THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR PRAYERS IS IN THE REALITY OF OUR ANSWERS
THE VITAL COMPONENT THAT WILL GIVE US ACCESS (TO ANSWERS) IN PRAYER IS THE COMPONENT OF FAITH
IN A GENUINE PRAYER, WE MUST CRY WITH A DESPERATION INFUSED WITH FAITH
WHERE WE LACK ANSWERS TO PRAYER, IT IS USUALLY THE PRODUCT OF A MISALIGNMENT IN THE PROTOCOL OF PRAYER
THE WAY OUR BREATHING VENTILATES OUR NATURAL LIFE IS THE WAY OUR PRAYING VENTILATES OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE
– Pastor David Oyedepo Jnr on “PRAYING TO GET RESULTS” Covenant Hour of Prayer 11th January, 2023
Lord Jesus we thank you this morning for the blessing and privilege of being in your presence.
Thank you for the answers you have been giving to our prayers particularly since we began this adventure in this 21 days of prayer and fasting.
Lord today our eyes are upon you again. We ask that you will speak to us yet again. By your Word let everyone of our lives be transformed.
We give all the praise and glory to your name in Jesus’ precious name we have prayed.
Our line of exhortation which we have been examining since the week began has been, “PRAYING TO GET RESULTS.”
It is important that we are reminded from God’s Word that every believer has a call to the altar of prayer. Luke 18:1. In fact, Christian living is characterized by continuous praying.
1 Thessalonians 5:17. This is why we have been told that what breathing is to natural life is what praying is to spiritual life. The way our breathing ventilates our natural life is the way our praying ventilates our spiritual life. Colossians 4:2. There is a continuous demand for you and I to engage on the altar of prayer.
But God has not called his people to seek him in vain. Isaiah 45:19. In fact, the promise of God is that when we call, he will answer. So he has not just called us to pray but he has promised to answer when we pray. Jeremiah 33:3, Matthew 7:8.
Therefore, where we lack answers to prayer, it is usually the product of a misalignment in the protocol of prayer. It is when we miss out in the appropriate prayer protocol that we miss out in our desired answers. James 4:2-3. There is a misplacement of the appropriate alignment and as a result of that there is an absence in access to answers.
This means therefore that the altar of prayer is given to you and I as an altar of answers. To be barren of answers in the journey of prayer is to have misplaced our appropriate approach on the altar of prayer.
The promise of God is that if you call, he will answer. The promise of God is that if you ask, you will receive, you knock he will open, you seek you will find. Church Gist. So where there is asking and no receiving, seeking and no finding, knocking and not opening, there is a problem with the praying.
That is why it becomes important for us to begin to reposition ourselves to ensure that we don’t turn prayer to a religious exercise. There are many who simply commend themselves at the instance of their praying.
But effective praying does not conclude with the praying but with the answer. Somebody said, “How will I know when I have prayed well?” The truth is that, good prayer, effective prayer, effectual prayer, is always known by the receipt of answers. Where there is no response the prayer has been ineffective. This is so important.
Remember, prayer is communion with God – Conversation with God, Exchange with God. So where there is no response from God, there is a problem with the access or the approach that you and I have taken to God. This is so important.
It is like a phone call. When you make a call, there should be an answer. It is when there is an answer that we say the call has gone through. In the same vein, is when there is an answer that we say our prayers have gone through.
So, you can’t pray through until you have been answered. The effectiveness of our prayers is in the reality of our answers. That’s the truth!
So we have been looking at what you and I must have in place in order to ensure that we are not praying in vain but that we are receiving access to answers.
What must you and I do?
The key we are going to look at this morning is that we are going to engage a cry of faith.
One of the descriptions of prayer in Scriptures is a cry. Psalms 5:2. So prayer is described as a cry. Psalms 28:2, Psalms 61:2.
All of these Scriptures describe prayer as a cry and a cry is a desperate desire emanating from a sincere heart. When we talk about prayer as a cry we are talking about prayer as a desperate desire.
But from Scriptures we are made to understand that God does not only respond to the cry but to a cry of faith. Mark 10:46-52. Bartimaeus had been in a situation that he desired a change for.
So he began to cry out. It was a desperate desire from a sincere heart. That means that if it is desperate and sincere, the one who is crying or praying cannot forget what he or she is crying or praying about. What does that mean?
When a man forgets what he is praying, the man is not truly crying.
When my son was a little baby and he had a very very strong cry – very powerful cry. You know children have different kinds. When he cries and he is hungry he will be shaking – physically. If it is hunger that he is crying for, the cry will not stop until food starts. If it is because he wants to be changed from his diaper, the cry will not stop until the change comes.
He will not forget in the midst of crying why he is crying. The only thing that will satisfy the cry is the object of the cry. How come a man forgets what he is crying to God about in the process of crying? How come the man stops pressing for what he is crying for? It is because for many, prayer is simply an utterance of a casual desire not a desperate desire.
When prayer becomes desperate, it has turned from utterances of prayer to cries of prayer. That man cried. The Bible says that they told him, “Keep quiet,” but he cried more the louder. Matthew 10:48. Have you tried to tell a baby who is crying for hunger, “Keep quiet you are embarrassing me in the open”?
He doesn’t care where you are; the cry gets more desperate until he is satisfied with the object for which he is crying. This is the approach you and I must have to the altar of prayer. There must be a desperation that pushes us until we secure the object of our desire. That is genuine prayer.
But it is important for us to understand that the vital component that will give us access in prayer is the component of faith. So while desperation is a necessity, faith is a non-negotiable factor when it comes to the access that you and I have on the altar of prayer. James 1:6-8.
So we must cry with desperation but we must infuse our desperation with faith. Mark 11:24. When we talk about faith in prayer we are talking about a confident assurance based on the knowledge or revelation of the will of God that you will gain a response from God. 1 John 5:14-15.
Years ago in 2008, I was sitting down with God’s servant the Apostle over this commission and he looked at me and said, “David, I know God hears me when I pray.”
Prayer is not supposed to be guess work; it is supposed to be anchored on an assurance that is based on the knowledge or revelation of God’s Word that he will answer and respond when you pray. There is an assurance; the question is: When you pray, do you know?
He said if we ask according to his will, he will answer and we know that we will receive. There must be that assurance – that internal assurance. That is faith.
The question is, “Why is faith vital?” 3 things:
1. It takes faith to please God. Hebrews 11:6.
It is pleasing prayers that secure answers. 1 Kings 3:10.
2. It takes faith to walk with God. Church Gist. Association with God is at the mercy of faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7.
3. It takes faith to take our deliveries from God. Whatever is available with God can only be collected by faith. Galatians 3:14. It takes faith to quench all the fiery darts of the devil.
You see, satan will always want to resist your access on the altar of prayer and it takes faith to clear off all of his fiery darts. Ephesians 6:16.
What is God showing to you and to me? We must be desperate in prayer and infuse our desperation with the conviction of faith.
When that is in place, you are sure to receive answers.
Prayers
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