There is more to be said about prayer than 1,000 volumes of books could hold. Certainly we cannot cover everything about prayer in this one lesson. However we wish to point out some simple ideas and take some of the complications out of the idea of prayer.
First, if you are reading this lesson you probably have already read studied and practiced the “Flowing River”: If not, please stop here, obtain a copy of it and study it. It is about the prescribed way of coming into the presence of God on your own. It is really the essence of prayer.
I like to define prayer simply as communication, primarily communication with the unseen world.
For this discussion I wish to break prayer down into these categories:
1 Prayer to God on behalf of ourselves.
2 Prayer to God on behalf of others.
3 Prayer on behalf of God.
1. Prayer on behalf of ourselves. Most often people feel that prayer on behalf of themselves is supplication, or asking God to do something for them. I believe this is why people get so worn out praying and why people cannot pray often and for long periods. They feel like God is not giving them what they are asking for so they say, “Why pray more?”
I do feel that we need to let God know what we need; however, He already knows what we need before we ask. So what is the answer? Prayer on behalf of ourselves is primarily an ongoing relationship and conversation with God. It should be a two-way conversation.
If you study the Flowing River, you will notice that it starts with acknowledging what God has done for us. We need to get into right relationship with Him by bringing Him our sins, doubts, fears and everything that does not line up with His character.
We need to be completely honest with Him before we can really make contact. Isaiah 59:1-2 says, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened so that it cannot save, nor is His ear heavy so that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.”
I have noticed in my life that if I can bring Him all of my confusion, doubts, fears, and sins, that they all go on the Cross. I feel so much cleaner, and the communication with Him is open and clear.
The next step is getting into His Word. I would much rather hear from God than speak to Him although there is a time for both. God’s ways are much higher than our ways and we need to hear from Him. He has a plan for our lives.
Prayer should start with God to get His plan, hear His heart and obtain His will through His Word and the Holy Spirit. We cannot even know our sins and faults or what to confess to Him unless we get His mind on the matter first. When we have this assurance then our requests may be modified, changed or dropped.
Actually, the only way that we know for sure that we are praying the perfect will of God is to pray His Word or pray in the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 2:10 indicates that God has a perfect path for our life. We need to take time to find it and walk in it. “For we are God’s own handiwork, His workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand for us, taking paths which He prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them, living the good life which He pre arranged and made ready for us to live” (Ephesians 2:10 Amplified Bible).
I think that God does indeed wants us to tell Him what we need. But I feel that many times He wants to modify what we think we need or want with what He wants for us. When we understand this then we can stand on His Word, His promise, as the seed that will produce what He wants for us. Our requests should turn into thanksgiving, even prior to receiving the physical manifestations.
Prayer on behalf of ourselves should be more than just requesting the things we want or need. Prayer on behalf of ourselves should include praise, worship, adoration and just conversation. God is a Person. He has emotions and intellect. He is not a machine.
As a father myself I can tell you the best times I have had with my children is when they have come to me not asking for anything, but just wanting to fellowship and tell me what’s going on. After this kind of conversation I usually try to find out how I can give them something even if they didn’t ask for it. I think God can be the same way. We need to just fellowship with Him, and spend some time just “hanging around the Throne,” “sitting on His lap” and telling Him how wonderful He is.
The following principle of praying and confessing the Word of God applies not only to prayer on behalf of ourselves but also on behalf of others and of God.
Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 indicate that we need to struggle to enter into the rest of God. Jesus is the High Priest over our confessions. When the Word of God is confessed and prayed over a person or a situation, it is powerful! Jesus created everything by His Word. Jesus IS the Word. Jesus gave us the authority to use the Word as if it were He saying it!
John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.”
When the Passover was administered to Israel in Exodus 12, the Israelites were told to put the blood of an innocent lamb over their doors and the death angel (demon) would “pass over” and not hurt them.
Jesus is the Lamb of God and we can put His blood over our doors and over the doors of our loved ones and those that we pray for. How?
Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul to the death.”
The words of our mouth will apply the blood. Notice in Exodus 12 that as long as the lamb’s blood stayed in the basin, it did no good. But when they took the hyssop, dipped it in the blood and applied to their door, then God and the devil could see it. The hyssop was a common weed, which did not seem to have much value. The words of our mouth do not seem to have much value, but when we dip them into the Word of God (Who is Jesus Himself) and apply them as blood, God sees it and the devil sees it!
Jesus takes our confession and makes it powerful.
Hebrews 3:1 says, “Therefore, holy brothers, called to be partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus…”
When we speak God’s Word Jesus takes it to the Father and asks Him to perform it. John 16:23 says, “And in that day you shall ask Me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, Whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give you.”
Then we can enter into rest and let the Word do the work. Hebrews 4:1 says, “Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it.”
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing apart of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Angels go to work when they hear God’s Word.
Psalms 103:20 says, “Bless the LORD, O angels of His, who excel in strength, who do His command, listening to the voice of His word.”
Demons flee! Psalms 149:5-9 says, “Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to carry out vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, (representing our spiritual enemies) to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with iron-bands, to carry out on them the judgment written; this is an honor for all His saints. Praise the LORD!”
2. Prayer on behalf of others.
First, I do not believe that God expects us to pray for everyone that we know or run across. I feel like as we draw near to Him He will let us know for whom we should pray.
This is often called intercession. One might ask, “If God wants to save others, or bless them in some way why does He need us to pray? What doesn’t He just do it?” Good question! Read Ezekiel 36:37.
