Better Way to Pray

God Already Moved
Most Christians see prayer as an opportunity to “move God.” They believe He can do anything, but that He hasn’t done it yet. In this mentality, prayer is how to make God do something. If this is what you believe, your prayer life rests on an extremely faulty foundation.

God has already done everything He’s ever going to do! He moved once and for all in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through the atonement, God has already forgiven and healed every person who will ever be forgiven or healed. He doesn’t even have to lift His little finger now to cause a healing or salvation!

As far as God’s concerned, the sins of the entire world have already been forgiven. The Lamb’s perfect sacrifice dealt decisively with the past, present, and future sins of every believer and nonbeliever alike. This doesn’t mean that all are just “automatically” saved (or healed). All individuals must receive for themselves by faith what Jesus Christ has already provided in order to actually benefit from it. A gift given isn’t fully yours until it’s received!

As Christians, we are to instruct people to believe and receive what God has already done for them through the atonement.

Yet God’s Word clearly proclaims, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col. 2:6). In the same way you appropriate and walk in forgiveness of sin, you receive healing, deliverance, prosperity, and everything else! If begging God to save the lady in the first scenario is inappropriate, then doing so for healing or anything else in the Christian life is absolutely wrong too! Christ already made full provision for the abundant life through His atonement. It’s now not up to Him to do, but you to receive what He’s done!

In our Bible schools and teaching seminars, we confidently instruct people not to “pray” for the sick, but to heal them. Jesus commanded us in Matthew 10:8 to “heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, [and] cast out devils.” There’s a huge difference between healing the sick and just praying for them!

Although this might sound foreign to you, these are just normal results when you understand and believe that God has already done His part. Jesus Christ completed everything necessary to save and heal every person. You believed and received salvation.

Healing comes the exact same way! It shouldn’t be any harder to receive your healing since He provided it at the same time as forgiveness for your sin.

The question isn’t, “Will God save you?” but “Will you accept His salvation?” The gift has been given, but will you receive it?

It’s the same with everything else in the Christian life! God has already healed, prospered, and delivered you. Yet most people beg and plead, attempting to manipulate and control God through prayer. Their underlying attitude is “How do I make God do something He’s unwilling to do?” That’s totally wrong!  Prayer is not trying to twist God’s arm to make Him do something. Prayer is receiving by faith what He has already done!

CHAPTER 2 – How Long Do You Pray?
Constant Communion

Prayer is communion with God! If He’s with you all of the time, you ought to be praying all of the time. The expression of this communion isn’t limited to a particular set of body positions. In the Bible, people knelt, raised their hands, and even looked up into heaven at times, but don’t make a religious form out of these things and require their presence in order to consider something “prayer.” You can pray with your eyes open or closed, hands raised or down, standing, kneeling, or prostrate. Since meditation is prayer (Ps. 5:1), you don’t even have to talk out loud! Your communion with God should be constant.

CHAPTER 3 – Serious Misconceptions
Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Proverbs 18:21

Even in “prayer,” your words produce either death or life. Praying God’s solution from the Word releases life but praying negatively and focusing on your problems only energizes and strengthens them—whether you realize it or not!

CHAPTER 4 – Our Father…
Begin prayer by acknowledging your special relationship to God your Father. Don’t just approach Him as “God,” “Judge,” or “Creator”; that’s impersonal and distant. Every New Testament believer has a close, personal relationship with God that supersedes even the very best of what Old Testament saints had. Isn’t that awesome?

People outside the church hear the way we talk about the Lord: “God sent the September 11 attacks. He’s judging America, and we need to pray for His clemency. The Lord will completely destroy our ungodly nation if we don’t get down on our knees and beg for forgiveness now.” It’s no wonder people aren’t turning to God. That’s not an accurate representation of who He is!

God’s not mad at you! It doesn’t matter how sorry you are. He took all of His anger out on His own Son two thousand years ago at the cross. Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Now you can approach Him without fear based on what Christ has done. God’s just glad to hear from you. He’s not going to find fault with you. God isn’t like that!

Go ahead and enter His gates with thanksgiving and praise Him. Thank Him for the fact that He is holy and kind, pure and good. Praise Him for being your Father and not your Judge! He’ll be the Judge of nonbelievers, but He isn’t going to judge you.  Your judgment was placed upon Jesus. When you stand before Him on that Day as a believer in Christ, it’ll be for the presentation of your eternal reward, not condemnation. There’s simply no need to be afraid of your loving heavenly Father!

