ISBN 978-978-53088-0-8
Copyright © 2012 LoveWorld Publishing Ministry
All rights reserved under international Copyright Law. Contents and / or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written permission of LoveWorld Publishing Ministry.
All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise indicated
BELIEVERS’ LOVEWORLD INC.
a.k.a Christ Embassy
UNITED KINGDOM:
Christ Embassy Int’l Office
Loveworld Conference Centre
Cheriton High Street
Folkestone, Kent.
CT19 4QJ
Tel:+44(0)1303 270970
Fax:01303 274 372
CANADA:
Christ Embassy Int’l Office,
50 Weybright Court, Unit 43B
Toronto, ON MIS 5A8
Tel:+1 647-341-9091
USA:
Christ Embassy Int’l Office,
200 E Arrowhead Drive
Suite W-3
Charlotte, NC 28213
Tel:+1-972-255-1787, +1-704-780-4970
NIGERIA:
LoveWorld Conference Centre
51-53 Kudirat Abiola Way,
Oregun, Lagos.
P.O. Box 13563 Ikeja, Lagos.
Tel:+234-8023324188
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: THE PRAYER OF FAITH
CHAPTER 2: KNOW YOUR PART AND DO IT
CHAPTER 3: THE PRAYER OF PETITION
CHAPTER 4: THE PRAYER OF PETITION (2)
CHAPTER 5: PRAYING WITH THE SPIRIT
CHAPTER 6: THE PRAYER OF AGREEMENT
CHAPTER 7: THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION
CHAPTER 8: PRAYING FOR THE SAINTS
CHAPTER 9: PRAYING FOR MATERIAL NEEDS
CHAPTER 10: PROPHETIC PRAYER
CHAPTER 11: THE PRAYER OF WORSHIP, PRAISE, AND THANKSGIVING
CONCLUSION: A SPECIAL INVITATION TO PRAYER
Prayer is primarily our communication with the Lord. Communication has purpose, and the purpose usually determines the mode and relevant details for the communication to be effective.
The disciples of Jesus were Jews and they knew how to pray religiously. After walking with Jesus for a while, they realized that Jesus didn’t pray as they did. He actually had results continually in a way that startled them. They finally said to the Master, “Teach us to pray.”
Many have had their understanding of prayer distorted by “religion” and wrong teaching. As a result, they have difficulties changing their misconceptions on even fundamental truths about prayer.
Praying is such an important part of our lives as Christians. First of all, we must recognize prayer as a privilege as well as an honour. Every moment of prayer is an investment in eternity and true prayer is a romance of righteousness. Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. Through prayer we participate in the communion of the God-kind; it’s a throne-room caucus rendezvous: Jesus made it so! Oh, that the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened to see this awesome truth and that we may walk in the light of it! What a time of rich communion with the Lord prayer provides us!
Scripture enjoins us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer helps to season our spirits as a dependable receptacle for God’s Spirit and power. Then we can connect to His ideas, visions and leadings more easily in order to change the world.
When we pray, we make tremendous power available, dynamic in its working, causing changes in our favour. Certain prayer sessions are specially designed by the Lord to help straighten out things in the spirit-realm regarding our immediate or later future as individuals, families or ministries. How wonderful that we can change circumstances and alter destinies in His Name through prayer! We serve a kind, loving, great and gracious God who daily loads us with benefits (Psalms 68:19). During times of prayer, we can meditate on His goodness and appropriate these benefits to our life’s circumstances.
It is God’s earnest desire to have a rich, vibrant and enduring fellowship with His children;but how can they enjoy such communion with Him if they don’t know how to pray effectively? This is one of the many reasons He impressed it upon me to write “HOW TO PRAY EFFECTIVELY” and share with you some vital truths and principles of effective prayer. This first volume will help establish for you a clear understanding of the rules of different prayers for different situations and how to apply them for your desired outcome.
You can expect your prayer life to be revolutionized as you open your heart to receive and practice the divine insights that will be unveiled to you.
As believers in Christ, our life is a life of faith. “Faith” is one of the outstanding virtues that distinguish us from the unbeliever. For it’s by faith that we accepted God’s gracious salvation through Christ, thereby receiving eternal life (the God-kind of life) into our spirits. Our walk with God is a walk of faith. In Romans 1:16-17, Apostle Paul stated, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth...For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” This scripture thus confirms faith as a great underlying factor at the core of our existence as believers. “But without faith it is impossible to please him...” (Hebrews 11:6).
In our prayer life, the principle of faith holds sway in a significant context. The prayer of faith is one among the different kinds of prayer, and it has its peculiar rules and requirements. This prayer involves making a request to God and speaking to circumstances in order to make them conform to our desires, without doubts in our hearts.
In Mark 11:22, Jesus counselled His disciples to “...HAVE FAITH IN GOD.” But it’s interesting to know that the literal translation of His statement actually reads, “HAVE THE FAITH OF GOD.” In other words, have the God-kind of faith.
