You have thrilled to read about the lives of those whom God has used mightily in prayer. (Google image, Man praying in field).
As you have read the quotations about mighty prevailing prayer written by some of God's giants of faith and intercessions, you have felt both blessed and convicted.
In one sense you have been encouraged and strengthened. You understand much more clearly the scope and power of mighty prevailing prayer. You are more hungry to have God use your prayer life than ever before.
Do you dare believe that such mighty prevailings are for you?
Remember that the Holy Spirit is the only real Teacher of prevailing intercession. Mere reading of a book will not transform you unless God helps you to build prayer truth into prayer habit.
You will learn to prevail only as you personalize these truths by a new faithfulness, a new deepening hunger, and a new expectant self-discipline in prayer. You learn to pray by praying, but there is one qualifying fact of supreme importance.
Prevailing prayer only prevails through the prevailing Spirit. It is not a work of man, even of the holiest men and women of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in you and through your cooperation.
Samuel Chadwick confessed,
"The biggest thing God ever did for me was to teach me to pray in the Spirit."
(Chadwick, Path of Prayer, 56).
How can you prepare His way so the Spirit can intercede in prevailing prayer through your being? Remember, you will always recognize that you are far to weak in payer to prevail. Rejoice! "The Spirit helps us in our weakness" (Rom. 8:26).
Again and again you will need to confess with Paul,
"Lord, I don't know how to pray as I ought. I don't know
precisely what all the details are for which I should prevail."
Rejoice! The Spirit Himself intercedes for you with groans too deep for you ever to be able to express (v. 26).
Since the Holy Spirit is that burdened to help you pray and to prevail through you, God is far more desirous of your prevailing than you ever realized. The Spirit groans for you to become mighty in prevailing prayer.
He has infinitely many groanings that are humanly inexpressible—for you to become mighty in prevailing prayer for many, many awesomely great needs in the lives of other.
The Spirit wants to make you mighty to prevail for them. God has no other way. He has ordained to bring His will to pass through your prevailing, joined to the prevailing intercession of both God the Son on heaven's throne of grace and God the Spirit.
The Spirit longs to possess you more and more fully that He may pray through you more and more prevailingly. God understands your heartbroken confession, even as Paul confessed, "I don't know how" (Rom. 8:26).
At the end of yourself, give yourself again to God in total, total dependence. Can you confess with Oswald J. Smith,
"Ah, that burden, that burden for souls—how it has
characterized God's anointed ones all down the centuries!
. . . A host of . . . mighty wrestlers with God. Theirs, my
brethren, is the experience I crave above all other."
(Oswald J. Smith, The Enduement of Power (London: Marshall, Morgan
& Scott, 1933), 57-58.
God desires you to help mediate the light of the gospel and the saving power of Jesus through your prayer. In redemption there is only one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5).
But God needs thousands of cooperating intercessory mediators today. By your prevailing prayer, place one hand on the throne of grace and the other on the need of the world.
Moses did. Isiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel did. Will you? Luther did. Wesley and Whitefield did. Finney, Brainerd, and Hyde did. Will you?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Used by permission of the author and Duewel Literature Trust, Inc., Greenwood, Indiana. Creative reading style by Jean.
#147 Will You Become Mighty in Prayer?
by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
(pp. 309-311) Zondervan
Father, we ask for a hunger for mighty prevailing prayer, and that it may become a "natural" to us.
We have been encouraged and strengthened in our understanding of the scope of Your power in us for mighty praying, and we know it is by Your Spirit that we accomplish Your will for us.
We ask that we learn to prevail in our personalizing the truths You've given to help us believe You for a deepening hunger, and a new expectant self-discipline in our prayer efforts.
The truth is that You desire us to help mediate the light of the gospel and the saving power of Jesus through our prayers.
May You find us faithful in our praying for Your will to be done in others, that Jesus may be glorified.
I ask this in His name. Amen.
We have been encouraged and strengthened in our understanding of the scope of Your power in us for mighty praying, and we know it is by Your Spirit that we accomplish Your will for us.
We ask that we learn to prevail in our personalizing the truths You've given to help us believe You for a deepening hunger, and a new expectant self-discipline in our prayer efforts.
The truth is that You desire us to help mediate the light of the gospel and the saving power of Jesus through our prayers.
May You find us faithful in our praying for Your will to be done in others, that Jesus may be glorified.
I ask this in His name. Amen.
Today's Bible verses-
"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your soul." Jer. 6:16 (KJV).
"You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (John 14:14 (NIV).
"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7 (KJV).
"You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." (John 14:14 (NIV).
"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7 (KJV).
~ Ernie Miller- If you spend the rest of your days in perfect obedience, if all your ways are His ways, if all your thoughts His thoughts and all your acts bring glory to His name . . . it's not enough.
My struggle with sin isn't always weakness or unbelief . . . but pride. Having my temper tantrums, if you will, about the Lord not seeing things my way or doing things my way . . . especially about righteousness . . . how dare He call me righteous, knows He not my desires, my faults, my will . . . until that day I received that the righteousness I have isn't mine at all but Christ's . . . and His righteousness is indisputable.
Really, I had to lay my pride upon the altar so to speak, and stop calling unclean what He calls clean, disrespecting the life of Christ and the price He paid.
I had thought my constant confessing of my failures, my sharing of "my" struggles was bringing glory to my God . . . but it was for my pride. Saying "see how hard I'm trying , I'm really special !!!" What I was really trying hard at was to prove that I can do this, I'm different. I shared weakness to others but forged my own will all the while determined to prove myself worthy.
Though today things are different knowing I'm worthy because of Christ . . . I see men differently so to speak . . . especially those who struggle . . . knowing I know not their hearts or their path . . . praying for that same grace that broke me . . . to be poured onto them . . . for great was my darkness . . . but greater is His light . . .
Today's question-
Have you lost your expectation?
We're to live in expectation of what the Spirit of God is up to. Those who are looking, will see Him in their daily lives. God meets desperation and expectation. Ask God to stir you afresh and make you to expect to see Him moving through you and others. Develop a desire to see Him every day!
#148 First, Get the Vision
5th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
Santification
7th- Saturday's post by Jean Oathout
#149 Get Alone with God
10th- Tuesday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
#150 Will You Join Me in Prayer?
12th- Thursday's post by Dr. Wesley L. Duewel
Below, you have an opportunity to leave a comment
Jean's published book
No comments:
Post a Comment