A Pattern of Powerful Prayer

How do you answer the question, "How can I pray for you?" Often times we want to pray for someone but we don't know what to pray for them. So, we wind up praying general prayers.

Colossians 1:9--For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption,the forgiveness of sins.

This prayer is a powerful prayer. It has within it, the energy, strength, and authority of God. This based on our relationship with God. it's based on truth. We have the confidence that God will answer this prayer.

1. Knowledge of His will: Knowledge means more than just an idea. it means a fullness of the understanding of the will of God. This is not factual knowledge but experiential knowledge.

2. Walk worthy of the Lord: walking in a fashion that is in keeping with who we are.

3. Bearing fruit in every good work: this is a request for a wise investment for their life. Busy-ness is not good work and all works are not good works.

4. Increase in the knowledge of God: growing in the Lord. This is not just head knowledge. This is an experiential growth in the knowledge of God. As you increase in the knowledge of God, you will experience a new freshness, rejuvenation, energy, excitement about your life. The more you learn about the Lord, the more excited you get about praying. Sometimes pain is God's mechanism to bring you into an understanding of Him.

5. Strengthen with all power according to His might: we could not know who God is without the HS. Don't trust in your own strength. Be humbled and learn to trust in God. Don't do things in your own strength.

6. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints.

God will answer this prayer. If we make any petition according to his will, he hears us. If we trust God with prayer, He will make a difference in someone's life.

Seeking God's Guidance

How do you make important decisions in your life? Believers start with the premises that There is a God who has a will/plan for our life. He is interested in our life, He has our best interest at heart.

Psalm 16

16:7--I will praise the LORD , who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

God will guide and direct us in our life.

1. God has promised to give us Godly guidance. "You have made known to me the path of life."

Psalm 32:8--I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Proverbs 3:5-6--Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 58:11--The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

Psalm 16:8--I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.

I John 5:14--This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

It is God's will to seek Godly guidance. He promises to direct us. He promises to refresh us.

Genesis 12--God gave Abraham sparse guidance but clear direction. He gives us a sense of direction. As we trust him day by day, His guidance becomes clearer and clearer.

It is the character of God that He would give us very clear guidance in every decision we make. Since it's His will for us to obey and please Him, it's His responsibility to show us want to do. It's not in God's character to make us guess at what we're supposed to do. God will certainly give us Godly guidance if we seek it.

2. We have a pilot in our search for Godly guidance. JC promised to send a Helper/Teacher/Guide. It's HS's responsibility to guide us. HS is living in us to guide/direct us.

Psalm 16:7--I will praise the LORD , who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.

When we're asleep, the HS has absolute undisturbed control of our mind. Our mind is highly active when we're awake. But when we're asleep, the things that we are seeking guidance for from God, HS will reveal God's guidance to us (often in the middle of the night.) That is the work of the HS.

I Corinthians 2:12--We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Unbelievers can't understand the things of HS because they don't have HS to help them interpret/understand. Believers understand things of HS not because we're smarter, but because we have HS in us, guiding us.

First, you must believe that there is a God. He sent His one and only Son to die and pay for our sins. If you accept His son, Jesus Christ, and confess your sins, ask for forgiveness, and accept Christ as your lord and saviour, that is when you become a child of God, and can receive clear guidance from God through HS. Put your faith and trust in God. He is trustworthy and loving. He will give you Godly, which is the best direction you can ever receive.

We must watch out for the pitfalls when seeking God's guidance.

1. Strong fleshly desires. There is nothing wrong with having natural desires. We must assess what is controlling our decision-making powers. We must ask, "what's the will of the Father?"

2. Wrong counsel. Everyone can offer advice. But they don't have to suffer the consequences. But we can go to the decision maker Himself. He wants us to be able to discern His mind so we know His will for our life.

3. Impatience. We must have patience. I will wait here until I get further orders. I refuse to run ahead.

4. Doubt. Some people feel that they are not worthy of hearing from God. Others feel disappointed by past unanswered prayer. Others misinterpret God's guidance, then things didn't go as desired and they conclude that prayer doesn't work.

If we have sincere motives, God will use our experience for good, no matter what.

5. Pressures. There's external pressure (friends, family, etc.). But those people don't know God's will for your life. So we must be careful of the external pressure. There's also time pressure. We are sometimes forced by the circumstances to make a decision. Other times, the pressure of the circumstances themselves will force us to have to make a decision. Internal pressures come from promptings of HS.

How do we find genuine Godly guidance?

1. Cleansing. We must first look at ourselves. What in my life will hinder me from seeing your guidance?

2. Surrendering. If I am going to deal with things, I have to surrender my will to Him. I must bring my will under submission to His.

3. Asking.

1 John 5:14--This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him.

4. Meditating on the Word of God.

Psalm 119:105--Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

God may use His word to reveal other thing that needs to be cleansed from our lives.

5. Believing.

Mark 11:22--"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

6. Waiting.

Isaiah 64:4--Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

7. Receiving.

If you've done these things, you will know that you've heard from God.

When Facing Challenges

II Chronicles 20

When facing challenges, we pray. We should have afoundation on twhich to base that prayer.

1. God is interesated in what I'm facing. He's interested in every challenge I face in my life.

20:2--Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea. It is already in Hazazon Tamar" (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD , and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.

2. God is greater than our challenge.

20:6--"O LORD , God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.

Jehoshaphat knew that God was interested in his challenge, God knew his challenge, and God was greater than the challenge.

3. Seek the LORD in prayer.

20:3--Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD , and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.

God is the God if heaven. He is the Lord over all nations. The smartest, wisest thing to do is to lie before God in prayer. In our prayers, we should include the attributes of God in them. This will add power to our petition. Fix our eyes on God.

Jehoshaphat included others in his prayer. He humbled himself and told his people, "I can't do it." It is a sign of wisdom, not weakness, to say you can't do it and include others in your prayer. There's strength, power, boldness in that.

God will give you a solution to whatever you're dealing with. Don't shout-out someone through whom God will send that solution.

20:14--Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.' "

Focus your prayers on the attributes of God and your prayers will have more power because they will. What God requires of us will be simply but it will always require faith. God works on our behalf on the basis of our faith in order to increase our faith.

20:20--Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, "Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the LORD your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful." After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the LORD and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: "Give thanks to the LORD , for his love endures forever." As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The men of Ammon and Moab rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground; no one had escaped.

God was sending a message: Jehovah God, the God of Israel, is the only true God. Israel didn't even draw a sward. God defeated 3 armies on their behalf. Trust Him and He will bless you, no matter what.