Dr. Wesley L Duewel: We all experience situations in which prayer answers are much more difficult than in others.
Over whom or what must we prevail in prayer?
Let me point out that you must prevail over yourself, over situations, sometimes over people, and perhaps almost always over Satan. There is also a sense in which you must prevail before God.
You must prevail over yourself.
You must prevail over your schedule of activities. Life is so full that it is often difficult to find the necessary time for the prolonged prayer that may be required in prevailing.
Prevailing may necessitate adjusting your priorities. In addition, Satan always seems to be able to manipulate circumstances or people to interrupt you or call you on the phone just when you want to concentrate on prayer.
When you need to prevail, you find time alone with God more difficult than usual. You may have to sacrifice good and urgent activities in order to give adequate time to intercession.
You must at times prevail over weariness. After you have been active and working diligently and then stop to get alone with God, you may find that your natural physical weariness catches up with you.
Sometimes when you are tired, the spiritual thing to do may be to take a brief nap before you begin your more intense prayer.
After several hours of prayer, you may need to refresh yourself with a drink of water or snack on a piece of fruit or small quantity of simple food to help you wake up.
You may need to vary your posture or to walk about your room if the location of your praying permits it. When you are not well, you may need to prevail over pain.
Some people have to prevail over personal laziness or restlessness...
Some people are so spiritually weak that they have never learned how to pray with real soul hunger for any needs except for their own personal crises...
Some people are so unspiritual that not only does their physical nature shrink from prayer but their carnal nature fears prayer involvement, holds them back from earnest, prolonged praying, and finds a multitude of excuses why not to prevail...
Perhaps before you really begin to experience prevailing prayer, you will need to confess before God your past prayerlessness, your lack of hunger for God's presence of for God's will to be done, your lack of desire and determination to persevere until you obtain prayer answers to major needs.
You may need to ask God to deliver you from inner hesitations, fears, and unwillingness to pay the price of victory.
We cannot earn prayer's answers, but there is a price of self-effort, priority setting, and willingness to sacrifice self-interest so that God's will may prevail.
Ask God to give you new boldness, determination, and faith.
(Google image and my emphasis added)
#32 Why is Prevailing Necessary?
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 54-56) Zondervan
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 54-56) Zondervan
Father, help us prevail over our schedules.
May we begin to understand the
importance of setting time and priority
importance of setting time and priority
to our praying for our own needs, as well
as those of others.
We confess our lack of interest and concern,
and ask that You prod us to be faithful to
Your calling on our lives as Christians.
Teach us how to pray with real soul hunger for
any needs that are important to You.
I ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Today’s Bible verse: Jer. 32:17 "Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."
Today’s quote-
"The things of God have a circumference. They are preserved in a written body of truth. It is like a well—and no one has ever fathomed the depth of God's truth.
To go into the power of the gospel, or of prayer, or the Holy Spirit, or divine love is to plunge ever deeper and deeper into God's well. Every man or woman used by God has gone down into this vast reservoir." (p. 117 of FRESH WIND, FRESH FIRE by Jim Cymbala with Dean Merrill)
Our thought today-
When we Christians gather together, hopefully, we will anticipate ways of growth in order to reach more people for Christ. We are part of something BIG, so let's dare to obey the Lord's leading to get involved with an outreach, whether it's a new responsibility within our church, or helping in another location.
Our question today-
What part of God's mission will you get involved in?
Upcoming posts:
What Do Others See in You?
9th- Saturday's post by Gwen Smith
Signs of a Real Christian
10th- Sunday evening's post by Jean Oathout
#33 You Must Prevail Over Situations
14th- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
#34 You Must Prevail Over People
16th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
A popular post: Women as Intercessors
C. Peter Wagner shares with us from his book, PRAYER SHIELD, "It was interesting to discover that all of those with the gift of intercession in my class were women.This is not unusual..."
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