Manifesting Heaven on Earth
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Mathew 6:10

Jesus continued to praise God, declaring, “Father, I know that it’s Your will for things to be done on earth the way they are in heaven.” In heaven, no sickness. Therefore, it’s not God’s will for you to be sick! There’s no poverty in heaven. So it’s not God’s will for you to be poor here on earth! In the presence of the Lord, there is abundant joy, shouting, singing, praising, and worshiping. That’s what heaven is like, and it’s how He expects us to be here on earth!

Religion has sold us a bill of goods!

It’s taught us to always expect God to be half ticked off. It’s convinced us that we must constantly try to appease an angry God. Wrong, wrong, wrong! That’s not the way Father wants it to be. If Christians really understood this part of the model prayer, they’d quit believing that God is the one who brings bad things into our lives to teach us something. God doesn’t make people sick. He doesn’t put poverty in your life. He didn’t cause your marriage to fail because you weren’t serving Him at the time. God didn’t kill your child because you weren’t reading the Bible.

Religion teaches that garbage. It’s no wonder we aren’t getting better results in prayer! God wants His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven! This should serve as a guideline for what we expect from Him. We should pray that what’s already waiting for us in heaven would begin to manifest here in our lives on earth. Eternal life has already begun!

God wants us to be this way with Him. He desires all believers to be so familiar with His love that our approach toward Him is bold. (Heb. 4:16.) He yearns for His children to believe that all the provision they need has already been made. They just have to reach out in faith and take it. “Father, thank You! I receive my healing. I take my prosperity. I love You, Father!” You aren’t making God do something. You just know in your heart that He’s already supplied, so you reach out and receive it.

Not many Christians approach God this way. We come before Him more like beggars than children. We should pray, “Father, I thank You that You have already provided everything I need. You never deny me anything good!” Instead, we enter His presence feeling like God doesn’t really want to move in our life. Therefore we beg and plead with Him to make Him move on our behalf. That attitude stinks! It’s religious bondage, not true prayer. God is offended, and it doesn’t bless you. Tear that stuff up and start over! “Give us this day our daily bread!” Just take advantage of what He’s already done. Appropriate it!

Through faith in Christ, we transferred kingdoms. Jesus has already delivered us out of the kingdom of darkness and set us in the kingdom of light. The evil one lost his legal hold on us completely, and we now belong to our loving heavenly Father. For this we praise Him. Hallelujah!

CHAPTER 5 – Make a Prayer Sandwich!
Christ’s model prayer started with praise: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name…” and ended with praise: “…For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen” (Matt. 6:9,13).

This is what I like to call the “Sandwich Technique.” Start your prayer thanking Him, praising Him, and declaring how big He is. Then, slide in your petition and end by praising Him some more. When you approach God with your request by slipping it in between two healthy slices of praise and thanksgiving, you’ll find that you don’t really have that much to ask Him for.

“Oh God, the doctor told me that I’m going to die! I remember this same condition killed Aunt Suzie. It’s so bad!” That kind of “praying” just discourages you. It builds up fear and depression. What if you prayed more like this? “Father, thank You that Your name is above every name. Cancer has a name. AIDS has a name. These things the doctor told me are in my body have names. You are above them all! Thank You that You are greater, stronger, and more powerful than all of this!”

Spend another five or ten minutes just praising Him for His greatness, then by the time you’re ready to put your request in, it’d be more like, “Father, this is so small in comparison to what You’re able to do. I shouldn’t even have to ask, but the doctor did say that I’m going to die. So since Jesus has already provided my healing, I’ll just receive it!” Then go back to praising and worshiping Him. In light of who God is, nothing is really that big of a problem.

PRAISE
Whatever you focus on will magnify in your eyes. Focus on the problem and it’ll grow. Focus on God (who is your solution) and your vision of Him will increase. This is why the direction of your prayer is so important. Will you choose to magnify God or your problem? The one you magnify will grow stronger in your life and the other weaker.

A huge amount of prayer ought to be praise! Praise is important because it blesses God and strengthens you. The Lord inhabits the praises of His people. (Ps. 22:3.)  That’s the main reason why church services usually start with praise and worship!

One of the words in the original language for prayer literally means “worship.” Another means “to kiss the face.” Prayer is worship and worship is prayer. Prayer is kissing our Father’s face.  Prayer is loving and communing with God.

Brothers and sisters, most of what we’re doing is not prayer.  It’s griping and complaining. It’s doing things to make you feel better, like you’ve earned something from God. “God will hear me now because I prayed for an hour!” Wrong! “Stretching” your prayer provides zero benefit. It’s just religion.

