Tag Archives: prayer

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What Tools Do You Need to Pray for Others?

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Forty-Seven

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What Tools Do You Need to Pray for Others

Today, we are going to examine some tools that are declared for us in the Word to God to help us with our prayer lives. The Lord did not just leave us on our own in these matters. The Word of God contains distinct prayer principles that we should become acquainted with. You know your enemy has some tools as well. Tools that will hinder your prayer endeavors. One gentleman said that he read once that the Devil was having a yard sale, and all of his tools were marked with different prices. They were a fiendish lot. There was hatred, jealously, deceit, lying, pride—all at expensive prices. But over to the side of the yard on display was a tool more obviously worn than any of the other tools. It was also the most costly. The tool was labeled, DISCOURAGEMENT. When questioned, the Devil said, “It’s more useful to me than any other tool. When I can’t bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize that it belongs to me.”1 The enemy uses discouragement as a tool especially when answers to prayer are not manifesting as fast as we think they should. Of course, it’s easy for us to have opinions on such matters. This is where the Word of God helps us. And that’s why we are focusing today on “What Tools Do You Need to Pray for Others” all on this week’s Light on Life.

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[Tweet “Praying for the rulers and leaders of your nation is both right and pleasing in the sight of God.“]

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Why Faith and Prayers Are Vital in God’s Great Plan

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Forty-Six

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Why Faith and Prayers Are Vital in God’s Great Plan

You know faith and prayer are two marvelous twins in God’s economy. Last week, I thought we were finished with our series on the Holy Spirit. But yet, there is one more area the Lord wants us to look at together and that’s the Holy Spirit’s involvement with us in prayer. Jesus mentioned a phrase that we want to examine today and that’s ’the House of Prayer.’ There are some organizations that have taken these and actually put together prayer teams that bear the name House of Prayer. Here is the testimony of one such group. “God is currently doing wonderful things through small clusters of Christians who are interceding for their neighbors in Houses of Prayer. A House of Prayer is two or more believers who gather to release God’s power upon their neighbors through prayer and to convey His blessing through deeds of love and kindness. A House of Prayer may be a nuclear family praying in its home. It may be Christian neighbors who don’t actually meet together but network their prayer efforts. Or it may be neighborhood believers who meet regularly for prayer. The House of Prayer strategy comes out of Paul’s charge in 1 Timothy 2:1–4: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone.” Everyone includes neighbors, especially nonChristians, because “God our Savior wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” Houses of Prayer are attractive today because the method is so simple. If you have neighbors, if you detest Satan’s influence, and if you can devote 15 minutes or more a week to intercession, you are a House of Prayer candidate. Houses of Prayer can be started anywhere.1 This effort is rather structured. Today, I’m going to home in on something not quite as structured but powerfully effective. Why Faith and Prayers Are Vital in God’s Great Plan, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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#S4-049: What the Bible Says about the End of the World [Podcast]

[Tweet “You can’t ask God for more faith because faith doesn’t come by praying for it. Faith comes via God’s Word. It comes by hearing the Word.“]

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Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God Encore Podcast

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Twenty-Seven

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Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God

If you want to know how to grow up spiritually, if your heart desires to know what God’s will is for your life, you’ve come to the right place today. On the heels of knowing God’s will, comes this illustrative story from the lips of F.B. Meyer. Myer was a Baptist Pastor and Evangelist whose life spanned England’s 19th and 20th centuries. When crossing the Irish Channel one dark starless night, F. B. Meyer stood on the deck by the captain and asked him, “How do you know Holyhead Harbor on so dark a night as this?” He said, “You see those three lights? Those three must line up behind each other as one, and when we see them so united we know the exact position of the harbor’s mouth.”1 We are going to see in this week’s podcast that there are three things — three lights if you would — that have to line up in your life to be able to guide your ship into the harbor of God’s will. Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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The Value of Casting Your Care on the Lord

[Tweet “All Jesus’ followers should rejoice, pray, and give thanks.”]

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Why Powerful Prayer to Advance the Gospel Is Right

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Fifty-Two

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Why Powerful Prayer to Advance the Gospel Is Right

Powerful prayer is our season ending, year ending focus today. You know, this is the time of the year where people look forward to the dawning of a new year. With that, they become reflective. They become goal oriented because they realize that the currents of the past year led them to places that they were not happy being. Some of these new year type resolutions deal with course corrections. You know, making a clean, fresh start. The prospect of heading in a direction they knew they should have been going all along buoys them. It’s a hopeful, energizing time, this New Year’s piece. We should encourage it along. The Lord knows we need all the help that we can get. Now, you know how this New Year’s celebration works, right? On the last day of the year at the stroke of midnight in Times Square in New York City, multitudes cheer, horns sound, whistles blow, and people laugh and cry for joy. Amidst the celebration are the shouts of “Happy New Year!” This spectacle is repeated in succession in the various time zones from the Atlantic Seaboard to the far western reaches of Hawaii. We say, “A New Year has come!”

