WE HAVE TALKED A LOT LATELY ABOUT THE NEED FOR THE CHURCH TO ARISE TO A PLACE OF WARFARE AND BATTLE AGAINST THE WORKS OF DARKNESS THAT PREVAIL IN OUR SOCIETY. THE ALARM OF GOD IS SOUNDING LOUD AND CLEAR TO RALLY THE TROOPS TO THE BATTLE AT HAND. OUR GREATEST WEAPON AS BELIEVERS IS PRAYER. IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE KNOW AND UNDERSTAND HOW TO MOST EFFECTIVELY POSTURE OURSELVES FOR EFFECTIVE PRAYER, SO THAT WE CAN BE A POWERFUL WEAPON FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16 KJV
The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available – dynamic in its working. James 5:16 AMP
The Power of Righteous Prayer:
Brings us more near to God.
Opens the way to a Spirit-filled and led life.
Brings power for ministry and devotion to God.
Builds us up spiritually.
Gives insight into the provision available through Christ.
Helps us to be victorious against the devil.
Helps bring clarity to God’s will.
Enables God to work through our lives by His Spirit.
Brings us into deeper fellowship with God.
Brings grace, mercy and peace.
Brings wisdom, revelation and the knowledge of God.
Brings healing.
Brings deliverance.
Glorifies God.
Makes the presence of God more real in our lives.
Ensures us of Christ’s intercession for us and our impending final salvation.
What Are the Barriers to Effective Prayer:
*There are things that will inevitably come to mind or distract us when we go into a place of prayer. We will automatically remember we have laundry to do. We will think about something else we need to add to the grocery list. We will get a picture of the lawn and how it desperately needs mown. Many things will creep up and seem like the most important thing at the moment in an attempt to lure us away from prayer.
*There are also things in our own lives that will prove to stop our prayers from going forth in a powerful and effective manner. We must learn to deal with the barriers to prayer.
1. Unforgiveness
a. Unforgiveness works its way quickly toward bitterness and resentment if not properly dealt with.
b. How many people have been hurt? 100%. It isn’t the being hurt, but the dealing with the pain that is critical.
c. Sometimes the easiest yet most dangerous thing is to just hold on to the hurt and unforgiveness. If we cover, shield, protect and refuse to expose the issue, it can’t hurt us any more is often our justification.
Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the alter, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go they way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and them come and offer they gift. Matthew 5:23-24
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Mark 11:25
d. Unforgiveness is destructive and will prevent our prayers from being effective probably more than anything else.
e. Take note of the difference in these two verses. If you are at odds with someone and it is known to them and you, the onus then is for reconciliation between the two of you. Reconciliation does not have to turn into a friendship and can be handled from a distance, but reconciliation and forgiveness are necessary to enjoy effective praying.
f. The other example here involves a personal feeling that you have toward someone that they know nothing about. In Mark 11, we are told to deal with that in the moment and privately. Don’t go to the person and share your hurt with them at the moment and expose them to something they knew nothing about. That is not healing and proper, that is vindictive.
g. “Releasing the people who have harmed you and have inflicted unbearable pain on you will release you to progress in God’s plan” (J. Kilpatrick).
h. Our inability or unwillingness to forgive others cuts us ourselves off from the forgiveness of God.
2. Regarding Iniquity
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Psalm 66:18
a. Iniquity refers to the crookedness or capacity to sin that is present within all of us.
b. If an arrow is crooked or bent, it will never hit the mark. Sin is defined as missing the mark, and iniquity refers to the crooked or bent nature of man that causes us to sin.
c. Therefore, regarding iniquity is to overlook or take pleasure in the crookedness of our own lives or the lives of others who have been entrusted to our care.
d. Anything that we allow to steal our attention away from God is the world and is evidence of our regarding iniquity.
e. It doesn’t take long to realize when you have regarded iniquity and allowed the peace of God to be taken from your life or your home. Is it really worth it?
f. Leonard Ravenill once asked this question; “Are the things we are living for worth Christ dying for?”
g. Many times we wonder why our prayers go unanswered, but often it comes down to our regarding iniquity and sin. It quite often involves our lax attitude toward sin.
h. Whether or not we regard sin as a big deal, we must remember that it was a big enough deal to nail Jesus to a cross.
i. The old adage is true: Garbage in, garbage out. What we allow in through our eye gate and our ear gate will find its way to our heart and prevent us from being effective in our prayers or even our very relationship with God for that matter.
3. Judgment of Others
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. Matthew 7:1-5
a. It seems that one of our favorite things to do is to judge and to compare ourselves with others.
b. We want to find out how we stack up against each other and find our own sources of superiority.
c. Anytime we choose to judge others we are bringing God’s judgment upon ourselves.
d. Judgmental attitudes and choosing to judge is the most effective way for us to do the devil’s job for him. He is the accuser of the brethren, but he doesn’t mind allowing us to take that role from time to time. That is the core of being judgmental.
e. As believers we do have a responsibility to be discerning, but we don’t have the right to be critical.
f. “Discernment” = perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding.
g. “Critical” = expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments.
h. The key difference between a spirit of discernment and a critical spirit is whether or not you have a desire to help or to harm the person(s).
4. Teaching the Doctrines of Men
This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Matthew 15:8-9
a. There are enough things spoken in the Word of God that anyone can pick and choose out of context to develop whatever theory or doctrine they choose.
b. The danger in the church today is that we have elevated the words of men to the same status and the Word of God.
c. The way we see things may not necessarily be the way God said things. If we aren’t willing to adhere to sound Biblical doctrine, we cannot expect our prayers to be effective.
d. How many people are praying prayers based on man-made doctrine and belief maybe never to realize that their prayers are in vain.
e. The church world is filled with false doctrine and heresy that has been brought on by man in an attempt to establish a God or a system of beliefs that can be easily understood or manipulated.
i. Outward godly appearance means nothing without an inward godliness.
ii. You do not have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit to make it to Heaven.
iii. God is eternally existent in the Persons of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as evidenced throughout the Word of God from creation through the prophetic end of time.
iv. It is possible for an individual to walk away from their salvation in Christ. God will never leave nor forsake you, but as people we have free will and by our actions can choose to walk away from Him.
v. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are still in effect for today. God did not stop being powerful and supernatural at some point in history. He is still the same miracle working God.
5. Self-Codemnation
a. It seems we end up here all the time. As believers we must learn to understand and appreciate who we are in Christ. We are more than conquerors and we are victorious overcomers through Him who loves us.
b. Satan has no power to condemn the children of God UNLESS we surrender that power to him by believing his lies.
c. How much of the condemnation we face and deal with in life is brought upon by ourselves? How often are we doing the work of the devil for him?
Therefore, there is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2
d. Through the power of God’s Spirit, we have been set free of sin and death, the source of condemnation. Our ongoing struggle is about our inability to recognize and realize that our victory is certain and secure.
e. The key word is NOW – when is now? Now is not later, now is now.
f. Freedom and victory in Christ is marked by a consistent steady movement forward toward and into ultimate victory in Christ.
g. If God by His Spirit is convicting, the answer is repentance. You can know it is conviction of God if there is with it a sense of hope and a future. If the feeling is hopeless and full of despair, then cast off the condemnation and thank the devil for reminding you of your victory in Christ.
