Good morning. I believe your week was productive? Please do well to have a restful weekend. We’ll continue along the lines of The Word this morning, but settle on the premise of Praying The Word. Like I wrote in The Pauline Prayers (my first book in print), Prayer is one of the most mystified concepts in Christendom. People are just not sure what best way it is to pray and get results. For example, it is not impossible, especially in this part of the world, to find more emphasis on Prayer Points and Prayer Mountains and Prayer Churches and Prayer Prophets, instead of the emphasis being on the Word. I know some of you are like, “well those prayer points, churches, prophets and mountains have their place o, because they work for some people who seek help from them”.
Acts 17:30 Though God has overlooked those times of ignorance, he now commands everyone everywhere to repent.
God is telling you to repent! Put in another word, God is telling you to change your mind and turn around. The focus of your prayer should not be a point and the drama that accompanies it. I think we try so hard to mystify God, and then we say He’s too hard to understand. God is very simple, and all His ways that you need to know are very predictable and contained in His Word. Proverbs 25:2. The first series I did on Divine Perspective was tagged “Simplicity”, I taught extensively on how simple our God and the gospel are, and how simple our relationship with Him should be, (you can check out that thread of blogs in your free time). I believe that’s the platform of understanding upon which every believer must start his or her fellowship with God, else he/she will cover up a God who was bare and open to him/her, and tag Him “Mysterious”.
So how exactly do we pray? I still feel like killing some sacred cows though, but I’ll just go straight into our discussion today before I end up only debunking prior erroneous doctrinal strongholds. I have realised in my relationship with God, that the most potent and effective Prayer is the one offered in a consistent tenor with the Word of God. Now there are different kinds of Prayer, which I’m not about to go into, as it’s not the subject of our discussion today, but in order to effectively pray for situations and circumstances and get results, we have to have our prayers, punctuated and laced with God’s Word.
Is 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
I know many people are not very familiar with that passage of scripture. Your like “uh, how can we command God?” Well, God said you should. Some other versions actually found this truth too hard to translate, so they kinda covered it up by making it look like God was asking a rhetoric question. Listen, God is bound by His Word, whether you command Him or not, He is self commanded by His Word. God will never go beyond the provisions of His Word, for anyone or to do anything. The most honoured personality in all eternity is The Word of God.
Psalms 138:2b …for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
If God exalts His Word above His reputation, what has He not exalted Him above? Yeah, you got It right, NOTHING!!! The man who knows The Word is the one certain of victory in prayer. You must get this, the core of what your prayer life will be about is this:
2Cor 10:4-5 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Our most lethal weapon in prayer is not gymnastics (head shaking, belly holding, pillar grabbing, neck twisting, rapid eye opening and closing , etc) our most lethal weapon is God’s Word. The bulk of what you will deal with in prayer are imaginations and wrong thoughts, that exalt themselves above the knowledge of Christ, and you deal with that using God’s Word. Can you pray according to the Word? God is obliged to respond in accordance to His Word. Like He said in Isaiah 45, concerning your life if you’re a son or daughter, concerning any situation and circumstance, you can wield the authority of heaven and make declarations by Faith in God’s Word, and see answers in no time.
I remember the ebola saga, where churches were filled with medical personnel, speaking about ebola, its symptoms, what to do when observed, and all the preventive measures. It was necessary to be enlightened, but we already heard all these from the news on tv and radio, we didn’t need that in the Church! I was in a Church where it happened, and the fear in the atmosphere was very palpable. The Church is a place where the Word of God is given maximum honour and preference above medical reports. Members needed to hear about the blood, about the Word, about psalms 91, how no plague will come near our dwelling, and how the name of Jesus is a strong tower, members needed faith founded upon The Word and then pray with it to release power, not consultants coming to expound on the lifecycle of the dreaded disease.
…But I know a man and others, who went into their closet, prayed, rebuked and cursed ebola from its roots, because it’s included in the categories of ALL things Jesus Christ rules over, Eph 1:21, Col 1:17 and should not torment a whole nation. Ebola left Nigeria not primarily due to our medical advancement and approach (there were too many loopholes, with people escaping quarantine everywhere). Then it (ebola) went into a more developed country which was better equipped for it. This was because some people took the Word of God, prayed with it and rebuked that foul spirit spreading fear and torment and told it to go in Jesus’ name. God doesn’t answer prayers emotionally, so quit trying to twist God’s hands by crying, know the provision of His Word concerning a matter, and then “command” Him.
P.S: If you’re yet to download your copy of my new book: Beautiful Scars, please do well to download and share the link with friends. God bless your heart.
http://damioguntunde.com/download/beautiful-scars/