The Authority of Heaven – Prayer

There was a time when a Dad brought his epiliptic son to Jesus’ disciples, but they were not able to get him healed (Matthew 17). Once Jesus came on the scene, he cast a demon out of the child, who was immediately cured. The disciples asked Jesus “why couldn’t we not cast it out?” Jesus answered that it was about their faith, but then added “However, this kind of demon does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

I want to encourage you, and hopefully give you something practical concerning prayer – as this story illustrates, prayer is a vital key to the release of the authority of heaven.

In Luke 18:1 we read, One day Jesus told his disciples a story to illustrate their need for constant prayer and to show them that they must never lose heart and give up. (NLT)

Now there are different levels of prayer, but I am only wanting to share with you about a form of prayer that enables a believer to never loose heart and give up praying.

Once you’ve nailed this simple approach to prayer, you’ll want to go deeper and the Holy Spirit will help you – but this, by itself, is a wonderfully encouraging form of prayer.

PRAYING THE BIBLE – using a scripture passage as a  vehicle for faith and prayer in the presence of God

1. 1.Decide to have a “fun” prayer relationship with a “happy” God. This addresses the need to start with the right “picture”, forget about past failures and develop an “I can’t wait to get alone with God” mindset.
   

            Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,

            so  that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

            Prayer is a habit of hope, an exercise of believing, which is invaded by joy and peace.

            There’s joy in believing

2. 2.Get a Bible in your hand – it’s going to be your prayer tool. If you’re going to pray the Word you will be:
   

1. (a)Not relying on your present state of mind to guide or inspire you.
   

2. (b)Praying something God already agrees with and wills for your life
   

3. (c)Placing yourself in a zone of listening as well as praying, because God will use his Word to speak to you.
   

4. (d)Drawing faith into your spirit because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
   

1. 1.Set a time a place. Biggest reason why we don't pray is that we don't schedule it into our day . . . we schedule “fun things with happy people”, but not prayer because no one ever told us that prayer was “fun time with a happy person”.
   

2. •Jesus said when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray – shut the door first! Create a D-free zone – minimalise distractions. Having a Bible passage in front of you helps this too.
   

3. •God never says how long you should pray, just that you should. But this is true: the more you do a fun and powerful thing, the more you will want to.
   

4. •Don’t let the devil put you down because you only managed 5 minutes of ‘faith with joy’ in prayer. Realise he wants you to do 30 minutes of religious toil and achieves nothing except to turn you off prayer. Besides, he’s terrified of that 5 minutes of faith with joy in prayer!
   

5. •Nailing down a set time and sticking with it daily will really help you grow an awesome prayer life.
   

1. 1.Pray to God – and greet him joyfully. Are you really happy to see him? Tell him so. The Bible calls this enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. 
   

2. •For some people prayer is worrying with their eyes closed!
   

3. •Let your body language inform your soul that this is going to be good!
   

4. •DON’T sit, kneel or get comfortable (you’re not soaking you’re praying – you can soak later)
   

5. •Get up on your feet and walk – move that body! Make your body say to your soul “this is going to take me places”, “I’m a mighty army of one advancing against the enemy”.
   

6. •Physiologically, your moving legs move more blood than your pumping heart – you’ll stay alert, oxygenated, and you’ll never have to deal with tiredness.
   

7. •Praying in tongues for a while is especially powerful when there are burdens for which you don’t have confident language. Tongues is more than a sign of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life, it’s His language, the language of the Spirit, and He prays out of perfect knowledge from within us.
   

1. 1.Pray the Bible. Read a little and pray it back to God in your own way – borrow the Bible’s words and add your own. There will be many opportunities to personalise and inject petition, warfare, decree and thanksgiving.
   

2. •Occasionally they’ll be a line or verse or longer that you can’t do anything with. Just read through it until something else strikes you.
   

3. •Trust that it’s the Holy Spirit that’s causing people, situations and desires to come to mind as you work your way through a passage – pray into those alerts out of the promises you hold before you.
   

1. 1.Pray out loud. The first thing said to his disciple when they asked him to teach them how to pray was, When you pray, SAY.
   

            Silence is a peak of prayer not a starting point.

           

            So you’re moving in the room, you have the Bible open in your hand, your eyes are

            open, and you’re listening to the Word and the Word being prayed aloud.

            As you pray aloud, let your voice carry the tone and volume appropriate to what your

            reading or saying. ‘Intense and hearty’ sounds different to ‘aggressive authoirty’.

1. 1.Be silent, and let God speak to you.
   

Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success