EFFECTUAL FERVENT PRAYER – PRAYING WITH POWER

And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.  42 And I know that You always hear Me… John 11:41-42 NKJV

The headline read ’THERE IS A CRISIS OF COMPETENCY IN THE USA.’ “No joke!” I thought. In one of the wealthiest cities in the world, there is no water in the water mains to fight fires. Some fool decided to drain the reservoir during fire season. Another headline read ‘ILLITERATE HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE SUES SCHOOL BOARD.’ The school had such bad teachers that they graduated students that couldn’t read but were apparently intelligent enough to bring a lawsuit. I drove into a very nice car dealership today and the clocks on the wall were off by an hour. When I brought it up to the service advisor, he shrugged his shoulders and blew it off. Incompetency and apathy – a big red flag to me! We must be competent in the second most important activity – the first being worship – that we engage in, effectual fervent prayer, because it’s ALWAYS ‘fire season…’

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:24 NKJV

A brother, one of the very first board members of Lightbearers Ministries, had just died. The moment I heard of his death, the Lord brought to mind a conversation he and I had had twenty-five years ago. The essence of the conversation was that we would take care of the others family if something happened to one of us. So, from then on, I took care of his wife with support. The essential reality of the story is that God hears everything, remembers everything, and holds us to account for our words and deeds. The point is that when it comes to prayer, He hears us always, He knows everything, and He is ready and able to show Himself faithful in every circumstance. If our prayers are ineffective, the fault lies not with Him but is our responsibility. The wonderful thing about that is that we can grow and become more effective!

There are two ways to pray: with your soul and with your spirit, and we must become very effective at both. I once heard a missionary talk about their healing ministry, that among their team they saw an 80% success rate with praying for cancer, and he mentioned other ailments, finally coming to a success rate of 10% with raising the dead. I loved the analysis! They were examining their results, and seeking to improve in every aspect of healing prayer, to be more effective in representing Jesus in prayer. We can do the same thing in improving the effectiveness of our prayers…

…and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Gen 28:12 NKJV

We had just come from lunch, the four of us, and we walked into the intercessor’s home, and took off our shoes. Immediately in my spirit I sensed the holy presence of God. It was like this was Bethel, the house of God, the portal to Heaven. As we talked, laughed and rejoiced in normal conversation, I mentioned what I was sensing in my spirit. The intercessors remarked that a friend’s child had come through the door recently and had just become quiet. When asked why, he said, “The presence of God is here!” Indeed, effectual, fervent prayer is a regular feature in that home…

Effectual fervent prayer is not an activity, it is a lifestyle. David said, Let my mouth be filled with Your praise all day long (Ps. 71:8). Paul said, pray without ceasing (1 Th. 5:17). It’s a constant awareness of the presence of God. I start every day with going out to praise ABBA, YESHUA and the RUACH KODESH (Holy Spirit). I workout and praise all the way through the challenge. When we grocery shop at Costco, I am ‘LO SHANTA’ing my way through the aisles, to the occasional stares of others, while hitting the sample carts. Finally, in bed together, RM and I close our day with prayer. It’s a lifestyle…and the answers keep coming!

The effective, fervent (Grk. ENERGEO) prayer (Grk. DEESIS) of a righteous man avails (Grk. ISCHUO) much. James 5:16-17 NKJV

Two of the great NT Greek ‘power’ words are here in this verse – ENERGEO and ISCHUO, and the word for prayer – DEESIS – is a prayer of supplication, as opposed to a prayer of thanksgiving, praise or worship. DEESIS literally means ‘asking for the best,’ not asking to just survive, not asking for good, but asking for the best possible outcome or result.

ABBA wants us to raise our vision high! ABBA is able and willing to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or THINK – this is why it is important to separate yourself from the unbelief of others and use your imagination to envision the BEST POSSIBLE outcome or result. This is a great key to effective prayer. Great athletes and sportspeople do it all the time. They imagine themselves making the perfect shot, doing the perfect routine, making the big play. I recently read a story about Simone Biles, how she recovered from ‘gymnastics vertigo,’ and reemerged as a champion. She saw herself doing the perfect vault. If they can do it for an earthly crown, what can we do to be crowned by the King? Envision the BEST POSSIBLE OUTCOME to your request…

