The Hedge and Care

March 10th, 2010 by David No comments »

The hedge and wall is a good picture of the care that is needed for the protection of the heart. Just like a field that is not protected, so the unprotected heart will have problems. The heart is very important. The Bible, as in the book of Proverbs, has dozens of verses about the heart and its great value. Just like other things of great value, the heart must be protected. One of the keys to success in the Christian life and in prayer is the careful care and feeding of the heart.

Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV)

The word translated, keep, in this verse means to guard. The command is to guard our heart; guard is to protect, maintain, and obey.  We are to guard our heart; we are to protect our heart from evil. In addition, guarding is to maintain our relationship with God and to obey God. The reason for the command is also included here, from the heart comes those things we need for life. Guarding our heart is important; the danger comes when the hedge or wall is damaged or inadequate. The Devil is looking for ways to attack Christians and destroy their work and testimony. He is searching for gaps in their hedge.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)

Many Christians struggle in dealing with attacks of the Devil. They work at walking through life, but too often there are attacks. When Jesus was tempted by the Devil, Jesus over came the Devil by the Word. Matthew’s Gospel mentions that after he had tempted Jesus, the Devil left Him until an opportune time. Christians, with gaps in their hedges, with parts of their walls down, present opportune times to the Devil. He is always finding openings through which to attack them. We need to fill the gaps and build up our walls so this does not happen to us. We must not be like the nation of Israel and fail to deal with our hedge and walls.

You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord.

Ezekiel 13:5 (NKJV)

Success in the Christian life requires our dealing with the hedge and wall around our heart. A productive prayer life also requires protecting our heart. A strong and effect hedge around our heart, protects our heart and gives us opportunities to pray effectively.

Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 (NKJV)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV)

Part of a prayer ministry is to stand in the gap for the land. This is a ministry that is so important and necessary today. Unfortunately few are able to stand in the gap. Like the man without a belt, who can do nothing else, having to hold up his pants, it is hard to stand in the gap for the land, if we are constantly attacked through the gaps in our personal life. Until we deal with the gaps in our hedges and walls, we limit our effectiveness in prayer.

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV)

God continues to seek men and women who will make a wall and stand in the gap on the behalf of the land; that is for nations and peoples. However, to be effective workmen standing in the gap for nations, we must be careful to maintain the hedge around our personal heart. Then we can effectively stand in prayer for others. God is seeking, will He find someone? Will He find you? Today is the day to check your hedge. Is it solid? Are there gaps that need repair? Let the Holy Spirit show you areas where you need to do repair work. Let Him show you areas where you need to build up the hedge. Let Him show you areas that need improvement. Let Him show you what to do to make the repairs. Do what you must do to make them and make your hedge secure and strong.

How is your Hedge?

Dig Deep

March 2nd, 2010 by David 2 comments »

Prayer is the easiest thing to do in the world, but it is hard work to dig deep into prayer. We want to have it be easy, but the riches in prayer come from hard work. Like the early California seekers looking for gold, we want prayer to yield great results, but to be easy. When it became hard to find gold most people gave up their dreams of riches and got jobs. When prayer is more that just a quick and easy source of answers, most people give up and do other things.

Mining for gold is hard work, prayer is hard work. Unlike grubbing around looking for nuggets on the surface, mining requires heavy equipment, structure, machines, workers and a lot of money. Prayer requires hard work as well. Those who are not satisfies with just a few nuggets they find laying around, must work hard, they must learn to pray. The request from His disciples was Lord teach us to pray.

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
Luke 11:1 (NKJV)
 

Mining is expensive. It takes a huge outlay of money to get to the point where there is a return on the initial investment. Prayer is expensive as well, no not in money; it costs a great to abide in His presence. Every day events seek to draw you away from Him. Answer delayed is expense for faith to abide, but the man who would dig deep in prayer will pay the price.
 

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 15:7 (NKJV)
 

Mining is dangerous. Cave-ins, explosions and gasses are but a few of the dangers miners faced everyday. Prayer is dangerous as well. There is a constant danger of lure of sin, doubt, fear, and unbelief. There is a danger of forgetting prayer and relying on our own strength. It is hard to wait on God.
 

Wait on the Lord, And keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.
Psalm 37:34 (NKJV)
  

Mining is time consuming. Prayer is time consuming. The question in the garden was, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?” Jesus ever lives to make intersession for us. Will you join with Him? How long will you pray?
  

Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?
Matthew 26:40 (NKJV)
 

Mining became incredibly profitable to the men who developed companies in California and later other mining areas. They poured money and effort into their work and millions of dollars were drawn from the ground. Prayer is incredibly profitable as well, not as a get-rich- scheme, but in relationship with the Father and His answers.
 
