holy person fears the Lord, does not lie or cheat people. A holy brother or sister cannot engage in Amy business that is illegal like smuggling, Prostitution, defrauding people and kidnapping. In Deuteronomy 23:18, God forbids any prostitute from bringing an offering or tithe into the church of God. It is an abomination.
Consecration:
Consecration can open doors unto you. In James4:8, the bible says "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. This scripture means that we should cleanse of every filthiness of the spirit and flesh, embrace purity and walk with the Lord. It is an open invitation that will cost you something to explore. But you are sure of the tremendous power of the Lord.
Consecration is for people that love the Lord. If you love the Lord, you will sacrifice worldly pleasure, entertainment and glory for the service. You will forsake your position and titles, and as Apostle Paul said in Phil 3:7-11, you will have to sacrifice all your past gains and achievements in order to know Jesus. And guess what? God used Paul to do special miracles - Acts 19:11-12.
Obedience:
Obedience helps our prayers to be effective because God loves obedience. God loves His children who receive instructions from Him and obey such instructions. He loves those who believe His written word and obey them. Obedient children enjoy better things from their parents, and if you cannot obey the Word of God you read, certain doors cannot open u not you.
The whole scripture is one, and you cannot choose the Word to obey and the one to ignore. Isaiah 1:19 says that only those who are willing and obedient that will enjoy the fruit of the land. Let us observe to obey God's word and instructions as we receive them
Your Faith:
Faith will affect the effectiveness of your prayer as God will not answer prayer made without faith. In fact, Hebrew 11:6 made it clear that without faith no one can please God. Everyone that comes to God must believe that God is who He said He is, the Almighty God.
Faith is believing that even before you start praying, you have thanked God for answering your prayer. You have to believe He has answered you already, thank Him for it and you will receive. This means that your prayer is IN HIS WILL FOR YOUR LIFE. Whenever your prayer request is in the will of God for you, the answer is instant.
Your Service:
God did not call anyone to serve Him in vain. In Exodus 23:25, the scriptures promise divine protection and abundance to all that will serve the Lord. It says: "And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil". - Ex 23:25-26
Enemies of Prayer
There are enemies of prayer.
Some of them include:
1. Asking amiss
2. Praying to change God's plans
3. Praying to make God act contrary to Himself
4. Unforgiveness - As far as you have unforgiveness, your prayers will not be answered
5. Praying to avoid chastisement/discipline you deserve
6. Praying when you do not want to do what the word of God is saying
7. Praying selfish personal motives
8. Praying when God's words is not in you
9. Praying without works. You don't want to do anything. You just want to pray
10. Praying when you have no faith
11. When you are a doubter - doubt is an enemy of prayer
12. Praying without confessing your known sins.
13. Praying contrary to God's will.
Conclusion
Prayer is the greatest privilege for believers and there is nothing that prayer cannot determine. God renews our strength through prayer. Through prayer, we defeat our enemies. So, it will be a tragedy for a Christian not to know how to pray effectively.
Prayer is one of the most powerful exercises on earth. There is no power that the devil dreads other than prayer. Prayer is not easy work. The devil makes it a point of duty to seek to hinder believers from praying.
Whenever the devil wants to shake any man, he starts by hindering the person from praying, and the moment the devil can hinder us from praying, he can deal with the person. May this never be our portion.
FIRE...
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