KEEP ON PRAYING

Text – James 5:13-17 (TLB)

One of the characteristics of the early Apostles is that they met regularly to pray. There is what is called corporate anointing that flows when Christians gather to pray; it changes things in the realm of the spirit. There is a supernatural release that brings supernatural turn around when you get into that realm of legislation. The Bible says that “… one will put one thousand to flight, but two will put ten thousand to flight.” Deut. 32:30. There is synergy in prayer. One person cannot form a quorum as far as the Bible is concerned. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matt. 18:5. This is very important for couples who plan to get married. Active family altar is of utmost importance; it is as powerful as a Church gathering. The two of them must, however, agree for the prayer to be effective.

Verse 13 – “Is any one among you suffering? He should keep on praying about it.” The Bible says you should keep on praying. This is a year that you must open your mouth wide and allow God to give you the right confessions to make. Your confession goes before your possession. Quite a number of people want to get to the promised land but they keep on making negative and wrong confessions. Wrong confession can stop you from entering your promised land; wrong confession can make you not to enjoy abundant life. Rather than confess wrongly, it is better to keep quiet. Mind your confession this year.

The Bible says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Matt. 12:34. Prov. 18:21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” If you want to enjoy life, then speak life. Your words are seeds and seeds are always smaller than the harvest. You can re-create your world by your word. That is why I love to minister with anointing, with life because every word of healing that I release produces a harvest. When you wake up every morning, plant seeds of what you want to see in the next couple of months; declare them. Don’t let any wrong word fly over your head, stop it, cut it short.  De-programme every wrong programme. This scripture says, are you suffering? There is a programme for your benefit, keep on praying; make a habit of praying. Don’t take no for an answer. Jesus gave a parable that men ought always to pray and not to faint in the story of the unjust judge and the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-5. The judge decided to grant justice because of the widow’s persistence.

Some people try to teach that because you have prayed about an issue only once, you should not pray about it again. I can’t find that as a standard of the Bible. There is a place for you to keep on praying but  be sincere about what you are praying. One of the worst things anybody can do is to be hypocritical in the presence of God; saying words that are not consistent with what your heart is saying. This is the reason why you need to plant the word of God  (truth) in the garden of your heart. When you have truth in the inward man, you will not say what is not consistent with your heart. Whenever you come to God, tell him exactly how it is. In the place of prayer, express wisdom; express your heart; God listens to your heart and not your lips. Life flows from the garden of the heart. A lot of sins are committed even in the presence of God and that is why some prayers don’t fly. God calls it hypocrisy. Job 36:13-14 says, But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them. They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.”

There was a day I was to minister but I had pains in my stomach so I decided to talk to Jesus. ‘Jesus, you are the Prince of peace, but there is a riot in my stomach, please remove this riot. I enthrone you the Prince of peace’. Immediately after I left to go and minster. In place of the riot, the Prince of peace put his peace in my stomach and I was able to minister to the glory of God.

Pray – Lord, please remove every trace of hypocrisy in my heart, let it dissolve and disappear. In place of hypocrisy, Lord, please put truth in my heart, please establish my heart to be full of truth. In any way, Lord, that I have approached you like a politician, I am sorry, please forgive me in Jesus name.

Prayer is the seed that will produce the harvest that will take you from suffering to supernatural abundance and to sweatless victories. God works, he moves, he acts when we pray. Prayer activates the move of God. Prayer moves the hand that rules the world, prayer changes things. Prayer is spiritual programming. Prayer is the seed for spiritual victory. The harvest of prayer is generational. If you can pray, you have learnt to do all things well. Prayer brings transformation and divine intervention. Prayer is also the seed for miracles.

“And those who have reason to be thankful should continually be singing praises to the Lord.” Learn to continually sing praises to God. One of the things the Lord taught me is that your most effective weapon of spiritual warfare is the one that has become your lifestyle. Make prayer and praise your lifestyle this year and you will experience transformation. Instead of making negative confessions, sing praises to GOD and remember that the highest form of prayer is praise. In 1 Tes. 5:17, Apostle Paul says, “Pray without ceasing.” That is the prescription. Some call it PUSH – pray until something happens.

For those who say that you should not continue to pray, Elijah had to pray seven times for the rains to come. Any power that attacks your prayer life hates you. Whenever the enemy wants to attack a family or a Church, the first thing he attacks is the prayer fire which is the engine room. Many Churches do not have intercessors because prayer is hard work. It is easier to preach than to pray. If you cannot pray, sing praises.

Verse 14-15 – “Is anyone sick? He should call for the elders of the Church and they should pray over him and pour a little oil upon him … and if his sickness was caused by some sin, the Lord will forgive him.” Some sicknesses are caused by sin. Whenever you fall sick, the first place you should look is inwards.

Verse 16 – “Admit your faults to one another and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results.” Pray – Father, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, grant that my prayer life this year will release great power that will produce wonderful results in every facet of my life, in my home, in my family, in my business, in my ministry. Lord, revive my prayer life, strengthen my prayer life, strengthen the prayer fire of my family altar, strengthen the prayer fire of Holy Ghost Fellowship International and let our prayer produce wonderful results this year. Thank you blessed Father, in Jesus name.

Verse 17 – “Elijah was completely human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall … and grass turned green and the gardens began to grow again.” Elijah prayed persistently for the rains.

 Be a carrier of the living water this year so that everywhere you go, you will be a healing agent in a sick world; you will be an apostle of transformation and revitalization. Wherever that river flows, there is no curse, no barrenness and no dryness. Psa. 46:4.

Pray – Lord, use me as an Apostle of abundant life this year in the name of Jesus. Thank you, faithful God.

• Touch you belly and say, ”out of my shall flow rivers of living water this year in the name of Jesus.”

Eph. 3:20, “Now glory be to God who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of – infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” The power of God is infinite to do whatever you ask. It is going to be done by God’s mighty power. There is nothing you can ask from God that will diminish God. If God wants to bless you, he will connect you to somebody that will stretch your vision.

Psa. 84:11, “For Jehovah is our Light and our Protector. He gives us grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk along his paths.” God will not withhold any good thing from you as long as you walk uprightly. Decide that this year, you will not derail, decide that you will walk uprightly and all your steps will be right along the paths of righteousness, along the path of truth, of mercy and of life.

Pray – Lord, please guide me in all the paths that I will take this year. Help me to be spot on, help me not to miss your mark. Please help me to walk uprightly so that you will not withhold any good thing from me. I trust you O God to answer all my prayers even beyond my wildest imagination this year. As I pray Lord, let the answers start right now in Jesus name. Amen.

This is Operation ‘ASK’ (Matt 7:7). You may wish to present your requests to God.