On Praying Through...

By Marjorie Kinnee
Editorial

Text: Matthew 25:1-13 ~ Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
Key Verse: "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke 21:36)

The old-timers called it "praying through" and frequently mentioned it in victorious testimonies. Because I was a rather obstreperous child, my mother would say, "It's time you prayed through, Marjie Jean! You're so much easier to deal with when you've just prayed through." Bro. C.C. Kirby, my pastor for the first 16 years of my life, frequently said we should all be, "Prayed up... packed up... and ready to go up."

Praying through is an accurate description of its definition. As the old-timers used it - it meant that one had prayed until they felt they had overcome something and then given a release in their Spirit. Hence - "Praying Through!" It might have taken minutes or hours, but it was earnest, sincere, serious praying.

There is another realm beside the flesh and blood world in which we currently live and move around. This "world" is more real than the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the chair we sit on. It's not spooky, nor is it science fiction; it's the Spirit world in which God Himself and His heavenly host of ministering spirits (angels) dwell. It's not a restricted world, oh no! It's unfettered by time and space, and it's focus is on the redeemed and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. All angels serve as ministering spirits.

This spirit world is also inhabited by God's arch-enemy, Lucifer, who was called the son of the morning. (See Isaiah 14:12-16; Ezekiel 28:12-19; Luke 10:18; and Jude 6.) Lucifer, now know as Satan, rebelled against God and drew one-third of the holy angels under his sway. These, though evil and unrepentant, continue to minister; but now for evil and to thwart God's desire that all should come to repentance.

The Bible reveals that these ministering spirits (angels, both good and evil,) take an active interest in humankind. Both are transfixed by, and intrigued about our salvation.

• They desire to look into our salvation - I Peter 1:12
• They are "watchers" - Daniel 4:17; I Corinthians 11:10
• They herald tidings - Daniel 9:21-22; 10:12-13; Luke 1:26; Matthew 1:20; and Luke 2:9-10 (See I Kings 22:14-23, 28 also.) 
• They intervene - Genesis 18:2-22; 19:1-20; and Hebrews 13:2

Key in all this is our response. Drawing from the inference in I Corinthians 11:10 - "because of the angels," (See also Ecclesiastes 5:6.) we can see that angels"watch" for signs every human displays - by their responses to life, to events, and especially to the preached Word. A rebellious heart is revealed by acts and words of disobedience, even small ones! Our rebellions stir up angelic activity - the good, to rescue if possible without violating our will; the evil, to foster further signs of open rebellion.

Our flesh is one-third of our three-fold enemy. John told us we should, "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world," which are - "the lust of the eyes" [world], "the lust of the flesh," [flesh] and, "the pride of life" [the devil], (See I John 2:15-17.) Paul said we must fight it, subdue it,and make it obey the Spirit that dwells in us. He referred to it as "spiritual warfare" and likened it to soldiering. He said, "Put on the whole armor of God." This armor is needful when fighting off our enemies. Finally, Paul also said that this spiritual battle is daily. It must be fought at a moment's notice. We must be alert, prepared, and ready to fight - not against persons or even personalities. We fight against spiritual wickedness as it attacks us! We do not fight alone, but we must do our part.

Praying through speaks of the ability to press past the opposition (the world, the flesh, and the devil,) and into the freedom of victory, a.k.a. overcoming! Praying through is first and foremost... Praying! Jesus said, "Men ought always to pray." and, "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation." He led by example in that He consistently prayed and taught His disciples to pray. In Acts 2, those disciples became empowered apostles. They were men of prayer; they also gave themselves to studying the Word. If prayer is our friend and helper, then the Word of God is our arsenal. Jesus overcame the enemy with the words, "It is written." So, hiding the Word of God in our heart becomes our weapon; and "praying through" presses past the enemy's onslaught.

