Daniel 6:10
Daniel certainly believed prayer was important. A royal decree had been issued that for thirty days anyone asking a petition of any god or man other than the king would be cast into a den of lions.
Daniel prayed the same as always. He apparently knew that God’s protection was more important than man’s threats.
The Apostles prayed:
But we will continue to devote ourselves steadfastly to prayer and the ministry of the Word.
Acts 6:4
The Apostles had become so busy with food distribution and other such mundane details that their administrative responsibilities were interrupting their prayer and study time. They selected seven men to help with these practical duties so they could continue to devote themselves to prayer and the Word of God.
Sometimes we have to change things in our lives to make plenty of room for prayer. We have to eliminate other things that are less fruitful. You and I will not succeed at anything unless we pray.
“I’m too busy” is the biggest and yet the lamest excuse we offer. We set our schedules (our priorities), and if we have any time left over after we have done everything else, then we pray. What we do with our time tells us what is important to us. If we don’t pray, one of the reasons is because we don’t see the value in it that we should.
History gives us records of many others since the Bible was written who have recognized both the value and the necessity of prayer.
Martin Luther reportedly said, “I have so much business I cannot get it done without spending three hours a day in prayer.”
We might wonder how we could possibly devote three hours a day to prayer with all the other things we have to do, but Martin Luther realized that his attitude needed to be the exact opposite.
I am not suggesting that everyone must pray three hours a day. The point is that even very busy people with very important things to do have made ample time for prayer.
John Wesley reportedly said, “God does nothing except in answer to prayer.”
In the Christian life, prayer is not optional. If we want to get anything accomplished in life, we must pray.
Moses prayed and changed God’s mind.
PRAYER CHANGES THINGS AND PEOPLE__________________
And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people;
Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and that I may destroy them; but I will make of you a great nation.
But Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why does Your wrath blaze hot against Your people, whom You have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
Why should the Egyptians say, For evil He brought them forth, to slay them in the mountains and consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and change Your mind concerning this evil against Your people. [Earnestly] remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.
Then the Lord turned from the evil which He had thought to do to His people.
Exodus 32:9-14
There are several other examples similar to this one in the Bible, situations that depict how sincere prayer can change God’s mind.
There are times when I can sense that God is getting weary of putting up with someone who is not obeying Him, and I will find myself being led to pray for God to be merciful to that person and to give that individual another chance. I am sure others prayed that for me at times when I needed it.
As Jesus told His disciples at Gethsemane, we should “watch and pray.” (Matthew 26:41 KJV.) We need to pray for one another, not judge and criticize each other. There is a time when we don’t need to pray anymore for people or situations; we need to leave them in God’s hands. There are times when people will be better off in the long run if God does deal severely with them now. We need to be Spirit-led in our praying, but we must pray.
If we watch people, we can see when they need encouragement, when they are depressed, fearful, insecure or experiencing any number of other obvious problems. God’s allowing us to discern their need is our opportunity to be part of the answer. We can pray and take whatever action the Lord may lead us to take. We should set ourselves to be part of the answer to people’s problems, not part of the problem. Talking to others about what is wrong with people we know does not meet their need. Instead, we should pray!
I recently saw two women coming out of a doughnut shop, and both of them were about 100 to 150 pounds overweight. They were each carrying an entire box of doughnuts, and I could sense they had a serious problem with their emotions and were eating to comfort themselves. I simply prayed, “God, help those two women lose weight, and help them know that You are the answer to their problem. Send the perfect laborer into their lives, someone who can speak a word in season to them, amen.”
I don’t think people are ever offended because we pray for them. There have been times in my life when I needed to lose weight, and I hoped someone was praying for me. I would much rather have people’s prayers than their judgment.
Too often we see situations like this and think, “What a shame — the last thing they need is a doughnut,” or we go tell someone else what we have seen, but we fail to do the one thing that can make a difference. We can pray!
However, we won’t pray about these kinds of situations if we have a wrong attitude concerning prayer. If we think we must be in a certain place, in a certain posture, in a certain “spiritual” frame of mind, Satan will rob us of our prayer, and much of God’s work will not get done.
Sometimes as Christians we over-spiritualize things to the point that we cannot do them, let alone enjoy them. I believe if people understood the simplicity of prayer they would pray more because they would be able to enjoy it and not feel they were always working at it.
