SERIES ON PRAYER: "PREVAILING AND VICTORIOUS PRAYING"

The word “prevailing” can be used in many ways. In economics, they speak of the “prevailing wage”.  This is the current pay for an employee and could include benefits, depending on the context. God’s economy though is ENTIRELY different than man’s fiscal operations.  “Prevailing” in terms of heaven, means something entirely different. The word itself – prevailing – derived from the Latin and means to “have greater power”.

There is a perfect example of prevailing prayer with King Jesus Himself when He told Peter (in Luke 22:31-32a) that “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.“ Now Jesus praying for one of His Creations – Peter – is guaranteed success! He is God, after all! We ain’t!

BUT, the Savior of the World showed us something special here. Basically, the Lord is teaching His prayer warriors to prevail and avail. One of the very potent facets of the type of prayer is expectation by predomination. That may sound like some preacher man made-up phrase.  

But look at some of the words uses in these two victory verses, of prayers well answered by Heaven:

• ....(Jesus said) “I have prayed for you”. Jesus has prayed for Peter AND HE HAS PRAYED FOR US! He is a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King. He is still interceding for us before the Throne of Almighty God the Father. When we pray for someone else or ourselves, the Holy Spirit interprets our prayers with “groanings and more which only the Trinity can comprehend”.  Therefore, Satan can slam as sideways every which way from Monday, but the truly born-again have the right as sons and daughters appeal to heaven!
• This is ALL Jesus had to say – “I have prayed for you.” So now, how do we prevail – get the superior answer from Heaven for which we are hoping? Two things: we avail and call on His Name!

All the riches of Heaven (which are not the same as the temporary scratch of this world) are available to the Christian. By the way, it is available to only those who not just profess Jesus is the Savior and Lord, but have had their sins forgiven and accepted Him as Lord of their lives. Anything else is ignoring the Jesus-spoken truth of Mark 1:15.

We have not, as Christians, because we ask not. If what we ask for is not good for us, in the opinion of our Creator, we will not get it. If the timing is not right, according to His plans and purposes, we will receive the correct version of our request when our hearts, minds, and circumstances are aligned to see God’s Perfect Hand in the matter.

The first key to availing ourselves in prayer and supplication is to persevere in our Faith and love for Christ, then to persist (see the previous posting on Persistent Prayer).  The second key is to stay in the zone. Each of us has our own piece of the wall, in this life, to which to attend.  While most may do this correctly, our attitudes and love for God while building our portion of the wall, will count in towards the outcome of our prayers.

If we start doubting God, by thinking He has turned a deaf ear to us…..and continue in this unbelief, well, sometimes He may answer, sometimes He may not. Everyone has down moments. Even John the Baptist got depressed in Herod’s prison and sent a messenger to ask his own cousin, whom he (John) knew was God, “if he was the Messiah”! Jesus was not offended but sent a word back of encouragement and testimony of miracles.

This is how the Lord rolls. In seasons of doubt and despair, He will not abandon us.  It is impossible to recall how many times in the last few decades, that the Lord has sent help, hope, encouragement and more…even before He answers a prayer request.  Availing is simple – just trust and be faithful. You will prevail.

The (half) brother of the Lord – James – who was saved after the Resurrection, reminds us that the "effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much”. That is an almost week English translation, as beautiful as the prose is. What James actually said, in the original language is this “much prevails the prayer of a righteous man”! 

Now, this is even more significant, because of what goes before this phrase in the same verse, and the very fact that we are availing ourselves of the very power direct from Heaven.  The full verse reads “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16).

The word confession here says nothing about going to a priest. It means holding yourself accountable before God and man. This makes the prayer even stronger.  The power being this righteousness, keeping short accounts with God and man and praying (communicating) via a direct line with the Almighty is what makes this so strong.

In fact, this is what the word “prevail” means here. It means my prevailing prayer has strength. It means I am able to boldly approach the Throne of Grace and offer my petitions. It means that according to my strong faith and confidence in the Savior, I can pray like Jesus and be successful….even if the answer is no!

The word “confidence” is derived from “con” – meaning with and “fide” – faith.

When we pray with confidence, we pray WITH FAITH.

When we pray as one who is settled up with God and those around us, we pray righteously.

When we pray thus, we pray effectively.

When we pray effectively, we pray in sweet, sweet victory in Jesus, my Savior forever. This is the essence of prevailing prayer. 

(Photo Credit)

SPEAK LIFE - LESSON 4: "READY, SET...FALL ON YOUR FACE!"

And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed. Matthew 26:39a

In prayer and pleading, the only practical position is prostrate before the Pillar

(Image courtesy Pinterest)

of Righteousness, the Protector of Humanity and Provider of everything- Abba Father in Heaven. The perfect example of the supreme illustration of submission and obedience to God was God Himself - in the form of the Son, Jesus! Before we got to the point of Matthew 26:39a where the pre-crucified Savior fell on His Magnificent Face, He was already in deep agony. The discourse in the Garden of Gethsemane was full of the pain and burden of what was about to transpire.