If the five foolish virgins had been "praying through" - "prayed up, and packed up," they would have been "ready to go up." The wise had prayed through; they were ready when the midnight cry came, needing only to trim the wick and light the fire in their lamps. When one prays through they refresh their Holy Ghost experience. They speak in tongues, they light the fire, stir up the coals, and put fresh fuel on them. Note that when the apostles prayed through they were all filled with the Holy Ghost again! (See Acts 4:31.)

Praying through strengthens and helps you win in your battle against the enemy of your soul. It parallels the birthing process in that it includes travail and bearing down. It's a desperate struggle to bring forth new life, (death hovers nearby,) yet, when the battle is over and that new life is now visible and tangible, the celebration begins.

Praying through is wisdom. Keeping prayed through is essential - something no one else can do for you. You must do it for yourself. You can "intercede" for others, but your "praying through" cannot do their part, nor can they do your part. We need the refreshing winds of the Holy Spirit to fill us and fuel us in our quest for the victory known only to those who overcome. It's a daily thing! Staying prayed through will help you be ready for and aware of the midnight cry, "Behold, He cometh! Go ye out to meet Him!" Just before He ascended, Jesus said, "Go, and tarry in Jerusalem [wait in prayer] until ye be endued with power from on high." (Acts 1:4-5)

Pray Through!

Any Time, Any Where, Any Place...

By Joyce Stclair

Not long ago, I was so impressed as an eye witness to God's love for just one of His own, that I decided to share the experience...

One day, I got a pop-up memory of someone I love very much, but have not seen or talked to in over thirty years. I spent the next two days trying to brush off the feeling, but it just intensified. Why did she come to my mind so strong when I had not thought of her in so many years? I made a call and learned she was in the hospital and was not expected to live. In that moment I knew the two days I had ignored God's quiet voice could have cost me more than I was able to bear. God in His master plan had given notice to one child of another's need.

My husband agreed to give me a ride the next morning to the hospital. I got up with both sadness and joy that I might see what I believe to be one of the most important people of my lifetime. My husband was ready and still waiting on me to get dressed. Next, a second strange thing took place. I stood in that closet so long that my husband grew impatient with me. (In a typical day, it's usually the other way around.) He stood in the doorway and asked, "What is the problem? Do you realize you have been in here for more than a half hour? You may not get here on time, it's more than an hour's ride to the hospital."

With every word he spoke a tear would fall. I knew he was right, but every single dress hanging in that closet just would not do. I cannot even explain why. My fingers thumbed back and forth through every piece, each time stopping on a red dress with no sleeves. I would say, "That's crazy - you can't wear that - it's the middle of the winter and 20 degrees outside." Why would fifteen other dresses not work? I'd never had a problem picking a dress off the rack before.

With frustration, I told the Lord my husband was getting angry and I'm wasting precious time - help me, Lord. I turned again toward the rack and let the Lord answer my problem, thumbing one more time across the rack. Guess what dress I stopped on? You guessed it - the red dress! I never would have worn it of my own will. I was going to freeze because it was the Lord's will, if I heard Him correctly. Once again, if I would have listened to His still, small voice the first time I stopped on the red dress, I would have been out of the closet and would have arrived at the hospital thirty minutes sooner. Seeing my husband's impatience, I found the longest furry coat that wrapped all the way around in an attempt to stay warm, and we left.

The family was present and had been there for three or four days. We had never met before, so we spoke for a moment about who I was, and how I knew their mother. They had only known of my name because their mother had frequently mentioned a child that she loved and continued to pray for. Glad to finally put a face to a name, she said, "Mother always called you by my name." (We share the same name.) "Yesterday, Mother said she did not want anyone to cry at her funeral and she wanted everyone to wear red.

I thought my spirit would jump right out of me. I sprang up from my chair and flung my coat open to reveal my red dress. My husband stood over in the corner with his mouth open in silence, knowing what we both went through to get me in it. Her family was speechless. They said, "There is no way you could have known because Grandma just said it yesterday." But God heard it. In granting her wish, He set before the unbelieving present, His love for His own.

