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Interceding on your behalf to move the hand of God
Interceding on your behalf to move the hand of God
Interceding on your behalf to move the hand of God
Getting Results
I frequently pray for many people and also many situations. I sometimes see the things I had previously prayed for manifest. Prayer works when you are a believer.
Sometimes it's small matters - Myself: I'm an auto painter by trade and a lot of times while painting, I will pray that God would help me paint the car and they would somehow always come out good. I pray, and lost objects would be found. I would pray that my car would start when it shouldn't and it does.
Sometimes it's more serious matters - I would lay hands on people and they would be healed. I would pray for a financial break through, and my bills would somehow get paid. I would pray for certain people to accept Jesus in their lives and see them come to know the Lord for themselves.
Answered prayers have been a regular feature in many people's lives.
I would like to try to unlock some answers to many people's questions about "getting results" from their prayers.
God wants to care for us in many ways. He wants to give us a sense of what to pray for and wants to answer our prayers. Jesus told His disciples, time and time again, that they could ask the Father for things and see them granted because they too were His sons. Jesus sounds almost eager for them to try out their privileges.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. If you have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (John 16:23-24)
ASKING "IN THE NAME OF JESUS"
In all of the new testaments, Jesus never said to pray to Him. He said to pray to the father in his name.
It is quite common for people reading the promise of Jesus- asking "in my name" to conclude every intercessory prayer with the words "in the name of Jesus" looking to this as a magical formula that ensures results. Asking "in the name of Jesus " means asking in accordance with His most profound and deep intentions and purposes. A "name" in scripture denotes an invocation of a person's whole being; not merely the word that will get his attention. Everything Jesus did, everything Jesus is doing now, and everything that He will do in the future... is all in that name. God the Father has highly exalted the name of Jesus as the name above all names because Jesus did His Father's will, and the Father was glorified. God has given us the authority to use that name to gain the same power that Jesus holds. By asking "in the name of Jesus", you are acknowledging Jesus as the son of God who died and rose for everyone's sins. By asking "in the name of Jesus", you are glorifying His son which makes the Father proud and want to answer your prayers so that the Father and the Son will be Glorified when your prayers are answered.. To be able to ask "in the name of Jesus" is to ask out of an abiding union and knowledge of Him and in according with His purposes.
PRAYING WITH FAITH
In many examples of effective intercessory prayer in the Gospels, Jesus commends the people who have asked for something because of their faith.
In Mark 7:24-30, Jesus is approached by a Gentile woman who falls at his feet and begs Him to cast an evil spirit out of her daughter. He replies, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." He said this indicating that it was not time to bring His message to the Gentiles. She persists and answers, "Yes Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Jesus responds to her persistence and humility by freeing her daughter.
In Mark 9:21-29, a father brings his son who is gravely afflicted by an evil spirit to Jesus and ask that Jesus help him, "... if you can." Jesus replies, "If you can?! All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the father of the boy cries out, "I believe, help my unbelief." The boy was freed.The boy's father turns to Jesus with the faith he has, weak and wavering as it is, and that is enough for Jesus to use his powers and free the boy.
In all the incidents, Jesus blesses those who, in their need, turn to Him with their whole hearts, who are not held back by what people think and say, and who are not ashamed to let their need show. Their deepest human emotions are involved- a mother seeking desperately for a cure for her daughter, and a father for his son. We see single-mindedness and determination; we see persistence through resistance.
God answers prayers not by the size of the need or how much we want it to happen. God answers prayers by faith. The faith that you have in Him, in His word, and the belief that what you have prayed for has already come to past as you are praying for it.
ACCORDING TO HIS WILL
Asking out of an abiding union with Him means asking according to His will. Asking for something that is in keeping with the purposes of God.
1 John 5:14-15: And this is the confidence which we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to his will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the request made of Him.
Before we ask for something we ought to consider, before the Lord, whether it is according to His will and purposes or not. The realization that we need to ask with a certain purity of heart, in accordance with Gods will, helps us to understand why so much prayer is not effective. In the book of James, James puts his finger on some of the reasons:
"....You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is to be the enemy of God? Submit yourselves, therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw close to you."
ABIDING IN HIM
Jesus speaks about our union with Him in the Gospel of John Chapter 15 telling us to abide in Him as branches abide in the vine. He then repeats His promise of answered prayers: "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is Glorified; that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples (John 15:7-8). Jesus makes it clear that God is Glorified when men and women prove by the fruitfulness of their lives, that they are truly joined to Jesus. Effectiveness in intercessory prayer is directly related to holiness,
PRAYER WITH FASTING
Prayer with fasting was a regular part of the New Testament Church. Jesus, Himself, recommended it for particularly difficult prayer needs. Fasting is not supposed to be a burden; it is given as an additional means to intensify the turning of our hearts to God and to increase the earnestness of our prayers.
PRAYING SKILLS
God is willing to start with us where we are. Start praying for what seems within reach of your faith and union, even if the things are simple and small. Rather then using a scattergun approach and praying for everything under the sun, pick out a few things to pray for regularly, and expect to see results. Pray for one or two specific needs or people and make this a regular daily practice, looking for the results. Pray for specific things and be persistent. When things don't seem to be working out with your prayers, ask the Lord for understanding. Don't be afraid to make mistakes: expect to. Expect the Holy Spirit to teach you more and more about Prayer. Try to pray in the spirit (tongues) for at least 10 minutes a day, alternating with praying in your own understanding. Pray until God starts to direct your prayers.
PRAYER FOCUS
Global Evangelism, Pastors & Churches, Friends & families,
Education ,Government, Military & Special Forces,
Police & Firefighters, Prisons & rehabilitation Centers, Poor & Homeless,
Hospitals & Mental Institutions,Communications & Media, Business,
Nations & Countries, World Peace, Religious Belief.
Happy Praying,
Praywarrior
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
Hungry for God by: Ralph Martin