If you begin approaching God with a new attitude, it’ll make a big difference in your life. God wants you set free from the religious bondages that have been imposed upon you. He didn’t lead you under them. Other people put them on you. Or perhaps they were self-imposed. Either way, God wants you free because He’s not like that!

CHAPTER 6 – Begging From God
Insulting God
God is not like this “friend” who must be badgered. “You need to grab hold of God and not let go until He gives you what you’re asking for!” No! That’s against God’s character. It’s an insult to Him! Yet this very attitude has been widely taught and practiced as “prayer.” “You just have to stay after God and make Him do it.” You aren’t going to make God do anything!

If the Lord hasn’t already supplied your need by grace, your faith can’t make Him do it. Contrary to popular belief, faith does not move God. He’s not the one who’s stuck! Neither does He need to “move.” God has already done everything! The Lord is never taken by surprise because He established the supply long before you ever had the need. It’s not like He has to go out and do something to provide your answer. Since He’s already done His part, you don’t have to beg and plead.

God has already done it! He’s not up there in heaven with His arms folded, demanding, “Beg a little harder; you’re not serious yet. Once you’ve suffered enough, then I’ll answer…maybe!” That may be the perception you have, but God’s not like that. He’s trying to get His blessings to you!

If the Lord didn’t need our cooperation to see His power manifest, there’d be zero sickness on earth today. Nobody would wear eyeglasses, suffer allergies, or even endure a cold. God is so willing to meet all of our needs that He’s already done it. He’s trying to get His healing to you. He’s trying to bless every last one of us!

God wants revival more than you do! You don’t have to plead with Him to pour out His power. The way we’ve been taught to beg in “prayer” is absolutely wrong.

I used to preach, “If God doesn’t judge America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah!” Now I boldly declare, “If God judges America, He’ll have to apologize to Jesus!” The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah happened before the cross, but since then Christ has atoned for sin. There’s a big difference between then and now. God is not ready to judge this nation.

“Since God isn’t going to judge us, does that mean we’re safe, secure, and problem free?” No, we’re ruining ourselves by giving place to the devil! If America doesn’t turn around from going in this wrong direction, there’s far worse ahead. But it’s not God who’s causing the tragedy, forsaking us, or withholding His Spirit. We’ve turned our back on Him. Yes, we must repent and turn from our self-destructive ways, but we don’t need to plead with God to pour out His Spirit all over again. Can you see the difference?

CHAPTER 7 – “Repent, God, Repent!”
Abraham got by with this because it was a different covenant, and Jesus hadn’t yet atoned for us. However, it’s wrong for a New Testament believer to plead with God this way.   The Lord was angry at sin in the Old Covenant, so it was okay for Abraham to do this. But to apply this Old Testament example to us today, saying, “God’s mad! If our nation doesn’t repent, He’s going to judge us!” is simply not true. Yes, He judged Sodom and Gomorrah, but no, God’s not going to do the same thing today.

Many voices called the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, “God’s judgment on America” for our many national sins.  “God has given us a warning. If we don’t repent, then He’s going to do widespread terrible things!” No, He’s not.

At the time of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord’s wrath toward sin hadn’t yet been satisfied. Therefore, He judged them and did other similar things in the Old Testament. However, Jesus Christ made a huge difference! Now, we’re in the New Covenant and God’s anger toward sin has been appeased.

CHAPTER 8 – Jesus: The Only Mediator
“What Have You Done With Jesus?”

The vast majority of examples and models of prayer we’ve been given, especially for “intercession and spiritual warfare,” all go back to the Old Covenant. They’re awesome examples, but not for us today! Gods not ticked off or even in a bad mood. He’s happy and blessed. His family is growing and His kingdom advances daily! God’s wrath toward sin was poured out on His Son. He’s not angry at people anymore because His justice was satisfied through the Lamb’s perfect sacrifice.

Since God’s not angry, should we still preach? Of course! God has made the provision available, but each individual must believe and receive for themselves. If they don’t, then the wrath and judgment remain because those who don’t accept Jesus as their Savior will go to hell.

Most people think that God is against meeting their needs. That’s why they beg and plead with Him in “prayer,” because they believe He’s ticked off at their ungodliness in His sight. They visualize God with arms folded, putting them off, saying, “I’m not giving you anything!” So they “pray” and stay after Him until He eventually “wears down” and has to answer them. “Don’t let go until He gives you what you want!” No, Jesus taught the exact opposite! It’s people who have twisted these verses and called it “importunity in prayer.” What a rotten attitude!

Continued – Click on Link Below