Her daughter told me her mother had stopped speaking just the day before and had not been responding to anything today. She said they felt she was waiting for something, but they didn't know what. I asked if she wanted us to find her brother, but knew that was not what it was. So I spoke up and said, "She is waiting for me." I hadn't thought of that until right then. She wanted to see me one more time to assure herself that the child she never let go of was now safe in God's hands.

For much of the time we've been apart, I was a backslider. Two years before this, I gave my life back to God. Her daughter, Joyce, and the family left the room to give her mother and I some alone time.

She looked so small and weak. Her face was raised to the heavens with her eyes closed. I laid my face close against hers and whispered in her ear that I had arrived as God told her, and "Thank you for your love and prayers that spanned fifty years. They've brought me back to the Lord. You are leaving me in His arms and I will see you again soon."

I felt a need to know that she knew I was there. When I stopped speaking, I felt her whole body react. It's hard to explain how she responded in words. It was as if she suddenly took a deep breath with excitement. She did not open her eyes, but I know she knew I was there. I said then, "You can go home now." That moment brought a peace that helped carry me through the sorrow of our loss.

This wonderful lady was my Sunday School teacher for all of my very young years in church. I can still hear her tell my favorite story of Zaccheus in the tree as if it were yesterday.

God bless the Sunday School teacher who trains up a child in the way of the Lord. Their arms embrace with comfort. Their prayers help keep you from harm. Their love endures for ever and they hand you over into God's arms. Well, that's the way it was with this special teacher. God fulfilled her prayers while she yet lived to know it. It was a close one, but God made it on time, and that is His promise, isn't it?

God bless the prayer warrior who prays for others. Those prayers may be the only thing standing between a soul and damnation. If I were to sum up my relationship with my Sunday School teacher, it would be this: Til death do us part. I was told she died within hours after I left. Her work was done. She fought a good fight, ran a good race, and was now ready to receive her crown of glory.

God made quite an impression on all that were present that day. Listen for the quiet, still, small voice of the Lord who directs all the steps of the righteous man or woman. What a conversation she and I could have had if I had listened sooner.

Author's note: I used no names in this testimony on purpose because God has never been a respecter of persons. We are all merely vessels. We do not draw our wisdom from people, but from the events as they occur; for in them is the power of God.

Persevere!

By Rufus M. Parker

Text: Luke 18:1-8
Key Verse: Luke 18:1 - "And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint."

Do you ever get to a point that you wonder why pray? I'm sure that there are many who do; especially when they feel the wicked are getting the upper hand, or they feel God isn't answering them in a timely manner. What I find is that those who feel this way are usually focusing on themselves and their needs and not the needs of others.

In the Scriptures we find that Jesus prayed for Himself once - and that was in the garden before His crucifixion. He prayed, "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." But He concluded, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt." Jesus had a consistent prayer life, but it was praying for others.

Paul told Timothy to pray for others. (I Timothy 2:5) Jesus said that if we will pray, we too will not quit and lose heart. Here in Luke 18, Jesus impresses upon us two important things about prayer; faith and consistency.

The Berlin Wall came down because people were consistent. When people really want something, if they are consistent long enough, they will get others to hear them. Faith causes us to believe that Jesus will answer. Consistency says, "I won't give up until I am heard." If we are not consistent in our prayer life, we will not maintain the faith we need when Jesus comes.

Sing: "I will not be denied. I will not be denied. Til Jesus comes and makes me whole, I will not be denied."

Editor's Note: Bro. Parker, former missionary to Okinawa, now pastors Calvary Apostolic Church UPC in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He is the author of several books and publishes a daily devotional called, "Morning Manna."

Missed Opportunities...

Editorial
By Marjorie Kinnee

Texts: Jeremiah 8:20 - The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
Hosea 8:7a - For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind."

These are arguably the saddest verses in all Scripture. They speak to the grief of those who have not heard, and to the sorrow of those who have no more hope. There will come a day when mercy's arm will no longer be stretched out. Judgment is certain and unavoidable, but it's not here yet.