For years I tried to change my husband, my children and myself, until God finally convicted me that I was working, not praying. He showed me that I needed to do the praying and let Him do the working.
I suggest you do the same thing.
Who do you have on your potter’s wheel? If you think of anyone, do yourself and them a favor and let them off.
We are not the potter, God is, and we certainly don’t know how to “fix” people. We can sometimes see what we feel is a problem in a person’s life, but we don’t know how to fix it because we don’t know what broke it in the first place.
Let us take the two ladies at the doughnut shop as an example. I could see the problem — they were extremely overweight. But I did not know why they were overweight. Perhaps they were undisciplined, but I did not sense that was the case. Perhaps they had both been physically, mentally or sexually abused. Perhaps they had endured a lifetime of rejection and emotional pain. They may have been filled with shame and actually started eating as a personal comfort and then fell into a trap from which they could not escape.
When we try to fix people, we often hurt them worse because we assume a lot of things that may or may not be true about them. People who are hurting don’t need someone with a spirit of pride trying to fix them, they need acceptance, love and prayer.
In my own pride I tried to fix my family, and the result was I actually drove them away. Finally, I realized I wasn’t getting what I wanted because I was not praying and trusting God to fix them in His own timing and way. The amazing thing is that now either God fixed them or He fixed me, because I like them the way they are. Either way, without my even knowing when or how, He took care of the problem.
Pray! Pray! Pray! It is the only way to get things accomplished in God’s economy. God has His guidelines and “you have not because you ask not” (James 4:2 KJV, author’s paraphrase) is one of them. If we do things His way, we always get good results. If we do things our way, we always end up miserable with no re
sults.
POWER AND AUTHORITY THROUGH PRAYER__________________
And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek,Petros— a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek,petra— a huge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it].
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16:18,19
Since we are not only physical creatures but spiritual beings as well, we are able to stand in the physical realm and affect the spiritual realm. This is a very definite privilege and advantage.
For example, if I have a grandchild who is experiencing difficulties in school, I can go into the spiritual realm through prayer and bring about action that will cause change in that situation. God is a Spirit… (John 4:24), and every answer we need to every situation is with Him.
When I say we can “go into the spiritual realm,” I am not trying to sound spooky or even overly spiritual. Each of us who prays sincerely goes into the spiritual realm through our prayers. We are here on earth in body, but in spirit we go to the place where God is and there make a request of Him in faith.
In Matthew 16:19, Jesus told Peter that He would give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Keys unlock doors, and I believe those keys (at least in part) can represent various types of prayer. In His conversation with Peter, Jesus went on to teach him about the power of binding and loosing, which operates on the same spiritual principle.
Jesus was also speaking to Peter about the power of faith in verse 18, and we know that one way faith is released is through prayer. The power of binding and loosing is also exercised in prayer.
In Jesus’ name we can bind (hinder) the devil, and in His name we can loose angels by requesting that they be dispatched from heaven to provide protection for ourselves or for others. (Matthew 26:53; Hebrews 1:7,14.)
When you and I pray about deliverance from some bondage in our lives or in the life of another, we are in effect, binding that problem and loosing an answer. The act of prayer binds evil and looses good.
In Matthew 18 we see Jesus dealing again with this issue of binding and loosing, only this time He is adding instructions about praying in agreement and emphasizing how much power that type of prayer carries.
PRAYING DOWN GOD’S WILL__________________
Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven.
Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever [anything and everything] they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven.
Matthew 18:18,19
I would call your attention to the fact The Amplified Bible makes it clear that our authority is to bring what God wills to earth, not to bring our own will to pass. Prayers that are outside of the will of God will not be answered except with a no!
As believers, we have spiritual authority and should exercise it. One of the ways we do that is in prayer. God desires to use His surrendered servants to pray His will down from heaven to earth, as we are taught by Jesus to pray: …Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10 KJV).
What an awesome privilege. Not only can our prayers affect our own destiny, but we ourselves can be used by God to help others succeed at being themselves and thereby experience the fullness of all He has planned for them in life.
SEVEN TYPES OF PRAYER TO PRAY WITH EASE__________________
Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of ] prayer and entreaty….
