Sunday, October 21, 2012

Seven Prayer Tactics


May this article below encourage you to press on in prayer. Be blessed today Sister Jan
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Seven Prayer Tactics
Many people look for a rulebook for prayer. They want step one, two, three and so on so that they don't have to think or really pour that much of themselves into their prayers. They want to just check off the steps and feel that they've done their duty. But prayer doesn't work like that. Spiritual warfare doesn't work like that.

What follows isn't a list of rules for prayer but of different prayer strategies that can act as guidelines to your prayers.

Consider it like having a loaded prayer arsenal of different tactics alongside you as you go into prayer, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in how to pray effectively for whatever supplication or intercession you are bringing to God.


1) Pray faithfully.
When you pray, ensure that you don't waver in your faith. Hold fast to your relationship with Christ. God can resurrect a dead life, a dead dream—anything that is dead—if you have faith: "God ... gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did" (Rom. 4:17).

He can bring your marriage, business or faith back into alignment with His promises. But this takes more than a quick "Help me, God!" It takes dedicated, faithful, faith-filled prayer in which you fully present yourself to God.

 2) Pray decisively.
You can't be wishy-washy when you pray—one day you trust God, the next day you don't. One day you pray this, the next day you want the opposite. You say one thing to God in faith, and then you go have coffee with your friends and talk about how it can never happen.

As the Bible says: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful" (Heb. 10:23).

Make a deliberate and conscious decision to agree with the Word of God, and then set your heart to believe it and your mouth to speak it no matter what.

3) Pray forcefully.Don't be a wimp! Matthew 11:12 tells us that, "The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."

You aren't begging, you aren't crying and you aren't persuading; you are coming to take what is legally yours according to the Word of God. You must come boldly as a child would to a father, as a prince or princess would to a king, as a wronged plaintiff would to a court of law.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

4) Pray lovingly.We aren't called to take vengeance on anyone. If vengeance is to be taken, it will be God taking it, not us. We are not called to be judges over the perpetrators of any crimes, disasters or diseases. We are called to be deliverers, rescuers and healers. We're called to put ourselves between the people and the harm, lifting up Jesus so that those who will look up from this world to Him might also be saved (see John 3:14-15). We must pray to see the people we are praying for or those who hurt us through the eyes of God. We must pray that God stops them in their tracks as He did Paul and turns them around.

We can't have faith if we aren't walking in love, for the only thing that avails is "faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6).

5) Pray truthfully.There are times when we are in denial about the truth of a situation, or we could just be mistaken about the facts or in how we are interpreting things. We don't necessarily need to be praying "the facts;" we need to be praying the truth.

The facts might be that the doctor said you will die in six months, but the truth is "by His stripes we are healed" (Is. 53:5). God doesn't need us to tell Him the facts; He knows them better than we do. But He does need us to agree with His promises so that we can receive the provision He desires to provide.

After all, the Bible says, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).

 6) Pray earnestly.
Life throws us curveballs, and though we have different backgrounds and personal histories, we all have emotions, dreams and passions. When we're emotionally involved in a struggle, we tend to pray less rather than pray more. If we are to have overcoming prayer lives, we need to turn those emotions and passions into prayer rather than let them become a hindrance to it.

We are told: "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit" (James 5:17-18).

7) Pray authoritatively. 
 Praying in Jesus' name is not just a closing we're supposed to use before we say, "Amen." Praying in the name of Jesus is coming to the throne of God just as an ambassador would come to the throne of a foreign king "in the name of" his own king. Using the name of Jesus is another "in Christ" privilege and signet of our authority as a representative of Jesus.

John 14:13-14 says: "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."

Prayer is a journey that is unique for everyone. Just as each of us has a different calling or job to do for God, each of us will travel a slightly different road in understanding what prayer really is. God will speak to each of us in different ways, and the way God speaks to one person can be markedly different from the way He speaks to another.


God isn't interested in getting us to learn rules and requirements and living life merely by following the dictates of a rule book, but He wants us to come to Him that we might know Him for ourselves.
 He wants a unique relationship with each of us just as He created each of us as unique individuals.

He wants to partner with us in our journey and live it out with us day by day. It's why He created humans, and it is His great joy when we come to Him without doubt or compromise to wholeheartedly get to know Him and let ourselves be fully known by Him. God is all about relationship, and the key to it is masterful prayer.

Source: Part Message from new book: When Kingdoms Clash - Strategies For Prayer In The Heat Of Battle -Cindy Trimm
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Note from Cindy: When Kingdoms Clash is the third book in my prayer warrior series. If you haven't read The Art of War for Spiritual Battle or The Prayer Warrior's Way, this might be a good time to add all three to your collection. While The Art of War gives more background, history, and a broader-stroke picture of prayer, Prayer Warrior takes you on a personal journey into the heart of God. I wrap up the trilogy with strategies and tactics that will help you battle on the front line – anywhere the kingdoms of dark and light clash – enabling you to stand in the gap and fight the good fight wherever you are.

There is no force more powerful on the face of the earth than prayer. My heart's desire is to equip and empower you to change the world through maximizing your potential to pray—that you would never be without the strategies and tools you need to overcome in every area of life.

Don't neglect the power of prayer. Prayer changes circumstances, Prayer changes lives. Prayer changes everything. Prayer is the game-changer God has given believers to not only take back their personal power, but to take back their families, communities, schools, governments, and the world. Become the game-changer God created you to be. Change the game through prayer. Together we can change the world!

James 5:16 NCV:
When a believing person prays, great things happen.