There is a charitable organization called the "Forgotten Harvest." It provides food for the hungry. They provide food for the physical man. Jesus focused on the harvest of souls, saying harvest time was not off in some time in the distance, but it was already ripe. His only prayer request was that we pray the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into His fields. He also charged us to "work while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work."

The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, said that judgment upon the wicked is determined, but if the wicked one is warned, and if he repents, the mercy of the Lord is available. Both Old and New Testaments declare that God desires repentance - and that turning away from sin in repentance is the one thing that turns God's wrath against sin into His mercy and grace.

The kingdoms of Israel and Judah had repeatedly turned away from God, choosing their own wicked ways despite the warnings and alarms of many prophets. They would not listen. What's more, they  imprisoned, tortured, and killed those who warned them of God's wrath and their impending judgment. They were so set in their wickedness they sacrificed their own children to gods of wood and stone; gods who could not see, hear, or rescue them from their folly.

So many opportunities... so many chances... to turn away from sin, to turn away God's wrath. And what about those children? Harnessed to the sins of their fathers and mothers, children of a corrupt generation; their innocence and future hopes were forever ruptured by the ever-present evil that colored every facet of their miserable lives. Talk about a forgotten harvest! What a picture!

History really does repeat itself. We live in a generation like that of Israel just prior to its judgment. We also live under the mandate to live as lights in a dark world. Ezekiel's warning is no less clear today. If we refuse to warn, to sound the alarm; their blood will be required at our hands. The only way to turn the wicked and to bring about God's power to save is to warn them. To speak the truth clearly and in love is both our hope and theirs'.

Daniel prayed a prayer of repentance for the entire nation. (See Daniel 9:3-19.) Prayer and fasting according to the instructions in Isaiah 58:4-9, must be married to the promise of the harvest... The law of sowing and reaping remains in full force. This is the fast God has chosen!

1. to loose the bands of wickedness
2. to udo the heavy burdens
3. to let the oppressed go free
4. to break every yoke
5. to deal thy bread to the hungry
6. to bring the poor and them that are cast out to thy house
7. to cover them that are naked
8. to hide not thyself from thine own flesh

"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rearward... And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, abd thy darkness be as the noonday." (Isaiah 58:8,10)  

What Did God Say to You?

By Colleen Clabaugh

I asked this question during a kid's session of the Summons to Sacrifice conference a few weeks ago right after we lead the children in a time of listening for what God wanted us to do. An eight year old answered it. "God said, we are to keep praying!"

As simple as it may seem, this occurred after an extended time of prayer had already taken place. We were beyond the time for our lesson, bathroom break and even snack. Instead of the children choosing those things, they wanted to pray; they were hungry for something deeper. An intense move of God's Spirit moved over the room as children cried, travailed, and interceded for others. Several that night received the Holy Ghost and others felt God shared with them direction in ministry for their life. This intense move of God continued for the next two days.

If we as adults, believe that our children receive the Holy Ghost, we must also believe that the Holy Ghost is just as powerful in their lives as it is in us. We must trust that the children really can hear God speaking to them. We must train them to hear His voice and to answer, just as Eli trained Samuel. We must see them not just as the church of tomorrow, but an active part of the church of today.

   

When we trust a child to experience spiritual things we enable them to actively use the Holy Ghost power God has given them. If we are not enabling them, then we are hindering them, and may very well be hindering the move of God.

Trust them. Train them. Enable them. And watch what God will do.

Editor's Note: Colleen Clabaugh works at the UPCI Headquarters office in Hazelwood, Missouri. This wife and mother is involved with the World Network of Prayer and took part in children's ministry in the recent "Summons to Sacrifice" which incorporates several days of intense focus on prayer.

Repenting For Others

By A. Brocc Chavis

In Jeremiah 31, the writer speaks of Rachel, who refused to be comforted while her children were lost to the land of the enemy. The Lord mentions the lamentations and bitter weeping of this resolute voice from Ramah. The city of Ramah was where Jacob's wife Rachel was buried. In life, she was a woman barren for many years, who pined for children. She was only blessed with two in her latter years, dying soon after the birth of the second.

