“59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the Lord, be nigh unto the Lord our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require: 60 That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else” (1 Kings 8:59, 60).
Prayer is the key to heaven. It is the very principle that our individual Christian growth is based upon because it is the only way we can have communion with God. From that intimate communion flows divine revelation of the Word of God, strength to overcome, and changes are made in the mind, the emotion, and the will of man. Christ had a purpose in this world, and He accomplished it with the power that He received through prayer.
Matthew 4:1 tells us that the Spirit led Christ into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting and prayer. Luke 4:14 tells us He came out of the wilderness in the power of the Spirit. The early Church of Acts was given that same power during a 7-10 day meeting of uninterrupted prayer. We have the same access to the power found in prayer today.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” (Ephesians 1:3). The Holy Ghost told us a few years ago that He has come as far as He can and that we must now go to Him. What did He mean? One writer stated it this way, “…this is no time for casual prayer.” When we pray, we must understand that we are communicating with the very source of the power of the One who created the universe.
I read a quote not long ago that said, “Wish upon a star and your dreams will come true. Why wish when you can pray to the One who created the star?” We know the power of the Spirit has been placed within the Church. It is not the power that is missing; it is the lack of accessing the power that hinders. There is a certain type of praying that gives us access to that power. The spiritual power of prayer is only found in heavenly places. Romans 8:26 tells us how to access the spiritual blessing of the power of prayer. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Many of the younger generation do not know what intercessory prayer is or even what it sounds like. They haven’t seen it in action. Intercessory prayer is the deep crying out of the Holy Ghost in groanings and moanings from inside of us. There are no human words to pray with, it is the only power in the universe that will change man and move God on man’s behalf.
Christ committed Himself to the type of prayer that unlocked the hold of death and hell over mankind when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Thy will be done.” Those words were only uttered after hours of the agonizing groaning of intense prayer that brought great drops of blood. We, on the other hand, pray “I feel better prayers,” “whiney prayers,” “demanding prayers.” We get up when we feel a little better, instead of touching heaven. We have prayed human will. Only the Holy Ghost knows the will of the Father.
Our prayers are all too often fleshly. Somebody has got to break through into the heavenly places. Pray in the Holy Ghost. One of the things I teach people when they are working in the altar is don’t let people pray whiney prayers. “O God, you haven’t done a thing yet. How am I going to fix this? Where are you? Why don’t you help me, Lord?” We are emotional creatures. Hearts are broken, lives need mending, and souls need salvation. We must commune with the Father and break through in victorious prayers!
Aren’t you tired of praying whiney prayers? Aren’t you tired of praying feel-better prayers? You know when someone has prayed through to victory?—the joy of the Lord flows through them. They get up in victory. Intercessory prayer penetrates the heart that is deadened in sin and trespasses.
If you have family caught up in sin, intercessory prayer will open up the spiritual blessings. The Holy Ghost said we have to go to where He is. When the window opens it will be because someone has pressed through. I believe that Michael and Gabriel will talk to the Father. We have ministering angels that are waiting for somebody to break all the way through. I don’t know about you, but maintaining this cause of prayer and praise is all we need to do.
People will ask “What should I do?” The answer is simple: PRAY. It is that simple. Someone has to get a hold of it. Ministries grow because of prayer. Read it again—PRAY. Not whiney or feel-good prayers, but PRAY until strength and peace come, until you’ve broken through.
We all love the story of beautiful Hadassah and how she was used to bring about the deliverance of the Jews. Esther was just fulfilling the instructions of a man we often overlook. By the fourth chapter of Esther, it is recorded that the king’s right-hand man had influenced the king to decree that all Jews must die. Haman even built a hangman’s gallows that he wanted to hang the respected Jew, Mordecai, upon. Mordecai instructed Esther and her handmaidens to begin a fast, to pray, to cry out to God for deliverance. The scripture says that in every province the Jews began to fast, mourn, and wail in desperation.
“WHEN Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;” (Esther 4:1). One interesting thing is the place that Mordecai walked to in order to cry out in a loud and bitter cry. After he had rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, Mordecai went out into the midst of the city to bitterly cry.
I don’t know about you, but do you know the choice One of Her mother. She is a city that sits on a hill. Mordecai set the example for the type of praying that must be found inside the city of God. No altar should sit empty inside of Her local churches. There are too many lost and dying souls; there is too much hurting all around the world for Her altars to sit idle and unused! The altar in the city of God is not just for the sinner! It is also for intimate fellowship, worship, and for the petitions that are made between the believer and the God of the universe!
By Chapters 7 and 8 of Esther we see the results of the power of intercessory prayer. God reached down His hand and changed the course of Jewish history. Even the law was changed, and the very lives of the Jews were spared. What accomplished this astounding feat? It was the intense, persistent praying and fasting. Death was imminent for the Jewish nation; destruction was coming, but Mordecai intimately knew the God of the Jewish nation and he resolved himself to cry out to the God of the universe.