Coming off the High Priest of Heaven's Amazingly Unique prayer in John 17, where the Messiah prayed for both His current disciples and those to follow until the end of time, we see a different type of agonizing prayer. The weight of all sin for all time on the shoulders of the God-man had started to take a toll - one which He could bear, yet one which caused Him no end of suffering. The magnitude of that same sin was incredible and as accomplished and trained as His disciples were, we see here in Matthew 26:39 that He went "a little beyond them". This little phrase means a lot. In the original text it reads "proerchomai" or "gone before, advanced, gone ahead of, preceded" and not just in the physical sense that He physically went ahead of the disciples after the Passover dinner (Seder) in the Upper Room, but now as the Ultimate Sacrifice - the Messiah was going ahead of us to take the punishment for us which we deserved.

In a metaphorical sense, the weight of this threw Him to His Face before Holy God - to pray! We can learn from this, as WE go ahead of our families, loved ones and others and intercede. Intercessors and "prayer warriors" are not just few and far between but are only encouraged by church leadership when something has gone wrong, when "so-and-so" is having surgery or "this, that or the other is about to happen for Missy's daughter and she needs prayer" or "Frank's son is about to be deployed for the 6th time by the Army with hardly any time to spend with his now-estranged wife" etc....etc....

FALL ON YOUR FACE
Regardless, we press on. We take the initiative like Jesus. We take the burden of their prayer requests and "pray without ceasing". Who cares if our churches refuse to have prayer services - even once a quarter...once a year - you and go ahead of them and fall flat physically or in essence before the Holiness and Majesty of God. Truthfully, we have no business being in His Presence. The word in this verse "fell" (pipto in Greek) literally means fall under condemnation. When we pray submitted, assuming the proverbial positional prayer as Jesus did here, we acknowledge our sin before Him and accept His Grace before moving on to intercede in prayer. 

Then, the next word "face" has another literal meaning of its own. Again we go to the original textus receptus and see that the Holy Spirit used the original (and pregnant with meaning) "prosópon". Sure, Jesus fell on His literal Face and we should to when we pray, but it also means you and I "fall in the Presence of God" when used in Revelation 22:4  - that SAME word! When approaching God in the manner described above, we are immediately ushered into His Presence so our prayers and supplications can be heard and ministered to!

Basically, it comes down to this - if we wish to have our prayers answered and in real short order, we come to the same realization which George Muller did about the Will and Purposes of God. Muller knew and said that 90% of knowing God's Will, in any circumstance, is to have NO will of our own. This is the essence of falling prostrate and flat on our faces before Him. The great men of the Faith knew this.

D.L. Moody said "The world has yet to see what God can do with one man wholly dedicated to Him. By the grace of God, I will be that man." (James McConkey, The Surrendered Life, (Pittsburgh, PA: Silver Publishing, 1923)
Andrew Murray said "Trust in Jesus....He will guide you; He will teach you; He will work in you; He will keep you; He will be everything to you. What a blessed rest and freedom from responsibility and from care, because it is all in the hands of Jesus! (Andrew Murray, The Master’s Indwelling (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming Revell, 1896).
F.B. Meyer said "As soon as we come to the point of giving ourselves to God, we are almost certain to become aware of the presence of one thing, if not of more, out of harmony with His will; and while we feel able to surrender ourselves in all other points, here we exercise reserve. Every room and cupboard in the house, with the exception of this, is thrown open to the new occupant". (F B Meyer, Secret of Guidance, (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1896).

There it is, All of the above quotes are amazing and true, but F.B. Meyer hit on what happens when we are fully surrendered to God in prayer. Falling flat on our face is more than just this, but it is being in His Presence knowing and/or being aware of the full potential of ALL the resources of Heaven being open and available to us. The thing is - our Heavenly Father DOES want to make all of this available to us, all it takes is a surrendered heart. 

Therefore, "ready, set...fall on your face" (and mine) because we must be about our Father's business, to the Glory of His Name, and the blessings/benefit of others. Amen.  

STRESS-FREE LIVING? - GIVE ANXIETY THE BOOT!

 A LOOK AT THE MOST POPULAR VERSE ON AMAZON.COM

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).

Rightly dividing the Word of Truth, we have seen that there can be no justice no peace except THROUGH Christ Jesus (Phil 4:7). Once this fact has been established in your life through repentance and Faith in the Savior, as Lord, the next step to defeating fear, panic and worse is - hold on - THANKSGIVING!

All of this goes contrary to the teachings of this World, the reasoning of mere mortals and even the psycho-babble of modern 'churchianity". The good news is we have arrived at the moment where the prepared soul, properly focused with a heart and attitude of gratitude, can now approach the Lord as only an adopted son or daughter can.