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 (NKJV)

Are you satisfied with looking for a few nuggets, with prayer that is grubbing along with whatever happens to come along?

Or will you be like the miners who dig deep, worked hard?

Nuggets or mining what will it be for you in prayer?

A Good Start

February 25th, 2010 by David No comments »

 

There is a beginning for everything. In life and in the spiritual life things have a beginning. Life begins at conception. Salvation begins with repentance. Prayer begins with Thanksgiving.

If your prayers have grown listless and dull; if there is no life in your prayer time, then you should check your starting point. Do you come to prayer with hear and voice of thanksgiving?  We live in an age where people complain and grip about everything. It is easy to fall in to the practice of complaint. If we are not careful this can overtake our prayer life as well.

We desire that our prayers be acceptable to God, so we must come to Him as He directs. We should not be anxious, but come with thanksgiving. We should be vigilant in prayer with thanksgiving.

 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
Philip. 4:6 (NKJV) 
 

Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
Col. 4:2 (NKJV)

 

 Time to Start – Thank you!

Success Assured

February 22nd, 2010 by David 1 comment »

Success in prayer can be measured in many ways. There are the physical measurements, where we observe if we are like Jesus in our practice. He prayed regularly, fervently, consistently, and these are good measures of our prayer life. We can see His success in obtaining answers to prayer. We know from the Bible record that His prayers were always answered and He prayed according to the will of God. So we can measure our success by using Jesus as our standard. How do we match up to Him? Do we pray regularly, fervently, consistently? Is the record of our prayers filled with answers to prayer? Do we pray prayers according to the will of God?

This last point is very important for success of our life of prayer. Praying in the will of God is an important key to success in prayer. Regular, fervent, consistent prayer is important, but even the heathen do this. I can pray wrong every day and my prayers are still wrong. I can pray with world class fervency, but if I pray amiss I will not have success. Just as Jesus did, I must pray the will of God.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him.

1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)

This is an incredibly powerful verse, if we pray according to God’s will, He hears our prayer. If He hears us, we have the answer we ask. Whatever we ask! The phrase often used is carte blanche (a blank document), you have full discretionary powers. The only caveat is that you must ask according to God’s will. This is amazing power in prayer that God has given to His children.

Success in prayer has many components, but chief among these is learning to pray according to God’s will. We can be foolish and pray whatever we want and waste our time or we can redeem our prayer time, making it productive and valuable time. It seems it would be wise to know and understand the will of the Lord.  

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17 (NKJV)

Praying the will of God transforms our prayers in form and substance. It takes us to the throne of grace with boldness and power. We come like Jesus; fully confident of the resulting answers because we know that God hears us, and we have His answers. With this confidence we can pray. With this confidence we can stand in faith, firm until we see the manifestation of God’s answer. Having prayed His will, we can stand; not moved by circumstances or the waves of current thinking. Praying the will of God, we can pray with great assurance and confidently say; I know that God hears me and if He hears, I have His answers to my prayers!

Dealing with Gaps so We Can Deal with Gaps

February 15th, 2010 by David 1 comment »

Success in the Christian life requires our dealing with the issues of life. We need to place a hedge or wall around our heart. A productive prayer life also requires protecting our heart. A strong and effect hedge around our heart, protects our heart and gives us opportunities to pray effectively.

Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 (NKJV)

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NKJV)

In addition to dealing with this hedge or wall, part of a prayer ministry is to stand in the gap for the land. This is a ministry that is so important and necessary today. Unfortunately few are able to stand in the gap. Like the man without a belt, who can do nothing else, having to hold up his pants, it is hard to stand in the gap for the land, if we are constantly attacked through the gaps in our personal life. Until we deal with the gaps in our hedges and walls, we limit our effectiveness in prayer.

So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

Ezekiel 22:30 (NKJV)

God continues to seek men and women who will make a wall and stand in the gap on the behalf of the land; that is for nations and peoples. However, to be effective workmen standing in the gap for nations, we must be careful to maintain the hedge around our personal heart. Then we can effectively stand in prayer for others. God is seeking, will He find someone? Will He find you? Today is the day to check your hedge. Is it solid? Are there gaps that need repair?

Let the Holy Spirit show you areas where you need to do repair work. Let Him show you areas where you need to build up the hedge. Let Him show you areas that need improvement. Let Him show you what to do to make the repairs. Do what you must do to make them and make your hedge secure and strong.