In verse 16 and 17, the Lord says there is hope because her work (of weeping for her lost children,) would be rewarded and that they would be restored...

Daniel repented for Jerusalem for 17 verses in Daniel 9. Bear in mind that he was faultless, blameless, and he wasn't even in Jerusalem; he was in Babylon.

Job was said to make sacrifices for his children "continually," for in his words, "it may be that they have sinned against God and cursed Him in their hearts." (Job 1:5)

On the Cross, some of Jesus' last words were, "Father, forgive them..."

The Biblical precedent is there. Although an individual must repent for themselves, God can begin to restore them through the repentant, intercessory prayers of other.

Begin repenting in daily prayer for lost family members, backsliders, and souls you are reaching for... Repent for your community. Like Daniel, ask God to forgive your community.

My prayer for you who read this is: "Lord, give us a spirit of Rachel, that we will refuse to be comforted knowing we have lost family in the land of the enemy."

What could happen if your entire church began to repent for specific souls and our community? God will not turn a deaf ear. He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. He will begin to touch lives and set in motion divine actions that will result in backsliders praying through and lost loved ones being saved. There are hungry souls in our community who have a desire to change. We are laborers together with Christ in His harvest field.

What could happen if you really believe God can? If God honored Rachel, Job, and Daniel; and if He prayed for the forgiveness of others Himself, then what have we to lose?

_______________________________________________________________

Editor's Note: A. Brocc Chavis pastors the United Pentecostal Church in Spring Lake, North Carolina, and serves as District Youth President. First written as a letter to the church in Spring Lake, this article was submitted to Apostolic Writers Online! for publication.

Caring Crucible

By Stanley Scism

Text: Luke 11:33-36

Song: (by W.C. Parkey) "Lord, set me afire, make me a flame for Thee. Millions are lost, but You paid the cost that they all might be free. Lord, I am yearning – set me a-burning. Let me shine out for Jesus’ Name. This my desire: set me afire, make me a flame."

A boy grew up in a poor family, a place later made famous by Lassie and James Herriot. Thanks to a scholarship, this boy could attend Oxford University. An outstanding student, he quit before getting his masters degree because he didn’t want temptation by the world’s pride. He went back to Yorkshire, then made an hermit’s habit from his dad’s raincoat and ran away from home to a nearby church to pray through the night as preparation to be a hermit. There, he was so wrapped up and rapt in deep prayer that other people present were amazed. Later he preached in that church and started his ministry.

He traveled from town to town, village to village, sometimes in a monastery, sometimes in a nunnery. He wrote with passion and energy – his most famous book, Fire of Love. For two hundred years, he was St. Richard the Hermit and many people treasured his writings.

He said: 'I can’t tell you how surprised I was the first time I felt my heart begin to warm – real warmth, too, not imaginary, and felt as if it were actually on fire. I was astonished at the way the heat surged up and how this new sensation brought great and unexpected comfort. I had to keep feeling my breast and there was no physical reason for it. Once I realized it came entirely from within, had no cause material or sinful, but was my Maker’s gift, I was absolutely delighted, and wanted my love to be even greater. And this longing was all the more urgent because of the delightful effect and the interior sweetness which this spiritual flame fed into my soul.' He’d not known humans could feel this sweet warmth of devotion. People aflame loving Christ hate the world. 'If we put our finger near a fire, we feel the heat; a soul on fire with love feels, I say, a genuine warmth…depends on our particular capacity. What mortal could survive that heat at its peak – as we can know it, even here – if it persisted? We must inevitably wilt before the vastness and sweetness of love so intense and heat so indescribable yet must long eagerly for just this to happen: to breathe our soul out, with all its superb endowment of mind, in this honeyed flame, and, quit of this world, be held in thrall with those who sing their Maker’s praise.' Some carnal, sordid things oppose love and tempt peace – physical needs and human lusts try to douse the flame burning for Jesus. They can’t take us away, but sometimes our love grows cold. Then, though we stay faithful, we miss sensing God’s presence. When that happens, let’s recapture inner fire in our whole being, physical and Spiritual.