Now what?

Are all things right now that clock has struck 12 on December 31st with your freshly minted resolution in hand? Of course not, the stroke of the hour simply has marked the dawning of another day. Once the fireworks are spent and the confetti has fallen, you are left with your naked decision: “I’m going to read the Bible through in a year” You must ace this.

If you don’t fall back into the same old rut. No, years become new only if we make them so. Resolutions for new days, new beginnings, opportunities, and dreams are not to be made only in the moment’s excitement; but long after the glamor is gone these resolutions are to become the order of each day. This is the stuff of life.

What if you can’t think of a resolution of consideration? Might I suggest one?

As we move on to 2 Thessalonians 3:1–2, we come upon Paul’s request for prayer so that the gospel could quickly move forward. Do you think that might be a resolution worthy of consideration? Pray that the gospel would go forward quicker than ever before? Do you think this is a resolution you can carry forward into a new year and maybe beyond that? Why such a resolution — well first, you have Bible for it — that’s what Paul did. Second, you are a lover of God’s Word and you cherish it to such a degree that you want others to hear this good news. Third, you highly esteem the heavy price God paid that we might have it. Is there a chance that this year is the year where you lay aside selfish ambition and allow God’s will to become supreme? Is this the year you elevate the perpetuation of the gospel to its rightful place in your life? Well, those are good questions. So let’s home in on Why Powerful Prayer to Advance the Gospel Is Right — that’s our focus on this year end episode of Light on Life.

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Did You Know that A Good God Has A Good Plan For Your Life?

The gospel is foot-powered. Prayer propels this foot power to its optimum speed. Click To Tweet
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Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-One

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Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God

If you want to know how to grow up spiritually, if your heart desires to know what God’s will is for your life, you’ve come to the right place today. On the heels of knowing God’s will, comes this illustrative story from the lips of F.B. Meyer. Myer was a Baptist Pastor and Evangelist whose life spanned England’s 19th and 20th centuries. When crossing the Irish Channel one dark starless night, F. B. Meyer stood on the deck by the captain and asked him, “How do you know Holyhead Harbor on so dark a night as this?” He said, “You see those three lights? Those three must line up behind each other as one, and when we see them so united we know the exact position of the harbor’s mouth.”1 We are going to see in this week’s podcast that there are three things — three lights if you would — that have to line up in your life to be able to guide your ship into the harbor of God’s will. Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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The Value of Casting Your Care on the Lord

[Tweet “All Jesus’ followers should rejoice, pray, and give thanks.”]

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What to Do When the Answer to Your Prayer Is Delayed

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Thirty

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What to Do When the Answer to Your Prayer Is Delayed

Answered prayer is a joyous occasion indeed. But what happens when the answer to your prayer seemingly doesn’t come? What is up with this? Have you ever asked yourself why you didn’t get the answer? It’s okay to ask that question because the answer on the other end of that query leads to astounding insight into the character and mind of God. Let me say it boldly. It is God’s intent that every prayer prayed in Jesus’ Name, prayed according to His will, prayed in line with the Bible be answered one hundred times out of one hundred. Have you ever thought, ‘Wow, I sure missed it here? Well, are you sure you failed? George Muller thought he did. He wrote concerning his orphan ministry: “The funds are exhausted. We had been reduced so low as to be at the point of selling those things which could be spared.…” Then a woman arrived who had been traveling for four days, brought with her sufficient funds for the orphanage. Muller and his co-workers had prayed those four days for something God had already answered. Under these circumstances, Muller made the following observation: “That the money had been so near the orphan house for several days without being given, is a plain proof that it was from the beginning in the heart of God to help us; but because he delights in the prayers of His children, He had allowed us to pray so long; also to try our faith, and to make the answer so much sweeter.”[ 1. Cited in George Muller, Autobiography [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981], p. 110.] There’s a tremendous lesson here. What to Do When the Answer to Your Prayer Is Delayed, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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How to Build Your Life Praying Bible Prayers

[Tweet “When you experience delays, keep standing. Delays are not denials. God has already sent the answer.”]