Read the following verses and you will see that God was serious when He gave dominion to man to rule the earth.
Genesis 1:27-28 says, “And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens, and all animals that move upon the earth.'”
Psalms 8:3-9 says, “When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have established; what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field; the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, and all that pass through the paths of the seas. O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!”
How was man to rule? By the words of His mouth just like God does. However man was supposed to go to the Tree of Life (The Word of God) to fill his heart with the proper words instead of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil to fill his heart with reason. Actually, the Tree of Knowledge has become ground for Satan and man has filled his heart with Satan’s words, which is the reason this earth is such a mess!
Jesus set this example for us many times in the Gospels. He ruled the sea, the storms, the fish and many other things by His Words. When He did not want to upset the plan of God, like at His trial, He shut His mouth. Had He opened it He could have been set free and not sent to the Cross. He said that He would say nothing unless He heard His Father saying it first (during His prayer times).
A simple thought to hang onto in intercession is this: God is the manufacturer of the blessings, but we are the distributor. If a company makes autos, they usually do not distribute and sell them, but they arrange for a dealer to do so. It is the same with prayer. God is The One who blesses and we distribute the blessings with our mouths, our prayers.
3. Prayer on behalf of God.
We are all to be intercessors. However there are times when God moves on certain people who are called to the ministry of intercession by the Holy Spirit. I read a book by Reese Howell, an Englishman, who during World War 2 turned his Bible school into an intercessory prayer group. They would listen to the radio daily to find out about the battles. God would speak to them on how to pray. They would pray and then find out that the battles turned out as they prayed. This even applied to one of the final battles when the Nazi planes were going to destroy London. England was out of defenses; Churchill was desperate and did not know what to do. Reese Howell’s group discovered the problem and covered it with prayer. All of the sudden the Nazi planes turned around without explanation. This turned the entire War around.
I have had some personal experiences like this. Once I was in my office and this tremendous burden came upon me. I felt like I was going to Hell. Knowing for sure that I was saved, I recognized it as the Spirit of intercession. I prayed in the Holy Spirit with groans that could not be described for hours. I actually suffered and begged God not to let this person go to Hell. I had to go home from work. After many hours the burden lifted. Weeks later I discovered that it was indeed for a person I knew, and they were eventually saved.
There is a story from our church having to do with a 17 year-old girl and her friends who were driving through a bad neighborhood. They stopped to eat, and when they got back into the car it would not start. All of the sudden a gang of boys jumped on the car and tried to break in. At the exact same time the mother of the 17 year old, who was 20 miles away, received the Spirit of intercession and she began to pray. The car finally started and the girls got away. When they reached home the father opened the engine compartment and discovered that the boys had stolen the battery. God started the car through prayer!
[The contents in the brackets are my comments] Luke 11:1-13 says, “And it happened as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples. And He said to them, When you pray [NOT IF YOU PRAY], say: Our Father, who is in Heaven [RECOGNIZING WHO HE IS], hallowed be Your name [SHOWING REVERENCE FOR WHO HE IS]. Your kingdom come, Your will be done [NOT MY KINGDOM OR MY WILL BUT YOURS], as in Heaven, so also on the earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [FORGIVENESS IS BIG]. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
[INTERCESSION] And He said to them, which of you shall have a friend and shall go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him? And he answering from inside may say, 'Do not trouble me. The door is now shut and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise and give to you.' I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will arise and give him as many as he needs.
And I say to you, Ask [ASK GOD] and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find [SEEK THE PROMISE IN THE WORD]. Knock and it shall be opened to you [STAND AGAINST THE DEVIL]. For everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks it shall be opened. For what father of you, if the son asks for bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake for a fish? Or if he shall ask for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” [THE HOLY SPIRIT IS WHAT WE REALLY NEED WHEN WE PRAY].”
Sometimes God will seem like an unjust judge, but he is not.
[The contents in the brackets are my comments] Luke 18:1-17 says, “And He also spoke a parable to them to teach it is always right to pray, and not to faint, saying, A certain judge was in a certain city, not fearing God, nor respecting man. And a widow was in that city. And she came to Him, saying, 'Avenge me of my adversary.' And he would not do so for a time. But afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, that she not wear me down in the end. And the Lord said, 'Hear what the unjust judge says.' [THIS IS ALSO A PICTURE OF UNJUST SATAN WHO WILL FINALLY WEAR OUT WHEN WE PRAY ENOUGH.] And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry day and night to Him, though He has been long-suffering over them? I say to you that He will avenge them speedily. Yet when the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth? [FAITH IS NEEDED IN PRAYER FOR SURE! FAITH ONLY COMES BY HEARING GOD SPEAK (ROMANS 10:17).]
And He spoke this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed within himself in this way: God, I thank You that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And standing afar off, the tax-collector would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but struck on his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner! I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. [KNOWING THAT WE ARE RIGHTEOUS ONLY THROUGH WHAT JESUS DID AND NOT IN WHAT WE DO IS VITAL.]
And they also brought infants to Him, that He might touch them. But when the disciples saw, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them and said, 'Allow the little children to come to Me, and forbid them not. For of such is the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, Whoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no way enter into it.'” [WE MUST TRUST OUR FATHER AS CHILDREN DO.].”
Sometimes we can get so busy that we forget that God has feelings, and just wants to spend time with us. Examine your time schedules; how much time do you spend on TV, with friends or other sports and hobbies? These are all fine, but is God in the background wondering when you will find time for Him?
ISOB Discipleship Training Manual. Larry Chkoreff (WALK) (Prayer)
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