Our families, the world around us, has had a death sentence pronounced upon them—total destruction is coming. Jesus told us the only way a great move of God in conviction, salvation, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost, and divine revelation will happen is through prayer and fasting. Let it not once be named among us that our altars are unused when we gather as The Church of God for each and every service. Souls are dying all around us and we will go to church, shout, and say we had a great service while the needs around the world are going unmet. We cannot walk out the doors without kneeling at the altar of God in the city of God. Those with needs will die lost. We get so excited because we clapped our hands, and we pray a prayer and say “hallelujah.” Let us take the example of Mordecai and make the city of God a place of intercessory prayer, crying out with a loud and bitter cry until heaven opens with revival, healings, and answered prayers! Let us cry out at the altars in the city of God until the death sentence has been pardoned for our families, for our neighbors, for our communities! Let us cry out at the altars in the city of God until deliverance for the burdened is lifted off the shoulders of the care-worn saints, until joy is given for mourning, and peace is given for trouble.
If our prayer lives are not accessing the power that has been given to the Church, then we need to find the altar of repentance and resolve ourselves to better learn the practice of intercessory prayer for we have a cause to maintain in these last days! Intercessory prayer is the beginning point of any cause, of any spiritual work that is done in this world. When we do the work, we have the anointing to go along with it. Prayer is meaningless unless it is coming from a heart of thankfulness, a heart filled with gratitude for the intervention of God into the affairs of man.
“ENTER into his gates with thanksgiving…” (Psalm 100:4). Anybody can be thankful. Anyone can shout “hallelujah.” The true heart of thanksgiving, the true heart of praise is developed, is nurtured, is matured in the darkest of valleys, in the midst of the most hurtful circumstance, in the middle of the devastation of disease and even death. Developing a lifestyle of praise and worship will cost us. It will cost us the putting away of self-reliance. We often say, “I can’t do anything, but pray.” The only thing we need to do is pray. Then, I can help. It will cost us the discipline to bring those negative things we allow ourselves to think about under the control of the Spirit. It will cost us putting into practice true faith in God even when it seems that God is not hearing us!
Luke records Jesus entering the home of a Pharisee. The Pharisees were mostly middle-class businessmen. They seemed to control the decision-making of the Sanhedrin far more than the Sadducees did, perhaps because they had the support of the common people. The Pharisees strictly obeyed historical traditions along with the Old Testament Law. The custom of the day was for the homeowner to offer a basin of water to the guest to wash their feet and to greet them with a kiss. In Palestine, instead of shaking hands to meet and greet, “…they place their right hand on their friend’s left shoulder and kiss his right cheek, and then reversing the action, place their left hand on his right shoulder, and kiss his left cheek…” The kiss is considered the mark of friendship or an expression of special regard. (Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, pg. 74). The woman who chose to enter the house of the Pharisee is noted as a sinner. She not only took a cruse, or a flask, made from expensive alabaster which was filled with the expensive, precious oil commonly known as spikenard, into the house with her, but she did the unthinkable as a woman in a public place. She poured the expensive ointment upon the head of Christ and then upon His feet. Even knowing the custom of the day that to uncover her hair in public could result in charges of disobeying religious Law; she still uncovered her hair and wiped her shed tears from off His feet with her hair. The pouring of the ointment upon the head of Christ was an act showing great respect. It was the way the homeowner showed honor to distinguished guests which Simon, the Pharisee, had failed to do. This woman publicly defied the Law, she defied the custom of the day, by entering the Pharisee’s house unbidden, by pouring out her love and gratitude for the Master with expensive oil in her alabaster box, and by uncovering her hair in public. The cost of her act of worship is recorded for us in the writings of Luke 7:36-40, 44-46. The public ridicule, the disdain of the occupants of the house is clear to us. Yet, the result of her actions meant more to her than any ridicule that would try to persuade her to not pour out the oil of her praise! Jesus told her, her sins were forgiven. Even amid shame and humiliation, in the darkest moments of public ridicule, this woman recognized the Master and she bore the cost to pour out her praise for His amazing, saving grace!
I do not know what it has cost you to keep your praise in the midst of horrible tragedies and heartache. I do not know the suffering, the constant bombardment of the fiery darts of the evil one upon your mind, in your emotions or on your physical body. I do not know about your sleepless nights, your days filled with hurt, with worry, or with self-loathing. I do not know how hard you had to work to get in control of your mind and to allow the Spirit to bring thoughts of peace. I do not know how hard you had to work to get in control of your destructive emotions so that the Spirit could flow through you with His soothing touch. You do not know what it has cost me to continue to press through the throng of the pressures of life just to keep my heart of thanksgiving. What I do know is that intercessory prayer, the intimate communion with Abba Father, will enrich, it will encourage the joy of our salvation! It will strengthen the inner man as he presses his way through mental anguish, emotional distress, and physical pain thus enabling him to fall at the feet of Jesus and pour out from a heart of thanksgiving the praise that is due His name! Prayer and praise—one cannot be without the other. Don’t be satisfied with feel-good prayers.
“15 And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. 16 The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour. 17 And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them” (Esther 8:15-17). The end result of answered intercessory prayer was a province filled with joy and gladness! Mordecai left the presence of the king arrayed in the royal apparel of blue and white. He left the presence of the king rejoicing with a heart of thanksgiving! Take them to the King Church. When we get through, we will be arrayed in apparel of blue and white. Do you know what prayer is going to do for the Church? God bless you this year as you maintain the cause of missions with prayer and praise!