Scripture promises, under the unction of the Holy Spirit that "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). We have the right, duty and obligation to go boldly to the Throne of Grace at all time, in all things.  So many people will go on social media - Facebook, Twitter etc and post, repost or "retweet" inspirational verses, quotes, photos with beautiful scenery  and more, yet would not do what those things instruct.

Reading or getting a temporary "fix" from someone else's inspiration or even

their walk with the Lord does not fix the situation you or I find ourselves in, as regards the issues of daily life. It is only through a firmly resolved intentional trusting and walking in the Light of Christ that we can really get what He says in Matthew 6:25-24"That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing?
Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are?"

Those are great exhortations and SHOULD and OUGHT to be believed...but unless you click "save" and "apply" this means absolutely nothing to the person who is out of fellowship with the Savior. So, now, the most popular verse on the most popular retail website in the world - Amazon.com - says "Be Anxious For Nothing"...HOW?
PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION:
By Prayer - whether you pray in the morning before leaving home (if you work outside the home) or in class before a High School Algebra test, or before going up on the roof with a bundle of shingles, how you pray or speak to the Lord your Creator, matters not as much as what you pray and the condition of your heart. 

There is nothing wrong with approaching the King with a troubled spirit, in silence and just weeping. 
There is nothing wrong with just saying "Father, I have absolutely NO IDEA how to do this, please help me". 
There is nothing wrong with going to one of our local Christian bookstores (or looking up prayer books on amazon.com and learning from the masters, how they did it.) 

One resources that is timeless and speaks volumes to the Power and Majesty of Prayer is The Valley of Vision. Sure, most of us cannot pray like these men and women from 300 years ago, but the more you read these prayers, even daily, you will sense their hearts for Christ and slowly, you will find your own spirit, moving in this anointed direction and pathway of purposeful Puritan like prayer, where the Holy Spirit (as promised in Scripture) will take the longings and desires of your heart and move it into a fragrant offering of prayer to the Lord, acceptable before the Throne. Please do yourself a favor and click on the following link, to see what I mean. Try it at least for one week, and watch your entire prayer life change, and less anxiety will be present in your environment!

GET A FREE PDF DOWNLOAD OF THE VALLEY OF VISION BY CLICKING HERE

By Supplication - Supplication is the act of asking for the Lord to respond to a personal request, on your own behalf (such as Jesus taught as in "Give us this day, our Daily Bread"). It is different from a petition, which is intercession on behalf of another. If you have a friend or family member in need of urgent and critical prayer and you go into a time travailing prayer, and carry that other person's burden (from the Greek word "bastazo"), you are basically standing in the gap and petitioning the Lord for that person.  Supplication is for you and I directly, (paga- entreat and beg the Lord), even if you and I are parents and entreating the Lord to intervene on behalf of our child or our parent (petition). However when we need help and guidance as regards our health, our home, our finances, a broken furnace or water pipe....anything....ask the Lord! 

Really, there is nothing wrong with asking Him for help for your car to last until pay day when you can afford new brake pads etc....There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking. We have not because we ask not. It is great to ask others to pray for us...but unless we pray for ourselves, we are sitting on a two legged stool (Jesus and the person praying). The only way it because a three  legged stool worth sitting on is if Jesus, our prayer warrior friend and you are in sync, in one accord, praying the same thing. We know from the Bible that Jesus LIVES to make intercession before the Father for us (Hebrews 7:25). So think about this for a second - we have the High Priest of ALL Heaven - Jesus, the Commander in Chief of both this world and the entire universe - waiting for our prayers, petitions and requests - and we don't approach Him!...er...WOW!!! 
By Bringing Your Requests to God - The great Prayer Book of the Bible - The Psalms has everything we need to pray away anxiety and make our requests known to God. The Holy Spirit, through the author of most of the Psalms (King David, wrote these down as an example for us. Here is how we pray away and therefore, give ANXIETY the boot it deserves:

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 4:1)

I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer. (Psalm 17:6)

In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.(Psalm 18:6)

Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.(Psalm 25:16)

Hear, LORD, and be merciful to me; LORD, be my help."(Psalm 30:10)

Have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.(Psalm 86:3)

There is so much more...and they can all be found in the Mighty Word of God. Scripture is sufficient for every need of man. It contains the keys to a life full of power, joy, and gracious Godly living. I will be posting a 12 part series on 1st and 2nd Peter on this same blog, next, under the PLUMBLINE TV show Tab, which will go through most of these same principles for the woman or man of God, to not just "be anxious" for nothing, but be all we can be, according to our calling. We can live so much more victorious as Christians, even in a filthy corrupt, lying and perverted world. All we need do, is believe God, believe His Word and keep His Commands...and we too, shall have the peace which passes...AND SURPASSES...all human understanding!