Answered Prayers

The all-inclusive condition of answered prayer ~ Finis Dake

Isn’t that what everyone longs for, for their prayers to be answered?  I know it is mine and I’ve learned some interesting and important tools along the way.

1) Pray in Jesus’ Name.  I know that may sound obvious, but it’s really quite important that it’s by and through Christ’s authority and not your own.

2) It’s not your reputation on the line.  When you pray in Jesus’ Name (vs. your own), it’s His reputation on the line and, therefore, His responsibility to answer the prayer and not yours.

3) Abide in the Father and His Word.  It’s important to know scriptures, but it’s even more important to know the Author.  When you walk daily with Father God, His Word changes from head knowledge to heart knowledge and from logos to rhema.  If you only have logos—head knowledge—of God’s Word, then it may happen to you as happened to the seven sons of Sceva, “One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’" (Acts 19:15).

4) Pray God’s revealed Word.  Praying scripture has power, but praying scriptures the Holy Spirit revealed to you as promises from the Father is even more empowering.  It gives you the power to tell the devil, when he lies to you, that your God will answer your prayers just as He promised in His Word.

5) Follow the John 15:7 formula. Remain in the Father and His Son + Keep God’s revealed Word (rhema) with you + ask what you need or desire = it will come into existence and begin to happen.

The John 15:7 formula is the all-inclusive condition that Finis Dake was referring to, so try it out in your life and see what happens.  Let God blow your mind as He answers your prayers.

If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. ~ John 15:7

Takeover

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ~ Exodus 17:11

Takeover

Such a simple word, and yet, so powerful!  I love it when God reaches down and touches us in simple, yet intimate ways.  When God calls you to greatness, calls you for His purposes and plan, it is His desire that you will take back and takeover the places in which the enemy has had control. 

Last Tuesday, God showed me that when we stand with our whole lives worshiping Him, the enemy is defeated, because he has no power.  It is in that time, that the army of the Lord begins to gain ground—to takeover—defeating the enemy.  The chains of pity, defeat, depression, anxiety and sickness are loosed from around you and begin to bind up your enemy.  Freed from those chains, with your heart stayed on the Father, He is able to promote you from glory to glory, as you grow in the image of the Son and the Father.

But when the details start to pick at you and you begin to notice them more than you do the glory of the Father, when your life of worship begins to fade and become stale, the chains that were binding your enemy become loosed around him and begin to bind you, again.  You stop gaining ground for the Lord and begin to lose the battle you are in. 

But there is yet hope, even for those bound in chains.

A life once lifted up in worship can be lifted up again!  One small step toward the Father is a giant leap toward victory.  Each step we take in our walk of faith is blow after blow in the enemy’s face.

Takeover

That was the word at my seat in a meeting that very same Tuesday.

Thank you, Father God for loving us so personally.  Thank you for taking the time to touch us in intimate ways, just to let us know that you are with us.  In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Ah-Ha Moment

Ever had one?  It’s when all that’s been going on around you and the things that have happened and have been said to you make sense.  Mine was the other day.

In the midst of all the craziness and the trials we are facing, God said to me, “Don’t make this about you.”  What do you say to that?!  When I asked Him what He meant, I was met with silence.

God has been preparing us to face these trials for some time.  First, He led us to pray for Him to move MIGHTILY.  That’s not to say that the only way God can move is through or after trials, nor that God causes trials.  But God, being omniscient, knew the trials were coming, so He began to prepare us for victory over them.  He gave us a desire for something far greater than ourselves and then led us to read books and hear sermons about overcoming and victory over trials.  He reminded us that this is war and when—not if—we overcome, He gets all the glory.

One night, after a long week, I was being beaten up pretty badly.  The enemy was pouncing upon me, blow after blow.  And when I thought about reaching out for help, the enemy told me that to reach out was weak and I should be able to handle it on my own.  But then I remembered the picture of Moses being helped by his friends.  With Moses’ hands lifted up, the enemy was defeated and when they dropped, the enemy began to win.  And when Moses couldn’t do it on his own, two of his friends came, each holding up one of Moses’ hands, (see Exodus 17:11-13).  So at midnight, I asked my friends to pray for me, because I didn’t feel I had the strength to do it for myself.  And they did!

And after that came my ah-ha moment.  God spoke to me through one of my beautiful friends.  She said, “God is using this time to stretch you into a woman who depends on her faith in Him to get her through.”  God showed me that it’s not about my strength or my ability to get it done.  This time that we are in is about seeking and praying and praising.

God moves mightily when we believe mightily.

War is not for the faint of heart, but for the armed.  We arm ourselves through seeking and praying and praising.

With great intensity and mighty power, this war will be one—this trial overcome—through worship, prayer, faith, and courage to believe!

The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]. ~ James 5:16 AMP