Your Ultimate Guide to Prayer
This comprehensive guide to prayer is designed to help Christians seeking to deepen and challenge their prayer life. With prayer being a direct line of communication with God, prayer is essential to living out true, committed Christianity.
In this guide, we'll explore the various aspects of prayer, from its significance in scripture to practical tips for cultivating effective and powerful prayer that moves the heart of God. Whether you're new to prayer or looking to revitalize your prayer life, this guide is designed to equip you with the tools and insights you need to enrich your relationship with God through prayer.
HOW TO PRAY FOR YOUR ENEMIES, EVEN WHEN IT’S HARD
In Matthew 5:43-44, Jesus said: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (New American Standard Bible, 1995, Matt. 5:43-44)
The call to love and pray for enemies has been difficult all throughout history and still is today. Our enemies often make it last on our prayer list, if at all. And, if we do pray for them, as we pray for them, we tend to replay what they did to us and end up feeling further injustice as we pray for God to bless the very ones who hurt us.
Yet, we all know that what God commands is good and right. So, how do we pray wholeheartedly and sincerely for our enemies? We must have these three key convictions in place to do so.
I am a sinner, and no greater wrong has been done to me than what I have done to God.
God is a God of justice, and He judges perfectly.
Praying for blessing means praying for repentance.
When we pray for God to bless our enemies, we are actually praying for nothing to stand between them and God, including the wrong they have done to us. We’re praying for our enemies to see their sin, repent of their sin, and have justice met at the cross (versus preferring for them to “get what they deserve” when they stand before Christ someday).
THE POWER OF PRAYER AND FASTING
There is no doubt that we need God’s power to overcome the work and attack of the enemy around us. So, how do we pray more effectively and with greater power? When Jesus says that “...this kind cannot come out by anything but prayer” in Mark 8:28-29 when the disciples try to cast out a demon through prayer but don’t succeed, He’s not referring to prayer in that moment but rather prayer of preparation.
Praying with greater power means preparing in the place of prayer, which we know also comes by fasting added to prayer. What if instead of praying and fasting in response to addictions, strongholds, and oppression that won’t break, we pray and fast in advance for these things? What if we allow prayer and fasting to become a lifestyle, so that His power flows more powerfully through us when people are in need of encountering Jesus for a miracle?
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WHY DOES GOD NOT ANSWER PRAYER, EVEN WHEN IT’S FOR GOOD THINGS?
In our walk with Christ, we will all experience times that God says “no” to good things.
When we say “good things”, we aren’t talking about things that seem good to us for a time but we later discover are not. We are talking about genuinely good things. So, how should we make sense of this, and how should we respond?
Oftentimes, when God says “no” to something good, it’s because He says “yes” to something greater. However, this doesn’t mean that God’s “no” is always a “yes” to something better. Sometimes His “no” is due to being part of a fallen, sin-filled world that is under judgment and occupation of the principality of the power of darkness.
While we don’t know the reason behind every “no” and “yes”, we can be certain that the God of the Bible is one whose “no” is so often a “yes” to something greater.
WHY DO WE PRAY? WE PRAY FOR CHANGE TO TAKE PLACE
Sometimes Goliaths grow simply because they are left un-assaulted and unassailed. Think of the men possessed by demons in Matthew 8 and Luke 8. They lived among the tombs and had become so strong that they broke chains. Everyone assumed that things could not and would not change with them, and so people just accepted their situation as status quo and adapted to it by steering clear of them.
How many things are like this today? What are the injustices, the sin, and the strongholds in our world that continue to grow stronger because we have not prayed? Or what about strongholds in our families and patterns of sin in our lives, from addictions to depression and anxiety? Could it be that things haven’t changed because we haven’t prayed?
When it comes to praying for change, many in the church pray defensive prayers but few push past the status quo with offensive prayers that advance the Kingdom. While defensive prayers accept reality and pray for grace to deal with sin, brokenness, and suffering, prevailing in offensive prayer asks God to do miracles that only He can do.
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HOW TO PRAY POWERFULLY AND TAKE GROUND IN THREE STEPS
There is little concern to the enemy when believers try to do all they can in their own strength, even in Jesus’ name. But when believers’ knees hit the floor, asking God to do what only He can do, the alarm bells of hell go off and cause the enemy great concern. Prayer is our responsibility but also impossible without His help.
Learn how to take ground in prayer to be used by God as an agent for changing lives and eternities. More specifically, learn how to pray offensive prayers by securing, enforcing, and advancing.
Securing is praying to the point of breakthrough. It is when what has been asked for is granted or gained, when there is assurance that it has been accomplished. It is the point at which there is the peace of God over you when a prayer becomes a promise. Securing is by faith, not by sight.
After securing, however, the work is not yet done. We must then enforce and then advance in prayer. Enforcing in prayer comes by believing and praying from the place of victory, from the promise. This includes believing, acting in agreement with the promise, and protecting the promise. From there, we can advance in prayer; in other words, build momentum of attack and acceleration.
NEED PRAYER OR WANT TO JOIN US IN PRAYER?
Knowing that we are called to prayer so that His kingdom advances in our lives, our church, across the front range of Colorado, and across the world, we have a 24/7 prayer movement that consists of three prayer slots per hour, for every hour of the day. If you feel God calling you to intercede, sign up for a prayer slot here and email christina@churchofthefrontrange.com if you have any questions.
And if you need prayer of any kind, whether that be prayer for emotional, physical, relational, spiritual, financial, etc. healing, you can submit your prayer request here.
Shane Farmer
Serves as the Lead Pastor of Revolution Church. He and his wife, Wendy, have three sons: Josiah, Charlie, and Marshall.
Rebekah Layton
Serves as the Associate Pastor of Revolution Church. She and her husband, Josh, have one daughter, Zuriel.
Learn More About Revolution Church
Our GoalS
1. Steward Revival for Maximum Impact
We believe the tsunami of God’s next great move is approaching shore and are committed not to reject the new thing God is doing, but to participate in the full acceleration His Spirit’s moving brings. We do not exist to sustain or maintain what is, but believe status quo has got to go to make way for Kingdom advancement.
2. Sustain the Gain for a Lifetime
We seek to sustain an open heaven for a lifetime, and therefore, desire to be very diligent about the intersections of Worship and Prayer, Word and Spirit.
3. Raise Up Titans of the Faith
We feel called to pursue power over prevalence, purity over prominence and perseverance over popularity. We believe Christ commends a pure and spotless bride, not a bloated bride. We have a goal of raising up tomorrow’s spiritual giants who are wholly devoted to His person, His praise and His purposes, as we know the Lord’s eyes look throughout the earth seeking to show Himself strong to those whose hearts are wholly devoted to Him (2 Chr 16:9). We believe the church exists to comfort the afflicted but also to spur one another on to love and good deeds, not to coddle each other in partial obedience.
4. Pure Praise
We long to be King Davids of the Kingdom, leading the way for pure praise that catches the attention of heaven, elevating worship as the chief end of the church.
5. Catalyze a Prayer Movement
We want to be driven and directed in dependence lived out through intercessory and inquiring prayer. We intercede because we believe God is, God answers and God acts. We inquire out of a desire to be led by Him, not trusting our own skills, strategies or schemes but His guidance.
6. Raise Up a Joshua and Caleb Generation
Only two of approximately two million had the faith to persevere in pursuit of God’s promise. We know what God has revealed about the test of faith coming to the next generation and we are burdened to pass on a baton of persevering faith to the future generation.
7. Fight for Every One
We refuse to leave our community uncontended and uncontested, but instead, we are unapologetically on mission for every life and every eternity.