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Why It’s Vital that Jesus Followers Pray for One Another

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Nineteen

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Why It’s Vital that Jesus Followers Pray for One Another

In today’s podcast, we are going to talk about the high value of praying for one another. We need to home in on this and give it the due place in our lives. You know we pay a lot of lip service to the notion of praying for one another. The words ‘pray for me’ or ‘I’m praying for you brother’ are part of our Christian-ese vocabulary. For people in the church world, it’s the thing to say. I mean you wouldn’t dare say that you weren’t going to pray for someone, would you? But when those words leave your lips, do you actually execute and lift your voice to God? That intercession is a great and necessary part of Christian devotion is very evident from Scripture. The first Jesus followers showed their love by mutually praying for one another. Paul, whether he’s writing a letter to a church [a group of people] or addressing an individual shows that his intercession for them is perpetual. It was this holy intercession that raised Christians to such a high level of love and development. When this same spirit of intercession is yielded to by Jesus followers, when Christianity has the same power over the hearts of people that it then had, this holy friendship will again be in fashion, and Christians will be again the wonder of the world.1 Why It’s Vital to Pray for One Another, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life

[Tweet “No one should be left behind in prayer. We should always thank God for each believer’s unique gifts.”]

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What Is the Link Between Praying in the Spirit and the Armor of God?

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Sixteen

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What Is the Link Between Praying in the Spirit and the Armor of God?

Prayer armor, or praying on all occasions in the Spirit is Paul’s next admonition to the church after he talks about the armor of God. He uses the term praying all ways or at all times. During the turn of the 20th century, there was a great outpouring of the Spirit of God that began in Los Angeles at a place called Azusa. The Azusa Street revival of 1906 led to the spread of the Pentecostal faith, including speaking in tongues and the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, throughout the US and the across the world. The movement further inspired missionaries and helped to break down racial separations.1 The power of God fell mighty for several years at Azusa but not only there, that same move took place simultaneously in other parts of the world, places like India and Sri Lanka. Here is just one story. “Miss Minnie Abrams tells of a meeting held by one of the Mukti bands in Anrangabad in 1906. It was in the Church Missionary Society schoolroom. A little girl of nine was wonderfully anointed with prayer. Before going back to the Church Missionary Society boarding school in Bombay, from which she had come for a vacation, she asked her father if anyone might receive the Holy Spirit. He told her that God would give the Holy Spirit to all who asked Him. On returning to the school she succeeded in getting four girls to join her in prayer, daily, for the Holy Spirit. Upon one of these, a girl of sixteen, the Holy Spirit was poured out with the speaking in tongues. She asked daily to retire to a room for prayer. She would become oblivious to her surroundings and time, wholly occupied in communion with God, praying always aloud. When it was discovered that she was speaking in a language not understood, Canon Haywood was brought in. He decided this might be the speaking in tongues he had heard about, and took measures to find out what she was saying. In the cosmopolitan city of Bombay where many languages were spoken, he found one who could understand much of what she said. She was pleading with God for Libya, in North Africa. She did not always speak the same language.{2. Stanley Howard Frodsham, With Signs Following: The Story of the Pentecostal Revival in the Twentieth Century, Revised Edition. (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1946), 109–110.] The Spirit of God fell on this young girl and she continued to pray is the record we have. Stories like this where the power of God falls and lives are changed is what we are talking about today as we ask the question – What Is the Link Between Praying in the Spirit and the Armor of God? That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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How To Put On And Step Out With The Whole Armor Of God

[Tweet “Paul assumes that when he asks the Ephesians to pray that they have their armor firmly in place.”]

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Why the Prayer of Agreement is So Vital and Powerful [Encore Podcast]

Encore Podcast: Light on Life Season 8 Episode 36

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Why the Prayer of Agreement is So Vital and Powerful

In today’s podcast, we are centering on the Prayer of Agreement: what it is and why it’s so powerful. In World Vision magazine John Robb writes: Seven years ago, a giant tree stood on the banks of the Awash River, in an arid valley about two hours’ drive southeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It had stood there for generations, seemingly eternal. For years, the people who lived in the surrounding district had suffered through famines. In their suffering, the people looked to the tree for help. Believing a spirit gave it divine powers, they worshipped the towering giant. Adults would kiss the great trunk when they passed by, and they spoke of the tree in hushed, reverent tones. Children said, “This tree saved us.”

In 1989, World Vision began a development project there, including an irrigation system. But even as they labored to build the system, the great tree stood like a forbidding sentinel of the old order, presiding over the community, enslaving the people through fear. For spirits need to be appeased with animal sacrifices and strict observance of taboos. When World Vision workers saw how the villagers worshipped the tree, they knew it was an idolatrous barrier to the entrance of Christ’s kingdom and transformation of the community. One morning as the staff prayed together, one of Jesus’ promises struck them: “If you have faith, you can say to this tree, ‘Be taken up and removed’ … and it will obey you.” In faith, they began to pray that God would bring down the menacing Goliath.

