The events of the past few days has birthed a strong desire in many people to pray. And the desire to pray is a VERY GOOD desire to have, for God tells us that men ought to ALWAYS pray, and never faint (Luke 18:1).
BUT....if people do not know HOW to pray effectively, their prayers can be prayed 'amiss,' which is-according to James 4:3-praying prayers improperly, ineffectively, and in vain.
Religion has taught us that ANY type of prayer, prayed to ANYONE WE CHOOSE, is good and effective. It has focused on the ACT of prayer, and NOT the SPIRIT of prayer.
Prayer is lauded as good and a proper response-let's say-to a national tragedy.
As we have all found out this past week, a national tragedy will even bring the President of the United States to his knees.
And while it is a good thing that people are wanting to and desiring to pray, if the people are not taught HOW TO PRAY, it will ALL be in vain.
And then when the next tragedy happens, people who don't know God will grow even more angry, indifferent or bitter towards God because it will seem to them that humbling themselves and praying 'did not work.' And the only reason it did not 'work' was because the prayers were all prayed WRONG.
1) The first 'rule' of prayer is that YOU MUST PRAY TO GOD and GOD ALONE! I have seen many people the past few days kneeling to statues, holding rosary beads, chanting Hail Mary's and praying to dead saints on behalf of the little kids who were slaughtered last week. I have to ask myself...'Do they NOT know that these DEAD 'saints' do NOT hear their prayers? Do they NOT know that you can pray to the devil and his minions...IF you are NOT praying to GOD????? Do they NOT know if they pray 'to the devil,' that it will INDEED be the devil who answers? And guess what?
He won't answer with good things. He won't protect anyone. He won't bless anyone. Its his job to curse...to steal, to kill AND to destroy. KNOW HOW YOU ARE PRAYING TO!!!! Put the beads, the rosaries, the statues and the Hail Mary's AWAY...you are entertaining DEMONS!!!!! (Remember the movie, Angels and Demons, with Tom Hanks? WHY do you think any and all reference to the Catholic Church always brings about the existence of the demonic...and then it is always in the context that all of mankind is just subject to the wims of the demonic????? Because the WHOLE Catholic system is set up on DEMONS!)
2) Prayer that promotes one's own agenda and NOT the will of God is SICK, TWISTED prayer...the Word of God actually calls it 'DISEASED.' The word for 'pray' in James 4:3 is 'kakōs,' which means 'improperly, wrongly, sick.' The word 'kakōs' is also the same word used in the New Testament in the scriptures that talks about sickness and disease. Those scriptures that talks about the sick being healed .... it is actually used for the words 'sick,' 'evil' and 'diseased.'
What this means is that it is possible to pray prayer that indeed IS SICK, TWISTED, DISEASED. And that diseased prayer is ANY prayer that is prayed amiss...or wrongly, ineffectively, to the wrong god, in the wrong motive or spirit.
3) We have been taught that in order to pray effectively, we must be inside of a church building. We must take on a certain posture. We must use certain pious and holy sounding words. Clamp our hands together real tight, close our eyes and pray. WRONG!!! While some prayer goes forth that way, I present to you that MOST of THIS type of prayer is NOT heard by God, because it is done religiously. ANYTHING done religiously will more likely than not be rejected by the Father.
The awesome thing about prayer is that it can be offered ANYWHERE, and if it is done in the right motive, the right way, to the ONLY GOD, then HE WILL RECEIVE IT!
Psalms 145:18 says God is near to ALL who call on Him.
If you're a sinner and the Spirit of God is convicting you...it doesn't matter if you're in a crack house, in jail, in the bed next to your lover, or standing over the dead body of someone you just shot. You can pray RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE and GOD WILL HEAR YOU!
And NOT only that, but if you REPENT, GOD WILL SAVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We see all these people who try to get sinners to an altar and would try to make people believe that repentance and forgiveness of sins can only take place at a church altar. We have all seen the movies where the sinners walk up the aisle and to the altar to 'get saved.' NOWHERE in the Word of GOD was ANYONE EVER saved at a temple, a synagogue or a church altar! In the early church, folks were getting saved EVERYWHERE BUT the temple.