We obviously won’t feel that love when we’re asleep, but we can wake and kindle it again in prayer. When we busy ourselves with arrangements, on the go, lounging around, or wrapped up in arguments and discussion, revival fires burn low. Then we must put away all external things, stand real in our Savior’s presence, and live in his love, wound in his warmth.

Richard Rolle wrote ‘for the attention, not of the philosophers and sages of this world, not of the great theologians bogged down in their interminable questionings, but of the single and unlearned who seek rather to love God than to amass knowledge, since God is known only by what we do and how we love,’ as Jesus said Himself, "by this shall all men know you are My disciples."

‘While matters contained in such questionings are the most demanding of all intellectually, they are much less important when Christ’s love is under consideration.’ Anyway, we can’t understand them, so Richard wrote not ‘for the experts unless they have forgotten and put behind them all those things that belong to the world; unless now they are eager to surrender to a longing for God. To achieve this, however, they must, first, fly from every worldly honor; they must hate all vainglory and the parade of knowledge.’ When, ‘conditioned by great poverty, through prayer and meditation they can devote themselves to the love of God. It will not surprise if then an inner spark of the uncreated charity should appear to them and prepare their hearts for the fire which consumes everything that is dark and raises them to that pitch of ardor which is so lovely and so pleasant.’ Then will they pass beyond the things of time and sit enthroned in infinite peace. The more learned they are, the more ability they naturally have for loving, always provided of course that they do not esteem themselves highly nor rejoice in being highly esteemed by others… because I would stir by these means every person to God, and because I try to make plain the ardent nature of love and how it is supernatural, I select for this book the title Fire of Love.’

We all know God’s eternal love won’t fill us or heaven’s oil anoint us unless we truly turn to God and from the world. If we control our hearts and minds, we’ll love what we should. We of course love our families and friends, but must love Christ above this as much as the heavens are high over the earth. Many of the world’s ‘good’ things pervert rather than protect. We must wither physical lust and hate wickedness. We must only necessarily deal with mundane matters.

People eager to get rich don’t know who’ll get it, or what they’ll do with it, after they die. Some say they’ve already seen heaven in a vision, and do a good job faking it. ‘This graceless presumption… will bring about their downfall, for their love of earthly treasure is unlimited. Also, they’ll fall from God’s sweet love. People lusting after worldly splendor catch a very different, very separate fire. ‘Such people become like what they love, for they take their tone from the greed of their day and age. Because they will not give up their old ways, they come to prefer life’s specious emptiness to happiness’ warmth. They exchange the glorious, incorruptible charity for beauty’s fleeting lust. This happens because a counterfeit ‘fire of love’ blinds them and devastates virtue at his its source and vice in its growth.

Then, on the other hand, some people think, because they become monks and forbear marriage, or because they become teetotalers and forbear drink, that they earn salvation, and they become proud of their self-righteousness. This is wrong and silly – what’s dumber than denouncing sin, but living by greed? There’s nothing worse than the love of money (I Timothy 6:10), for it means people are obsessed by something temporal and not devoted to something eternal. You can’t love God and the world. The stronger love drives out the weaker, and then we know who loves the world, and who loves Christ, simply by what they do.

Satan can grab ‘good’ people who proclaim their penance and piety. ‘Very often, indeed are mortal wounds obscured by the odor of sanctity.’ The devil can grab you if you’re too busy or even an eloquent, elegant speaker, but not if your heart is aflame with love for Jesus Christ and you couldn’t care less about pride. People stop spiritual workouts, become flabby and feeble. They love sit-ups first, then Heath Bars.

