|
Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pray-ers |
|
|
|
(Habit #3-Part 3)
By Dennis Conner
HABIT #3: BE PREPARED (2 Timothy 2:15)
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
handling accurately the word of truth!” (NASB)
I believe that as God looks into the heart of a spiritually growing
Christian, most often He will find an earnest desire to be more
effective in his/her prayer life. James tells us (James 5:16) that the
effectual (i.e. effective) prayer of a righteous man avails (i.e.
accomplishes) much. Yet, most of us have discovered--through years of
feeling ineffective in our prayer-lives--that praying effectively does
not come automatically at our “born-again” conversion!
Praying effectively also did not come automatically to the twelve
disciples who had spent almost two years with Jesus--24/7 as we say.
They realized that they needed to be taught how to pray effectively.
(Luke 11:1) Unfortunately, the enemy has deceived too many of us for
too long; causing us to think “everyone else knows how to pray except
me, so I am not going to embarrass myself by asking for some
prayer-teaching help in my church.” Not only do we individually
miss-out on the blessings of an effective prayer-life, but Jesus’
church is weakened and rendered less effective in her ministries
because God’s children are not gathering for effective corporate prayer
regularly as they did in the first-century church (Acts 2:42, 12:12).
In the past two months we have presented you with the first two--of the
five--“biblical truths” of this third habit of “Effective Pray-ers”:
TRUTH #1: WHO GOD IS (Summary)
By recognizing the nature and character of God--identified within His
various names--we will find ourselves drawing much closer (i.e. more
personal and intimate) to the Lord, as well as
experiencing a greater sense of connecting with the King of kings and Lord of lords as we pray!
TRUTH #2: WHO I AM “IN CHRIST” (Summary)
Not only in your prayer-life can the understanding of what the Bible
means when it states “If any man is IN CHRIST (emphasis added), he is a
new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17), transform you, but also knowing who
God has created you to be--as a “born-again” Christian--will transform
every aspect of your total life!
TRUTH #3: KNOWING WHO MY REAL ENEMY IS
Despite who may appear to be the source of our current
problem--i.e. another person (spouse, sibling, boss, minister, or
another church member)--we need to exercise our “mind-of-Christ” (1
Corinthians 2:16) and recognize that what the Apostle Paul taught first
century Christians is still true today: “For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world-forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces
of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, NASB)
Dr. Tony Evans (Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, Dallas) teaches in his
spiritual warfare training (“The Angelic Conflict”): “Everything
physical and visible is influenced or controlled by that which is
spiritual and invisible.” Thus, Satan and his demonic forces (i.e.
angels who were cast out of heaven with him, Revelation 12:4 & 9)
are our real enemy Often times they influence us or others to be
deceived (2 Corinthians 11:14) about something that is “bad”, by making
it look“ good.” However, when we are able to recognize the devil for
who he really is--such as:
“The father of lies” (John 8:44)
“The adversary”--NOT advocate--of every Christian (1 Peter 5:8)
The continual “accuser of the brethren” (Revelation 12:10)
then our prayer-focus and attitude toward other people dramatically changes! We no longer pray
“against” another person--or even “sin” by not praying for them
(Matthew 5:44)--but rather, we begin praying for the person like
Stephen prayed as he was being martyred (Acts 7:59-60) and Jesus prayed
as He was being crucified (Luke 23:34). We pray for their forgiveness.
When we begin praying with the same heart-of-forgiveness toward other
people as Stephen and Jesus had, then is when we will begin
experiencing more and more prayers answered by our heavenly Father!
And we can do that not on our own, but with the same Spirit-power that
enabled Stephen and Jesus to pray with such effectiveness. Because that
same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within every
Christian today (Romans 8:11).
Yes, knowing who our real enemy is--and choosing to not believe his
lies and deception that causes us to blame and be unforgiving of
others--is what protects us from becoming bitter toward other people
and unable to pray effectively. Because when we choose to not forgive
others of their sin, then Jesus said our heavenly Father will not
forgive us (Matthew 6:15). Going to the Father in prayer--even in
Jesus’ name--with a sinful attitude toward other people, will hinder
our prayer-life because our prayers will not be heard (Isaiah 59:1-2)
nor answered. That is
exactly what our real enemy wants for our prayer-life: un-heard and
un-answered prayers.
So, what is the secret to effective praying? In accordance with this
HABIT #3, by knowing that our real enemy is Satan, not another person.
Therefore, praying--by the power of the Holy Spirit, even when we are
not sure how or what to pray (Romans 8:26)--with a pure heart, a good
conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).
--Dennis Conner is the co-founder of Called to Serve Prayer Ministry .
|
June 2009 