Breaking Blockages

February 9th, 2010 by David 1 comment »

Prayer would be easy if every time we prayed we got an immediate answer. With quick answers you would know how you did and the results. At times the answers seem to be slow in coming. And if the answer takes a while to come, prayer can be more difficult. In times like this we must deal all of the hindrances to answers. Sometimes there are blockages to getting an answer to our prayer.

In prayer, the need first and foremost is coming to understand what God will do. We have unlimited power in prayer when we pray God’s will. So we must come to understand what God wants to do. At times we have plans and goals and we think we know what we should do. If we want to be successful in prayer, we must live fully surrendered to Christ. We must live as though we were dead to our wants and desires, seeking His will. It is not my will that counts, it is His. I am not the god telling my puppet what to do, I must long for, with all of my heart and being, God’s will and way.

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV) 

In addition to understanding God’s will for our prayer; the second key to breaking up blockages is to be humble before God. We humble ourselves; it is a choice. To be humble is to bow before God and His will. To be humble is to esteem others over ourselves. To be humble is to be a servant. The power of prayer comes in seeking God and walking humbly with Him.

There is much more to learning about breaking up blockages to prayer and with His training and faithfully working though our lessons, we can learn to deal with blockages to prayer and become effective in prayer.

More Effective Prayer

February 3rd, 2010 by David 4 comments »

There was a man who people called Father Nash. His real name was Daniel Nash and he lived in upstate New York from 1763 to 1837. Nash, who served as a pastor in the area near his home, caught an eye ailment. His eyes were inflamed and he was almost entirely blind for about six months. He could not read or write, so he spent almost all of his time in prayer. This brought a dramatic change in his life; he became a man of prayer. He worked day and night in prayer. The focus of much of his prayer was the salvation of lost men and women.

At age 48, Nash decided to give himself totally to prayer. He spent much of his time praying for Charles Finney’s meetings. Nash became the man of prayer behind Finney, praying for revival and the ministry. And from his knees came hours of prayer and wonderful answers to his prayers.

Stories of Nash are nearly legendary, but several documented stories serve our purpose here. For example, Nash carried a prayer list. On this list were names of specific people he had made the focus of prayer. Every day and often several times a day, he would pray for these people. People described his prayers as “wonderful” and “almost miraculous”, but the most important point was he prayed for the people on his list until they got saved and time after time he got answers, they were saved.

His power in prayer could be overwhelming. There was a man named Dresser who went out of his way to rail against the local revival and to swear and blaspheme if he saw Christians. He took special delight in attacking young men who had just been converted in Finney’s meetings. Nash heard about Dresser and put him on his prayer list and prayed. A few days later Dresser came to the local meeting, confessed his sins, and was converted.

There were other men associated with Finney who were called to prayer, for example Abel Clary. Clary was described as a good man and an elder of the church, who had been licensed to preach, but he had a heavy burden for winning men to Christ and for prayer. The burden was so strong he gave all of his time to prayer.

Nash, and often another man or two, often this was Clary, would go quietly into towns three or four weeks before Finney was scheduled to have meetings. They would rent a room and give themselves to prayer, to much prayer, to effective prayer. They would be so burdened for the meetings and for people that they would not be seen for days. For example, Finney records the following:

When I got to town to start a revival a lady contacted me who ran a boarding house. She said, “Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?” “No it isn’t necessary,” I replied. “They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.”

From Lectures on Revival by Charles Finney

This was Nash’s norm, travail in prayer. He did not attend many of the meetings, but would pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to convict people of their sins and soften their hearts, so they would be saved. If there was opposition to the meetings, Nash prayed harder.

When he was seen in public, Nash could be bold as well. There was a time when some young men decided to break up Finney’s meetings. Nash had been praying nearby and stepped out of the shadows and announced to them,

“Now mark me, young men! God will break your ranks in less than one week, either by converting some of you, or by sending some of you to hell. He will do this certainly as the Lord is my God!”

Finney in relating this story tells how he thought his friend had “lost his sense”. However, by the next week the leader of the group had come, confessed his sinful attitude, been saved, and began to tell all his friends about Christ. Before the week was out nearly the entire group had come to Christ.

Time and space in this article do not allow other stories of Nash and Clary, nor of other men and women of effective prayer, like Brainerd, Backus, Bounds, Erskine, Edwards, Guyon, Howells, Hyde, Knox, McGready, Murray, Müller, Studd, and others. Not satisfied with the conditions around them, they gave themselves to prayer, and not just prayer, but effective, fervent prayer that avails much.

There is a high call, from God, a call to Christians to step up to effective, fervent prayer that avails much. Response to this call will be the deciding factor of success or failure of churches and ministries, families and individuals. Will you step up to the call?

