Rhemalight

Author: Michael J. Sonko

1. THE PRAYER OF FAITH

For you to pray the pray the prayer of faith you’d have to be certain of God’s Will. His Word is His Will. It is only when you know His Will (Word) that you can pray a prayer of faith (Mark 11:24, 1 John 5:14). This is the prayer that changes things. It can be used concerning healing, finances, etc. In short, it applies to everything that God has already provided.

1. THE PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (WORSHIP OR PRAISE)

This kind of prayer is of so much significance though we have ignored it. Lets look at Acts 16:25. At the midnight hour, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God and the prisoners heard them. One person said that Praise is the highest form of prayer. This kind of praying is significant. Paul and Silas didn’t whine and fuss but they sang praises unto God. You don’t think they said, “Now Lord, we try to preach and all we receive are beatings and prison. Surely the way of the Lord is hard and can’t be trusted”. They must have said, “God is good and his mercy endureth forever. He has promised to never leave nor forsake us and I trust God it shall be well with my soul”.

King Jehosphat did the same in the Old Testament. He had singers lined up and they sang, “For the Lord is good and Mercy endureth forever”, God came through. In the midnight crisis of life, when all circumstances are against your success, put your praise on for God inhabits the praises of his people (Ps 22:3).

Abraham didn’t waver at the promise but he continually gave glory to God (Rom 4:20). Sometimes it is necessary to lift your hands and say:

“Lord, I thank you for I can trust in you. Forces of the evil are arrayed against me but I can rest in your ability and your faithfulness to see me through.”

This kind of attitude gets answers to prayer quickly(see Acts 4:24-). The only reference they made to the problem was, “Lord behold their threatenings”. Develop this kind of prayer.

1. THE PRAYER OF DEDICATION AND CONSECRATION

Well, now we have reached the kind of prayer in which the common and most liked statement of “If it is your will” can be used.

Please understand that this kind of prayer is vital in the Christian walk. I am not undermining the statement “if it be your will” but we need to understand where it is used and use it for our benefit.

A classic example is Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane where I usually call the “battle of Wills”. Here we see Jesus praying the prayer of consecration and dedicating himself to the will of the father. He said, “Not as I will but as You will”. He was submitting his will to the will of the father and what a profound thing that He submitted himself to the will of father.

This kind of prayer is also necessary especially when you don’t know the will of God in a certain issue. For example, God leads you to marry a certain lady; you can pray this kind of prayer especially if it is not clear to you why He is leading you that way probably because you had other ideas. You should never pray this kind of prayer especially when you do not know what God has already said about a certain issue. For you to pray about an issue this way when you know that God has already told you to go is just playing church.

This is also a kind of prayer that you can pray every day submitting your will to the will of God. This is an illustration of this kind of prayer.

“Lord, I choose to submit my will to your will. I will go where you tell me to go, I will stay when you say stay. Lord let your will be done in my life. I may not fully understand the whole picture but I know you have my interests at heart and I will follow you because I can trust you.”

1. THE PRAYER OF AGREEMENT

Matt 18:19

Conditions:

• 2 people are enough for the agreement though 3 or more can do.
• You must be on Earth
• Ask for the thing and the Father will do it.

I want to draw your attention to these conditions because often times people have missed their answers due to lack of understanding agreement. It is not just saying let one pray and the other agrees. Decide and agree on the results desired not just what the other person prays. Little wonder that some prayers are not answered because one believes for relief of pain through death while the other believes for healing and total restoration. Please note that the prayer of agreement or even faith cannot override the will of the person mostly involved. So you can’t just push healing (however good it is for it is good) on anybody if the person wants to die.

This looks minor but is important. You can agree with me even when am in Michigan and you are in Kampala. There is no time and space in the spirit. What matters is the question of agreement. But both of you must still be in touch with the earth i.e. both of you must be alive. So you can’t agree with a dead saint.

Ask according to the will of God and not just anything. For you to agree with somebody that God protects you while you rob a bank is to ask me to get pregnant i.e. it is impossible. Forget it. (Refer to Part 1 of the prayer series, “Kicking Sacred cows In Prayer”.

