Prayer A Grace Odeysey.

Prayer 2003 a Grace Odessy.

To boldly Grow in a unique way like no one has ever grown before.

I recently heard that we are not physical beings with a spiritual life rather we are spiritual beings with a Physical life.

To me that rung profoundly true - particuarily when you consider that at the dawn of creation in Genesis when God created us he created our physical self out of the dust but spiritually he breathed into the man and out of the breath of God came the life force that is human life.

In relation to us:-

An elephant is stronger - an eagle can fly - a fish can live in the water a Monkey can climb trees a tuatara can live longer a worm can live below the ground a spider has eight legs

A caterpiller can change into a fly and an egg can change into a chicken but only a man or a woman has the breath of God in them.

Because the Spirit of God is in us we have within us a deep an unquenchable desire and that deep and unqueenchable desire is to commune with God.

You see when Adam was created he used to walk in the garden and he would commune with God and in that blessed place of deep communication God and Adam shared at a profound level that even the best poet or writer in the world would struggle to comprehend.

But you know after that time was that event that became known as the fall and the fall meant that direct and complete communication with the living God was damaged and apparantly the perfect union between humans and God was irritrievebly damaged forever.

What was Eden the perfect paradise became earth the dust with form but somewhat devoid of the spirit of God a place where the ruling rebelious spirits of the universe reigned and where communication with the living God was replaced with the thoughts and ideologies and dreams of a broken and lost humanity.

An earth that was meant to be like heaven became a living hell and a place of distress and torment for the majority.

Here we need to cut a long story short.

It is true that God continued to build a people for Himself and communicated with those who turned to him and they with Him.

But the significant moment for communication with God is that moment 2000 odd years ago when Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world.

In that Spiritually significant act he restored the possiblity of a full relationship with God.

If medical science is eventually succesful in being able to reconnect the spinal cord of a quaraplegic it will be nothing compared to the miracle of restored communication with God that was achieved through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If a spinal cord refusion was achieved endless nerves and all manner of connections would need to be made so that the body will respond to the will of the mind.

But when Jesus died proper communication was restored between millions and millions of christians - through, so far 20 centuries of christianity.

the midst of a fallen world - restored people called christians can bring before God their personal prayers of Adoration - confession - thanksgiving and requests and each of these billions of prayers will be processed individually by a loving and personal God - if you can really comprehend it it makes the most complex human technology look like lego to a rocket scientist. .

Of course prayer existed before Jesus - but it is only after the cross that the possibility of prayer by a fully restored humanity becomes possible.

Prayer then becomes the most significant agent for change in the world.

Let me give you an example:- Rees Howells dedicated His life to be an example to all, of what can be achieved by prayer and faith alone. It is safe to trust God’s Word and His promises he taught. During the World War Two, Rees Howells led his Bible College in intercession to see the breaking of the dictators that would hinder the work of world evangelism. They laid down their lives in intercession, just like the young men who were on the front lines of battle. Rees Howells challenged them to be living martyrs.

They prayed through the situations in Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, D-Day, and the involvement of Russia in the war and for many other situations including for the establishment of the State of Israel.

Principles of intercession by Rees Howells.

Identification As the crucifixion of self proceeds, intercession begins. The Holy Spirit can take the intercessor into extremes to fulfil the intercession. Like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea, who are some of the great intercessors of the Bible. Agony in intercession. "if it dies, it brings forth much fruit" -Jesus. Authority. The intercessor find a prevailing place of prayer with God. The gained position of intercession, can be used in other prayer situations. Entering the "grace of faith". The measureless realms of God’s grace is open for the intercessor to prevail upon.