Ephesians 6:18
Now I would like to discuss the seven types of prayer we see in the Word of God. We should be exercising on a regular basis all the various types of prayer. They are simple, can be prayed anywhere at anytime and are most effective when prayed from a believing heart.
THE PRAYER OF AGREEMENT
First, let me say that I believe this prayer can only be prayed by two or more people who are committed to living in agreement. This prayer is not for people who generally live in strife and then decide they need to agree for some type of miracle because they are desperate. God honors the prayers of those who pay the price to live in unity.
Because our prayer power multiplies when we are in agreement with those around us (1 Peter 3:7), we need to be in agreement all the time, not just when we face a crisis situation. There will be times in our life when what we are up against is something that is bigger than we are by ourselves. At such times, we will be wise to pray together with someone who is in agreement with us in that situation. Let me give you an example.
Dave and I often pray in agreement while driving down the highway. We are trying to break ourselves of the bad habit of “talking about praying later” and to develop a new habit of “praying right away.” When possible, we hold hands as we pray in agreement. I don’t think there is anything “magic” about holding hands in prayer — but in our case touching each other seems to indicate that we are indeed in agreement, not only about a certain issue, but in general.
If you feel you have nobody in your life with whom you can agree in prayer, don’t despair. You and the Holy Spirit can agree. He is here on the earth, with you and in you as a child of God.
Many people will never succeed at being themselves simply because they cannot even get into agreement with God.
I recall a woman who now works for me once saying that she could not believe it when God initially began placing it in her heart that she was going to work on my staff full time. This woman had been a housewife for thirty-five years and was having a difficult time believing that she could do anything else. Her children were grown, and it was time for her to enter a new season in life. God kept encouraging her to apply for a position in our ministry, and she kept telling Him she was not able, that she did not know how to do any of the things we needed done.
Not only was the Lord encouraging her to apply for a position with us, but He was simultaneously placing it in her heart to go to Bible college at her home church for a year before coming to work for us. She was absolutely certain in her “flesh” that she could do neither of these, but she finally fell to her knees and said: “Holy Spirit, I agree with You. If You say I can do this thing, then I will believe I can do it.” She did go to Bible college, and she did apply for a position with us. Now she has worked on our staff for approximately fourteen years.
There is power in agreement! Pray the prayer of agreement, especially when you feel the need for a little extra prayer power!
THE PRAYER OF PETITION
This prayer is by far the most often used, but perhaps it should not be, as you may agree later. When we petition God, we ask for something for ourselves. When we pray for others, we are interceding (we will discuss that type of prayer later). Most of us, sorry to say, are overly interested in ourselves. For that reason, we frequently exercise our right to petition God. It is, of course, not wrong to ask God to do things for us, but our petitions should be well balanced with praise and thanksgiving (also to be discussed later).
It is important to petition God about our future — to pray and ask Him for His help in allowing us to succeed at being ourselves. Our success won’t come through personal struggle or vain effort. It will only come as a result of God’s grace.
You and I must add our effort to His grace, but effort without grace is useless. Grace comes as a result of asking for it. Asking is praying the prayer of petition. Once again this type of prayer can be prayed with ease.
Each day as I sit down to write and work on my sermons or books, I ask God to help me. I do it briefly
with no special posture or eloquent words, but I know I am calling forth the power of God to help me be all I can be that particular day.
You and I can be bold in petitioning God for any type of need in our lives. We are not restricted to a certain number of requests per day. We can feel at ease talking to God about anything that concerns us, and petitioning for our own needs and desires is one of the types of prayer we are told to pray.
THE PRAYER OF PRAISE AND THE PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Praise is a narration or a tale in which we recount the good things about an individual, in this case, God. We should praise the Lord continually. By continually, I mean all throughout the day. We should praise Him for His mighty works, the things He has created and even the things He is yet to do in each of our lives.
We should also thank Him always, in good times and especially in difficult ones. When prayers of petition outweigh prayers of praise and thanksgiving in our prayer life, I believe it says something about our character.
Greedy people ask, ask, ask and rarely ever appreciate what they have already received. I do not believe that God will release us into the fullness of all that He has planned for us until we become thankful for what we have already been given.
Consider these Scriptures and walk in obedience to them:
Speak out to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, offering praise with voices [and instruments] and making melody with all your heart to the Lord, At all times and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.