Tremendous is the power available to the couple that understands the power of agreement and uses it to their advantage and they will get results for themselves especially when they walk in love.

Find people who can agree with you concerning the issues at hand. I have a couple of people that I sometimes agree with concerning a number of issues. I rarely do it but when I agree with them, I always get answers. Don’t just go to any body. There are many unbelieving believers who will hinder your faith.

1. THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

First let me say that this is one of the most neglected kinds of prayer. This is because some of us think and have been taught that there are some who called to the ministry of intercession and are therefore are supposed to be mighty intercessors while others are not. Let me suggest to you that all of us have been called to intercession and must pray this kind of prayer.

To use simple language, the prayer of intercession is to stand in the gap and hold back God’s judgment or call upon him for his blessings on others. This prayer is not about “me, me, me”. It is about “they”. God has given us permission to stand on behalf of our nations and others to cause things to happen.

Bible Examples

Abraham: Gen 18:16-33

Here is a man like you who is standing on behalf of the land where his nephew is. (Our nation will be saved because of us, the righteous, if we maintain the attitude of Abraham and also walk in righteousness) Follow the conversation and see something profound- God is willing to save the land because of one man’s cry. (Ez 22:30)

Moses: (Psalms 106:23)

Moses pleaded on behalf of the children of Israel before God and God rescinded from punishing them. You have so much potential to influence the course of things in your home and your country. He came boldly before God on the account of His nature and not on his (Moses) goodness. Remember it is boldness and not arrogance.

Paul: Eph 1:15-23

Prayer used to pray for the churches daily. He interceded for them and they did the same. He prayed for them that they may grow spiritually, attain prosperity and above all stand to the end. We need to pray good and stand in gap for our beloved. (1Tim 2:1)

Who do we intercede for?

First, intercede for all in the leadership. (1Tim 2:1)

After those, you can intercede for:

1: The Church leaders especially the five fold ministry

2: Your country. Pray for its peace

3: The local congregation, friends especially the prayers Paul prayed for the churches (find them in the epistles)

4: The Peace of Jerusalem

5: Other People’s needs especially the babies in Christ.

6: When you see a brother sin, intercede on their behalf.

Remember sin provokes God but faith evokes God.

1. THE PRAYER OF BINDING AND LOOSING

The bible in Matthew 18:18 uses the words bind and loose.

These two words are also used in Matthew 16. I want to first explain the terms before delving further into the praying;

Bind-means to forbid, prohibit, declare to be illicit

Loose-unbind so it is the exact opposite of bind above.

Though the word bind means to tie, in the above cases it doesn’t necessarily mean so. For example we can’t tie sickness but we can prohibit it or help those that are bound by sickness by permitting healing or deliverance. (…Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. Luke 13:12)

Some individuals have the notion that when we bind we tie with “spiritual ropes” and this leads to frustration because our focus and expectation is wrong.

Jesus gave us the authority to exercise dominion over good and evil by loosening (freeing and also permitting) and binding (refusing or prohibiting). Don’t wait for God to do something about your lack, sickness. Open your mouth and begin to exercise your authority. I had a problem recently and I cried to God to get rid of it. I was amazed and also disturbed at His response every time I raised the issue (I did a number of times). He told me that I had to do something about it since He had already done everything about it. He told me to exercise the authority He gave me. It was hard for me to take but thank God I have learnt it early so I can use it for the rest of my life. Use the authority that God gave you through Jesus Christ on the cross and in His resurrection. I know we can walk a victorious life if we also fathom this kind of prayer in our prayer life.

1. PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT

Praying in the spirit is usually used to refer to praying in other tongues. Though this is true, it also can involve praying with your understanding with spirit led instructions. This is one kind of praying that we should do a lot. This kind of praying will help you to build yourself up on your most holy faith (Jude 20) and also lead you into deeper communion with God. I have had tremendous blessing praying this way knowing that I am praying perfectly (Rom 8:28).

Email: admin@rhemalight.com or ssonkom@yahoo.com

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