Have you felt any physical sensations during worship or devotion? What fans into flame love for God in your heart? Reading? Listening to preaching? Praying? Fellowship with other people? Enjoying creation? What do you love? Are you becoming like what you love? Let’s not hide our light, but shine! This week, check your heart, and ask if your love for God has to compete with love for the world. Worldly honors tempt pride, so let’s instead look for ways to deflect any praise we get to God from whom all blessing flow. Let’s build up our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Let’s regain spiritual eyesight and focus on God’s Kingdom.

Editorial Note: Stanley Scism founded and presides over Scism Christian Institute (named after his grandfather, Ellis Scism,) teaches there, pastors Yesu Mandali in Nepal and Yesu Kalishia in India, speakes in various places, edits Glory magazine, writes books, songs and articles, and rejoices that more people are coming to know Jesus Christ.

Prayer is the Key

By Pastor Ken Foreman

Text: I Timothy 2:1-8; Key Verses: 1-3
 

Seven Keys to Effective Prayer

1.) Who to Pray for –

• Kings and those in authority; leaders, those who make decisions for us; our lives, our children, our country.
• Pray for our brothers and sisters – this is intercessory prayer.

2.) What to Pray for –

• Salvation for the lost and that those who are saved will be kept.
• "The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord." (Proverbs 21:1) Pray for God to touch their hearts.
• Prayer changes things and people, and it moves the heart of God.
• Things we know are in God’s will. Note: Badgering God may get an answer, but will get the consequences as well. If we want something outside of God more than God, if we’re striving for our wants, we may get (grasp) it – but Psalm 106:15 says, "And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul."
• There’s only so much we can do – so we do what’s possible. God does the impossible. (John 14:13)

We Must Pray!

3.) When to Pray –

• When things are going good.
• When things are not going good.
• When we feel we’re on the mountaintop.
• When we’re down in the valley.
• "...Men ought always to pray and not to faint." (Luke 18:1b)

4.) Where to Pray –

• Everywhere...
• Anywhere... home, outdoors, church, car, basement, closet, bedroom, living room, kitchen...
• When we cannot bear to write it down and give it to the preacher to bring before the congregation.
• Pray in secret – God rewards openly.
• Pray openly – in the House of God. "My House shall be called a house of prayer." (Matthew 21:13)

5.) How to Pray –

• "Lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting." (I Timothy 2:8)
• Pray with love and faith. (James 1:6-8; Hebrews 11:6)
• Pray in Jesus’ Name. (Colossians. 3:17)
• Pray without ceasing. (II Thessalonians. 5:17)
• The disciples asked the Lord, "Lord, teach us to pray!"
• Humbly
• Patiently – actively enduring until He comes.
• Wait – for the answer to be manifest.

Warning! ~ Prayer is going to change you!

A. It will cause you to become dependant on God.

B. It will show you your limits.

C. It will open your eyes to the God Who has no limits.

Prayer is the Key!

6.) Why Pray? –

• To have peace...
• Prayer is the vehicle that causes you to be able to release things, to turn things over to God. He knows our needs before we ask. (Matthew 6:8)
• Prayer is more than getting things - it is...
• something in the cupboard...
• something in the driveway...
• something in the bank...
• more than healing...
• more than material things.
• Pray to grow closer to God
• Pray to grow and mature in Him
• Pray to get to know Him
• Prayer brings down the strongholds of the enemy.

7.) Pray to Communicate –

• When you love someone, you want to talk to them, to communicate with them. In today’s technology, the internet and social websites have built friendships and even marriages!
• The more you pray, the easier it will be; more enjoyable, more peace, know Him better
• "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men... in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour."  (I Timothy 2:1) 
• Marriages can be saved.
• Lives changed and rearranged.
• Circumstances can be turned around.
• Souls can be saved!
• "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16)
• "And the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to Myself for an house of sacrifice: If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people; If My people, which are called by My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:12-14)
• "No good thing will He withhold from them that love Him." (Psalm 84:11)

Pray!  ~  Prayer is so very important!  ~  PRAYER is the KEY!

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