Without the backing of effective prayer our attempts to touch this generation, with the Gospel, will fail. We cannot go enough, preach enough, give enough, broadcast enough, minister enough, or any of the other good things we must do to reach this generation, if we do not have effective prayer backing our efforts. Without the prayers of Father Nash there would not have been the revivals of Finney. Without the effective prayers of men and women today, stepping up to the high call of Christ concerning prayer, there will not be the revivals we so desperately want and need. I ask you to make the dream come true; pray, and pray more, and pray effective prayers that avail much. Will you pray?

This excerpt is taken from Prayer: A Force that Causes Change – volume 4 – Effective in Prayer available Spring of 2010. Go to the Voice of Thanksgiving website at www.voiceofthanksgiving.com for more information.

Soaking in the Anointing of His Power

February 1st, 2010 by David 8 comments »

There is yet another application for soaking in the anointing. Today there are many modern solvents used for getting the rust off parts and loosening threaded items that are stuck together. When I was young we had to soak the parts in solvents to remove the rust and corrosion.

The world around us, our flesh, and the devil all conspire to bring rust and corrosion to our life. It may be difficult to get a Christian renounce his faith, but it is relatively easy to nurture a build up of hindrances to faith. This is like corrosion. It builds up slowly; with time it can hinder the function of the product or even destroy it completely. If we do not regularly remove the corrosion in our life, our prayer life, and our effectiveness in prayer will be affected.

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 Corinthians 7:1 (NKJV)

Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the  Master, prepared for every good work.

2 Timothy 2:21 (NKJV)

Like those old parts soaking in solvent, so we need time to soak in His anointing so rust and corrosion, the hindrances to prayer, can be removed. If we desire to be fit for the work of prayer we need this soaking.

So how do we soak under the anointing? There are many aspects to soaking in the anointing, but just a few to get you started. Meditating on a verse or series of verses from the Bible can be a way to soak.

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV)

My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 3:1-4 (NKJV) 

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV) 

There are many other ways to soak in the anointing of God. Sitting under anointed preaching, fasting, and times of worship and praise. We are looking at gaining power in our prayers by soaking in the anointing, but another way to soak in the anointing is in prayer. Spending time with the Father in prayer is a great way to soak.

The key is we need to find ways to soak. We need time for His nature to soak into us. We need time for His cleansing and refreshing. We need time for the removal of corrosion and rust of life. If we want to be effective in prayer we must find ways to get close to the Father and soak in His anointing.

More Soaking in the Anointing

January 31st, 2010 by David No comments »

There is more to soaking in the anointing. My dad for many years worked in a lumber yard. It was hard work and many nights when he came home he would take a bath. This was a time for him to soak in warm water. This soaking was for cleansing and for removing the pain of sore muscles. After he had soaked for a few minutes he was ready for the night. He was ready for play, concerts, sports, adventure; what ever the night had in store. This soak restored; he was clean and refreshed.

We need this type of soaking as well. Prayer is a powerful ministry; it also requires regular cleansing and refreshing. If you are carrying a burden in prayer, the identification with the needs of the people and the battle against the enemy is just that, a battle. It can be long hard work and we need to have time with God to soak in His anointing; to be cleansed and refreshed.

To whom He said, “This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest,” And, “This is the refreshing”; Yet they would not hear.

Isaiah 28:12 (NKJV)

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Acts 3:19 (NKJV)

The Anointing

January 29th, 2010 by David 1 comment »

Jesus’ Disciples grew and matured in their faith by spending time with Him. He would often take them aside to a quiet place where they could spend time together out of the crush of people. This time was used for teaching, training, rest, fellowship, questions and answers, and much more. It also was time for the Disciples to soak in the anointing of Jesus Christ. As they soaked they were changed. They were changed from looking like the world to looking more like Jesus. They began to change in their habits and desires from the way they had grownup into the new men they were to become. These fishermen and men of many walks of life were changed into Disciples.

We need this same type of treatment; we need to soak in Jesus and His anointing. We can learn a great deal about prayer. We can change our habits and practices; we can learn to pray. However, to be truly effective in prayer, we must pray with the anointing of God. This comes only by spending time soaking in His anointing; it is caught, not taught. The anointing is an agent of power; it breaks yokes and destroys burdens. Prayer is a force of change, reaching out to God and receiving answers from God. The power for these changes, the power to receive answers is by the anointing. We need His power and anointing in our prayers.

It shall come to pass in that day that his burden will be taken away from your shoulder, And his yoke from your neck, And the yoke will be destroyed because of the anointing oil.

Isaiah 10:27 (NKJV)

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 (NKJV)

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

John 15:7-8 (NKJV)