The word for prayer used in the Old Testament is 'tĕphillah,' which means 'a house of prayer.'
This means in the Old Testament-under the old dispensation, there always had to be a place of prayer in order for it to be accepted by God. We all know this to be true, because God even had strict stipulations on the specs for the temple, the priesthood and ceremonies, spelled in detail in the Old Testament.
BUT look what happens in the New Testament:
The word for prayer used in the New Testament is 'proseuchē,' which means 'a place in the open air....to pray, outside the cities, where they had no synagogue; a place set apart or suited for the offering of prayer; prayer addressed TO GOD.'
Now in the New Testament, prayer is not just restricted to the temple. It is NOT EXCLUDED from the temple, for even though God broadens the parameters in which man can and should pray (to give men EVERYWHERE a chance to repent), but He gives all a chance to reach out to him.
There is no special 'place' to pray.
We have heard of many 'prayer vigils' going on now since the Newtown tragedy. It sounds real pious and all, but do we even KNOW what the word 'vigil' means?
A vigil is a watch kept during normal sleeping hours. The act or a period of observing; surveillance. The eve of a religious festival.
Plainly speaking, it is a religious observance.
I guess the closest thing to a 'vigil' found in the Word of God is when Paul spoke of 'watchings' and 'fastings' in 2 Corinthians 6:5 and 11:27.
But in BOTH instances, this speaks of the trials the apostle had to go through as he was being used to help grow the early church. We must understand the CONTEXT of these passage of scriptures. The Early Church went through MUCH persecution and martyrdom. The Original Apostles-in a sense-HAD to go through all of that in order to fulfill the will of God for THEIR Lives.
Nowhere else in the Word of God does it says GOD requires that OF US.
The foundation of the Church, the EKKLESIA, has ALREADY been laid. It does not need to be 're-laid,' so to speak. When you have a building-and the building is the EKKLESIA-and GOD HIMSELF has said the foundation is SURE (which speaks to STABLE, UNWAVERING, IT WON'T CRUMBLE), then man in all his pious attempts and good intentions should not and DOES NOT have to turn around and rebuild the foundation!
(But thats another blog for another day!)
All I am saying is that God required the early Apostles to go through what they went through...He is NOT requiring that of US.
SO we don't NEED to hold vigils, watchings, and fastings as they did. ALL GOD IS REQUIRING OF US is to PRAY.
In the Old Testament, priests/flesh had to represent the people to God every year to offer sacrifices/prayers for the people. But in THIS dispensation, WE ARE ALL PRIESTS unto God (1 Peter 2:9, Revelations 1:6, 5:10). So we can ALL go to the throne of GRACE and obtain MERCY directly from GOD...FOR OURSELVES! (Hebrews 4:16)
The only 'middle man' now is JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH! The HIGH Priest forever after the order of Melchisedeck. That means He lives and reigns FOREVER. NEVER to die anymore. HE IS RISEN and AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER, FOREVER MAKING INTERCESSION FOR US! (Romans 8:34)
NO MORE NEED for human intercessors!!!
The SPIRIT OF GOD, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, they intercede for all mankind.
I want you to look up the word 'intercession' in the New Testament: EVERY TIME the word is used, it is always talking about JESUS CHRIST or the SPIRIT OF GOD interceding on our behalf! NEVER is it used for a man interceding.
There were human intercessors in the Old Testament, the most popular being Abraham. Other prophets of old prayed, as well as the Levitical priesthood. But that was ONLY because they were SET APART, sanctified, for the express purpose of prayer, of interceding on behalf of the people to God. The people could NOT just approach God, unless, of course, He had allowed it. The people couldn't just ask for forgiveness for their own sins-if they entered in the Holy of Holies without permission, they would have been struck dead!
We no longer need someone else to pray for us!