When you understand this kind of faith the Lord Jesus was talking about and learn how to operate in it, you’ll become well-equipped and ready to get results through your prayer of faith. I’ve taught extensively on the subject of different kinds of faith in another book: “How to Make Your Faith Work.” But let’s see what Jesus says here about having the faith of God.
In the subsequent verses following His profound statement, Jesus went on to tell us something so vital about the God-kind of faith.
“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall ‘believe’ that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, ‘believe’ that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:22-24).
The Master repeatedly uses the word “believe,” emphasizing to us that “believing” is a fundamental requirement for having our desires met when we pray. Thus, one crucial question to ask at this point would be: What does it mean to believe?
You’ve got to understand that the Christian concept of “believing” is different from the unbeliever’s idea of “believing.” Anybody can believe a thing; the Bible says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20). You can see that even the demons “believe”, but what distinguishes your “believing” as a child of God is your “works.” And this is the type of “believing” Jesus was referring to in Mark 11:23-24—the believing that acts and takes possession.
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, ‘believe’ that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24).
Notice Jesus didn’t say, “When you pray, wait until you get your request before you believe.” Rather, he told us to believe that we receive right at the point of praying, and we would have our request. This is faith! Faith means “I have it, though I may not see it with my physical eyes now.” Therefore, “to believe” in the context of Jesus’ teaching in Mark 11:23-24 doesn’t connote an individual living in the realm of hope; rather, it talks about a possessor—one who accepts that something “exists,” and thus “acts as such.”
Specific desire is paramount in the prayer of faith. Jesus said: “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Mark 11:23).
Jesus emphasized the need for specificity of desire when we pray. Observe in the Scripture above that He didn’t say, “Whosoever shall say to any mountain,” but “Whosoever shall say to this mountain.” Thus, in the prayer of faith, it’s highly imperative that you have a clear and specific desire in your heart. You just can’t be vague in your communication. You can act on God’s Word in simplicity and faith and always expect results.
If you’re a pastor, for example, and you wish to double the membership size of your church, you’ve got to know the exact number of people you have in church presently. So if you’ve got a fifty-member congregation at the moment, it means you’re expecting to have a hundred members at a set time. This is what it means to be specific! Or perhaps, you want an increase in your finances. Then you should ask such questions like: What is my average annual income currently? How much more do I want to receive in the coming year?
Specificity is an essential principle if you must get effective results through the prayer of faith. Remember, Jesus said, “whosoever shall say unto this mountain.” That means you’re not going to be talking about the mountain, or telling God to do something about the mountain. You’re to address the mountain and tell it what to do; the content of your prayer must be directed towards your specific area of need, otherwise you may not get the desired outcome.
Here is another vital principle to observe where the prayer of faith is concerned. You’ve got to see the unseen! You should be able to visualize what you desire, and it’s only when your desire is specific that you can see it.
How do you see the unseen? Through the eyes of faith! Because you can’t possess what you can’t see.
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).
Abraham, the great patriarch of old, had to see the vision of God’s promise to him to become a father of many nations. “And he (God) brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:5-6).
As Joshua planned to attack Jericho, the Lord said to him, “...See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour” (Joshua 6:2). These two examples show us how imperative it is for us to have a mental picture of whatever our desire is. And here is the ultimate reason: The extent of your vision is the boundary of your blessing!
I love Dr. David Yongi Cho’s testimony. He tells the story of how, many years ago, when he had just started out in the ministry and was pastoring a small church, he asked God to give him a chair, a table, and a bicycle. But God asked him what kind of chair, table, and bicycle he wanted, and he gave God his specifications.
Believing that he had received, he came before his congregation on Sunday morning and announced, “Praise God, I have a chair, a table, and a bicycle.”
His members, young Christians who were just beginning to learn God’s Word, asked incredulously, “But you walked to church today. Where’s the bicycle?”
Of course, he had nothing to show his members, but he asserted that he had all the things he had mentioned. So after the service that day, some of his members decided to go home with him and find out if he really had those things.
On getting to his house and finding none of those items there, they asked him, “Where are the chair, table and bicycle.”
“They’re inside me,” he answered. “I’m pregnant with a chair, a table, and a bicycle!”
His members had to hold their stomachs for laughter, and they went around telling people, “Come see our pastor. He’s pregnant with a chair, a table and a bicycle!” They had never heard anyone talk like that, but Pastor Cho had been able to see in reality the existence of those items. Through the eyes of faith, he had seen the unseen. And soon enough, the exact chair, table, and bicycle he had received by faith became a reality in the physical realm.
Understand this: “To see the unseen” isn’t the same as “being optimistic.” It actually means “to see the way God sees, and speak of the physically non-existent as though they already existed.”
In his letter to the Roman Church, Paul shared something very instructive about the God-kind of faith: