 
We are learning about "Prayer: A Believer's Responsibility in the Earth." Prayer creates a bridge between heaven and earth and gives us divine assistance. This is important for us to know because we are living in a day of spiritual warfare and we need God to intervene in the affairs of this earth.
In 2 Kings 6:8-18, a prophet named Elisha demonstrated the importance and the power of a prayer life. The king of Syria was planning to wage warfare against Israel. Because Elisha knew how to pray, God revealed the plans of the enemy to him. He in turn, revealed those plans to the king of Israel and saved his army from being captured by the Syrians. When the king of Syria found out that Elisha was the one who exposed the plan, he sent his army to capture him. When the Syrian army surrounded Elisha, his servant asked, "What shall we do?" His question exposed his lack of a prayer life. Elisha's response reveals that he did have a prayer life. "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them."
How did Elisha know that the forces with him outnumbered the forces of the enemy? "Enlightenment". Prayer has a way of opening up the realm of the spirit world so we can see life from God's point of view. Elisha used prayer as the gateway to connect with God and from that vantage point, he could see solutions rather than problems. Elisha prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant. When God answered that prayer, Gehazi could see the Lord's army surrounding the enemy. Elisha's prayer did not create the army of God. His prayer revealed the army of God that was already there.
Nothing will leave heaven until something leaves earth. It is our responsibility to pray, because prayer gives God access to our earth.
Your pastor and life coach,
Remember: Spiritual Success begins on Sunday Morning!
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Prayer is the way that God establishes his authority and structure between heaven and earth. It is the bridge between the natural and the supernatural. We cannot get God's intervention any other way. If we are going to access God's divine assistance, we need to function with the principles governing prayer. God is a God of principles and He will not move on our behalf unless we apply His principles.
God's principles are rules of operation to insure the productivity
and the protection of the things He created.
We can understand and apply God's principles for prayer when we are constantly maturing in our relationship with Him.
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Hebrews 11:6 contains a foundational principle of prayer. The Message Bible says, "It's impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him."
We cannot pray apart from faith and believing. God's greatest pleasure is when we dare to believe that he cares enough to answer our prayers.
Faith and belief are the Biblical principles that are required
for receiving anything from God.
There is a difference between belief and faith. Belief is the acknowledgement that something exists. Faith is acting like God is telling us the truth all of the time about everything. When we pray in faith, we position ourselves to receive God's answer because we believe that it will come to pass.
To work God's principles we must believe God's word
and act upon it to receive divine assistance.
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In Mark 11:12-24, Jesus approached a fig tree looking for fruit and all He found was leaves. He cursed the fig tree and said, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." The next day, He walked by the same tree and it was dead, but He didn't say a word about it. The tree had withered FROM THE ROOTS.
Prayer does not deal with symptoms, it goes right to the root of the problem.
Jesus taught us that the prayer of faith is prayed just once. When we have confidence in God's ability and we believe that God has promised us something, we can rest in faith. When we pray in line with the Scriptures, and believe we receive what we ask for when we pray, that is having faith in God's integrity. Jesus said in Mark 11:24, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."
Faith is the tracking system of prayer. When you order a package,
you can track it until it arrives at your doorstep.
While you are waiting, you are filled with expectation,
because you know it is coming.
Hebrews 11:1 in the Living Bible says, "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainty that what we hope for is waiting for us, even though we cannot see it up ahead." Because we have this certainty when we pray the will of God, we can live in a state of thanksgiving, because we know God is working on our behalf.
Let your prayer life take on new meaning today.
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