James 5:16 | NKJV Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:16 | AMPC …The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
James 5:16 | TPT …for tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a godly believer!
I would like to acknowledge a source of some of the material in these messages from Pastor Nancy Dufresne’s book, A Supernatural Prayer Life.
The subject of prayer is so vast and as broad as the Holy Spirit Himself. There is no way to teach fully on the subject because there is always more to know.
What is Prayer?
- Simply put, prayer is communicating with our Heavenly Father, the Creator of the universe. It is connecting with Him in a real and powerful way.
- We have to learn how to pray and connect with God in the way that He tells us to.
Malachi 3:6 NKJV “For I am the LORD, I do not change…
- You will not get Him to bend to your way of doing things. We must learn, grow, and change to adapt to His way of doing things.
The good news is He has given us His Word and the Holy Spirit to teach us how He operates!
Let’s Not Misdirect our Faith!
You may hear it said that we believe in the power of prayer. That is not the case.
- We believe in the God Who hears and answers prayer!
We don’t magnify the act of praying; we magnify the God who hears and answers when we pray.
“If a Christian magnifies the act of praying, they will become prideful because they pray. If a Christian magnifies the act of praying, they will become works-minded regarding prayer; they will tie their faith to how much they pray and begin measuring their success as a believer by how much they pray. But we don’t pray to earn anything from God.
We pray because we know we have a Father who hears, and since we know He hears us, we also know we have the answer to our prayer; we know our Word-based prayers are granted because He hears us.
We don’t study our Bible or pray to earn anything from God, or to qualify to receive something from Him. We study our Bible and pray so that we may know Him better and know all that He has provided for us. The understanding of this keeps us free from getting trapped into a lifestyle of works of the law, which kills the life of fellowship with Him.
Prayer doesn’t change things – God changes things! As we ask in faith and believe that He hears us, we are His co-laborers. We pray in faith, but He’s the One who makes changes as men respond to Him. If our prayers changed things, then we could take the credit, but it’s God who changes things as men cooperate with Him; therefore, He receives all the credit and all the glory.”
Dufresne, Nancy. A Supernatural Prayer Life (p. 10). Ed Dufresne Ministries. Kindle Edition.
Prayer does not change things; the God who hears and answers prayer is the One who changes things when believing prayer is made.
Prayer does play a role in change by inviting God to move, but God is the One who changes things.
Why Do We Need to Pray?
John Wesley, who was the founder of the Methodist revival, stated, “God is limited by our prayer life. It seems that He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him.” Is this a correct observation by John Wesley?
Matthew 6:8 NKJV “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
John 16:24 NKJV Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Notice what these two scriptures say. The first one tells us that God knows what we have need of even before we ask, and the second one invites us to ask so that we’ll receive.
Someone may wonder, “Well, if God knows what we have need of even before we ask, why do we even have to ask? Why doesn’t God give it to us if He knows we need it?”
- The answer is this – knowledge doesn’t equal permission. Just because God knows that someone has need of something doesn’t mean that He has their permission to move in their behalf and give them what they need.
- God doesn’t violate anyone’s will and move for them without their permission. God can’t move in someone’s life uninvited.
This same thing is true where salvation is concerned. God KNOWS we all need salvation but just because He knows we have that need does not give Him permission to give it us.
We must ask and believe to receive and give Him permission to bring this wonderful gift into our lives.
God doesn’t force anything on anyone; that’s how the devil and evil spirits work, but not God. God only moves where He’s invited to move.
Even though God knows what someone may need, they must still ask God before they will receive what they need. Yet, the Word assures us that when we ask, we shall receive, for God hears us when we pray!
An Important Aspect of Prayer
- When Jesus Himself was faced with death itself, the thing He confessed and the thing He reminded Himself of, was that He was heard by God.
John 11:41-42 NKJV Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. (42) And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.”
God’s Guarantee
Hebrews 4:16 AMPC Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace… that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].
- Why would God give us such a wonderful invitation if He has no intention on hearing us when we pray?
- When you are faced with a need, remind yourself, and confess that God hears YOU when you pray; He hears you when you talk to Him!
- To be heard in Heaven is to be assured of the answer!
1 John 5:14-15 AMPC And this is the confidence (the assurance, the privilege of boldness) which we have in Him: [we are sure] that if we ask anything (make any request) according to His will (in agreement with His own plan), He listens to and hears us. (15) And if (since) we [positively] know that He listens to us in whatever we ask, we also know [with settled and absolute knowledge] that we have [granted us as our present possessions] the requests made of Him.
- According to the verses, we see that to be heard by God is to receive the answers to the petitions that we bring to Him.
- It’s not the act of praying that grants the answers to your requests; it’s a hearing Father. Therefore, we don’t magnify the act of praying; rather, we magnify our wonderful Father who hears.
No praying does any good except that prayer be heard. Apart from a hearing God, prayer is fruitless and accomplishes nothing.
Ask the Muslims, or Buddhists. They are diligent in prayer but to what end? To be heard in Heaven is to be assured of the answer! To be heard by God is to have the petitions we desire of Him.
- Being heard by God = having the answer