You can pray in your mother tongue, and you can pray in your spirit. How do you effectively pray in your mother tongue? You prophesy your prayer. Do you think Jesus ‘made up’ His High Priestly prayer in John 17 as He went through it? Do you think He memorized it, like THE CHOSEN implied about the Sermon on the Mount, or prayed it fifty times a day, so much so that you knew what He was going to say before He said it? NO! No, dear one, no…

The Lord knows your requests before you ask them. You don’t have to read your grocery list of requests to Him over and over. Slow down…look in your spirit, your heart. Just take that first word, or that first phrase in your spirit and let your heart overflow. HS will fill it with everything you need to say. When it’s done…you will know. When it’s answered, you will know! You will have that divine assurance, that gift of faith in your spirit before you ever see it in the natural realm.

With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;For when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Isa 26:9 NKJV

Prophesy your prayer when you pray in public, when you pray with people and when you pray privately. Learn to live out of your spirit, and let your soul be directed by your spirit. It will become so easy; your depth of love for ABBA will overflow and grow. Break the habit of low expectations, of the old, rote dead prayers that just bounce off the ceiling. Don’t worry about time or what others may be thinking. You aren’t talking to them; you are talking to YESHUA. Connecting with ABBA is easier than you think. If you start praying like this with your mother tongue, you are going to see miracles, because it is an ENERGEO prayer – effectual fervent prayer that is ISCHUO – mighty.

If you pray like this, it will change your life.

For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, 12 To whom He said, “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,” And, “This is the refreshing”; Yet they would not hear. Isa 28:11-12 NKJV

Now, how do you pray effectively with your spirit? In many ways, praying in tongues is almost a lazy way to pray, because once that flow begins you can easily go for hours, which is exactly what Jesus said and intended. When you are flowing in tongues, it brings the rest that causes the weary to recover their vitality.

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”  Hebrews 4:9

How do you pray for people and circumstances when you pray in tongues? We are told to pray specifically for people, and if we can only pray with our mother tongues prophetically, then I suspect we are still missing great blessings. ENERGEO prayer flows both with the prayers in your mother tongue that are prophetic and the focused prayers in tongues when you pray for them in the spirit. Do this – focus your mind on the person and pray in tongues. If you need to, and most of us do – me included – write their names down on a pad of paper or a white board and concentrate on that name as you pray in tongues. I find this is more effective than reading a list, at least for me, because the act of writing their name down each time helps me engage with that person. I’m not just reading a list, I’m engaging with those people and situations. The more I can do to help my soul avoid distractions and engage with that person or situation, the more effective I become. Do you want to see this truth in the Word?

Brethren, pray for (Grk.PERI) us. 1 Thess 5:25 NKJV

PERI means ‘to encircle.’ Paul is saying, Make me your focus, and encircle me with a powerful prayer shield that defeats every fiery dart. Every leader needs a team that encircles them with an impenetrable prayer shield. This is how they survive! Whenever a leader falls, sins outrageously, has an accident and dies prematurely, you always must look at the prayer shield or the lack thereof. Let me show you more…

Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind (Grk. PHRONEMA) of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Rom 8:27 NKJV

All translation work is done in light of the translators’ religious prejudices. That’s not to impugn anyone; it is just a fact. The original texts have no capitalizations. Therefore, any capitalization is subject to the translator’s ideas. When you capitalize ‘Spirit’ you infer that you are talking about the Holy Spirit who is God. But if you read ‘spirit’ as referring to the HS, the verse makes no sense. The first ‘He’ in the verse refers to Jesus who searches the heart of all men according to Rev. 2:23. The word PHRONEMA means ‘thoughts.’ Of course, Jesus would know the thoughts of the HS; they are one God. But if verse twenty-seven refers to the thoughts in your spirit, in your heart, then the verse makes sense and reveals great truth. The second ‘He’ refers to your spirit, because when you pray in the spirit, your spirit prays. Do you see it?

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 1 Cor 14:14 NKJV

For prayer to become effective and powerful, it must change from an activity to a lifestyle. Some things in our lives may need to die to accomplish this transfer of lifestyle. Ask HS to help you and invest yourself in the process. Your prayers can be as powerful as Jesus’ prayers because we have the same spirit. You can say of ABBA, ‘I know that You hear me always’ just like Jesus did because we have the same access. There is NOTHING stopping you from having a life full of blessing and fulfilment because you can pray with power. Amen? Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…