Soon the whole community knew the Christians were praying about the tree. Six months later, the tree began to dry up, its leafy foliage disappeared, and finally, it collapsed like a stricken giant into the river. The people of the community were astonished, proclaiming, “Your God has done this! Your God has dried up the tree!” In the days and weeks afterward, approximately 100 members of the community received Jesus Christ because they saw his power displayed in answer to the Christians’ prayers.1 Today’s podcast focuses on the power of praying with people specifically the prayer of agreement. What results are achievable praying this prayer and what are some of the rules that govern it? That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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[Tweet “If there is great faith coupled with a great anointing, the healing manifestation is quicker.”]

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Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Thirty

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Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life

In this week’s podcast, we are headed to the book of Ephesians to take a look at spiritual revelations. That book contains several prayers that Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers. Often, you wonder how or what we should pray for our fellow believers in Christ. Well, the Holy Spirit helped us in this area. He had Paul write these prayers out in detail. We have a record of the exact words that Paul uttered to God the Father for them. Now, you can find these words starting in Ephesians 1:15–23 and Ephesians 3:14–19. If Paul thought that these prayers were important to pray for the Ephesian church, do you think that you can pray the same prayers for your church and yourself? Thank God – the answer to that is a resounding yes. I mean, you are in the church. You are part of the body of Christ. Everything that the Lord laid out in these prayers, God wants you to have. He desires that you flow and move in a revelation of His power. He wants to be filled with strength in your inner being. These prayers are one of the primary prayers that I pray for others. I am praying these prayers for you right now. ‘Father, in the Name of Jesus, I pray for the listening audience concerning this podcast. I ask you, Lord, to grant unto them all, a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of you — in the knowledge of Your Word. Let the eyes of their heart be opened — be enlightened that they may know you in a greater way. Strengthen them with might by your spirit in their inner mind – that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith. I pray for them now and I thank you for doing it in advance.” You know I have prayed these prayers hundreds and hundreds of times over the course of my life. And I am going to keep doing it. There are spiritual things in these prayers that you need to get a hold of — that you need active and working in your life. These prayers will enrich and elevate your life, just like they have lifted my life. Let’s take a particular look at one of these prayers today. Why God Wants You to Have Spiritual Revelation Flowing In Your Life, that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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How to Build Your Life Praying Bible Prayers

[Tweet “In the city called the ‘Light of Asia,’ Paul instructs the Ephesians to pray for light, to pray for a spiritual revelation of God’s power.”]

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The Super Effective Benefit of Praying to God Together In A Group

[Encore Podcast]: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Nine

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The Super Effective Benefit of Praying to God Together In A Group

The Book of Acts has much to say about the subject of prayer together. If you examine the individual accounts where prayer went up to the Lord and you will find a rich storehouse of information. There are instances where a corporate group of believers is seen praying. The early church spent much time together fellowshipping and praying. Let’s look at some of these cases and look at some of the common denominators involved in yet another kind of prayer. Praying together in a group is our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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#S4-047: Why It’s Important to Live A Separated Life [Podcast]

[Tweet “It’s essential in life to have your own company. Your own group to pray with.”]

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How Adjustments Make Prayer A Powerful Weapon for Good

Encore Podcast: Podcast: Light on Life Season Eight Episode Six

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How Adjustments Make Prayer A Powerful Weapon for Good

In today’s podcast, we cover some practical adjustments to help make your prayer life more powerful. In 1787, prayer helped determine the future of our country in a significant way. The Constitutional Convention was on the verge of total failure over whether small states should have the same representation as large states. In this hopeless situation, 81-year-old Benjamin Franklin offered a suggestion. He was convinced Scripture is right when it states, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1), so he said: “Gentlemen, I have lived a long time and am convinced that God governs in the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? I move that prayer imploring the assistance of Heaven to be held every morning before we proceed to business.” The motion carried. From then on, prayer was offered each morning. The change after prayer was introduced was so dramatic that a compromise was reached in a short while, which is still in effect today. 1 God is the same prayer-answering God today as He was for the founding fathers. As they used powerful prayer principles to start this nation, we can use those same principles to keep this nation under God. How Adjustments Make Prayer A Powerful Weapon for Good — that’s our focus on this week’s Light On Life.

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Your Powerful Victory Over Satan the Devil – Part 2

[Tweet “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it.”]