Popular teachers like Juanita Bynum have erroneously taught things like 'you just can't approach God any old type of way.' They have been SO focused on the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy of Holies, the Tabernacle and all the OLD TESTAMENT revelations and manifestations of the Presence of God that they have failed to graduate to the NEW TESTAMENT in much of what they teach...and because THEY don't have the revelation for THIS DISPENSATION, they teach millions of others what THEY know only.
We don't have to go through lavish ceremonies, wear sheets and veils, hoop, holler, speak in tongues/code language, moan, groan (the SPIRIT of GOD does that FOR US), wear $1000 robes and garb to approach God NOW. We don't have to get ourselves 'right' and clean up before we enter the throne of GRACE. The Word says to BOLDLY go to the throne of GRACE...that's in faith, trusting that GOD hears you and WILL ANSWER YOU!!!!!!!!
Teaching like that appeals to our flesh, is religious. It makes us feel like we have somehow earned the 'right' to pray and that if we are good enough, perfect enough, holy enough, follow all the procedures enough that that will somehow pre-qualify us to get what we ask for in prayer.
THAT IS NOT TRUE!!!!!
There IS no 'posture' of prayer. There is no one particular way you have to stand, sit, kneel, or clasp your hands, or close your eyes to pray. You could be walking or running down the street, and praying. You can pray at work at your computer....silently. Charismatics have erroneously taught that you have to 'say the word out loud' in order for it to happen. THAT IS A LIE! The Word does NOT need our voice for it to be effective; plus, there are plenty of people who speak the Word, but because they speak it from an evil, unrepentant heart, it is spoken amiss. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives LIFE.
If you are wanting to pray, and you know that God is leading you to pray, all you gotta do is talk to God...RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE. If you're in a place where you can't speak, then just think it. Isaiah 65:24 says before they speak the prayer, God will answer. If you don't believe it's true-if you are so convinced that you just GOTTA speak for prayer to be effective-then how do deaf mutes pray????
They cannot speak. So are they excluded from being able to pray because they don't have the ability to speak????
Of course not! That is utterly ridiculous!
4) The prayer language doctrine is a doctrine straight out of hell. NOWHERE in the Word of God was anyone ever instructed to pray in a heavenly language-in some sort of spiritual pig latin-to confuse the devil. God doesn't need our code language to answer our prayers. The fact of the matter is...before we speak or utter the prayer God is able to answer it. This has happened to me on several occasions, as a matter of fact. I would be thinking something, and before I had the chance to utter the prayer from my lips, GOD ANSWERED! I ALWAYS get amazed when He does that!
The very first person I heard use the terminology 'prayer language' was Oral Roberts. I have to tell you...Oral Roberts has been the biggest purveyor of doctrinal and scriptural error of the past century. I am in the process of writing my 2nd book, the Fruits of Azusa, that thoroughly researches the Azusa Street Revival of 1906, as well as ALL the error that was birthed in the organized church system as a result of it. And in doing my research, I have found a GREAT deal of error was propagated by Roberts. And he is highly celebrated in the church community.
I won't get too much into detail about the prayer language here. All I will say is that if you don't have the 'prayer language,' DON'T SEEK IT. It is a language of the devil...and if you pray in tongues, your prayers are just as sick, diseased and twisted as Holy Mary's, and Catholic prayers to dead saints. Except you are praying STRAIGHT to demons and fallen entities.
STOP PRAYING IN TONGUES....THOSE ARE PRAYERS BEING PRAYED AMISS!
5) NOW....the Word of God DOES tell us HOW TO PRAY.
The Word does not say to pray to dead saints, to Mary, in code language/tongues, or in a building, or at a Wailing Wall. We all know the scripture on THE LORD'S PRAYER well:
Our Father, which is in Heaven, Hallowed be thy Name, thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.Matthew 6 and Luke 11-as well as James 4-are excellent scriptural references to prayer. I suggest you study them for yourself....extensively. Pray about them: ask the Spirit of God to reveal TO YOU what HE WANTS TO SHOW YOU ABOUT PRAYER.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the GLORY forever. Amen
Stop buying all these books on prayer. Most of them are colored with charismatic language and stock full of error....only teaching you to pray wicked prayers...to pray amiss.
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