If You Knew…

“…In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with a plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’ Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?…” (Luke 18:1-8)

If my prayers were not powerful and effective… the devil would not have spent the past few decades trying to convince me otherwise. If my prayers did not wage war in the spiritual realm, or move the hand of God in His will, the devil would not fear when I took knee before the great I AM. If my prayers were not heard by the Almighty God, and considered to be a weapon against the evil one, why would the devil waste his time on someone as meaningless as I? For without Christ, I am nothing. In Christ, I am a child of God.

My faith in God started when I was a small child. I can remember being in kindergarten, knowing exactly who Jesus was, and that my faith must be in Him. There was absolutely nothing God could not do or accomplish. Impossible truly wasn’t a word in His vocabulary. It wasn’t until now, 3 decades later, when my eyes began to open to see that my faith as a child no longer believed God would do the impossible. Oh, I believed in my head that He could, but not that he would. As an adult, well, we grow up. We accept what adults call “reality.” We begin to realize that, although, God can direct our paths, we need to take steps, and, although, God can give us wisdom, we need to make decisions.. to the point when we begin to simply do it all ourselves, putting Him on the backburner, putting our faith in ourselves and in man, and choosing to give in to whatever you want; right or wrong, inside or outside His will for us. That’s basically what happened to me. I stopped truly asking God, and started telling God. But this isn’t about how we make choices, this is about prayer. By simply telling God my plans, thoughts, ideas, requests, hopes, etc, it became a one way communication. There was no time for sitting quietly and listening to His spirit, allowing His spirit to move, allowing Him to speak. It hit me the other day as to the real answer to why… What if what I have to say, He disagrees with? What if what I think, He corrects? And what if what I feel, He rebukes? What if what I think is truth, is wrong? No one likes to be disciplined. And with that I shut Him out. With that, I lost the beauty, intimacy, and power of what it truly means to pray in the spirit; the ability to pray possibility into the impossible.

Prayer is often looked at as a last resort. But when you begin to understand that prayer is a spiritual weapon that connects us to the Creator of the universe in times of battle, your eyes will start to open to a whole new realm of power. Prayer is not a means of consolation (“I’ll pray for you.”), it is a means of mobility towards victory (I am praying for you.”) When I say I’ll add you to my prayer list, what you should know is that I am going to battle for you. My prayers aren’t simple prayers any longer. I now know that my prayers shake the heavens, move mountains, and break chains through the name of Jesus Christ. I wish I truly understood this sooner. It’s like I knew it in my head, but not my heart. I believed it, but didn’t live it. See shame and inadequacy are powerful tools the devil uses to shut up God’s people…

“Shhh… He doesn’t care about that. Don’t bother praying tonight, you’re too tired. It doesn’t matter, other people will pray about that, you don’t have to, they know how to pray more effectively than you. You didn’t pray yesterday, you let Him down again. You’ll ask God to help you do better, and then you’ll just go back to your same pattern anyways, don’t bother. God is bigger than your issues, why bother Him with that? That’s your country, not His, He doesn’t care about the place you live. Everyone gets sick, everyone dies, it’s apart of life, if God wants to heal, He will, your prayer won’t matter anyway. Why pray for that, you don’t know God’s will. That is so selfish, you should be ashamed to bring that before God. Once again you only think of yourself, your needs, your wants. You just complain, you are never satisfied. If you were stronger, you wouldn’t need God’s help. If you were a better Christian, you would just deal with it because that shows trust. You prayed for that before and nothing happened, give up. Once again, you too selfish to understand that people have it worse than you. That’s not important. That’s not going to do anything. That doesn’t matter. Just stop praying…”

Those were some of the lies I have listened to for years. Every time I would go to pray, an overwhelming voice would speak lies into my mind. For years, I let them fester. For years, I gave in. For years, my prayers were shallow and dripping with shame. For years, I would ask for forgiveness, but my heart would be hardened, my guard would be up. Then I started doing three things that drastically changed my way of praying. I prayed while listening to worship music. I would pray those songs over my house, my friends, my community, my children, my church, my state, and my country. I would worship God in His goodness, and pray my praise to Him. When you are in the presence of God, evil can not dwell. When the voices started speaking to me, I spoke out loud to God and asked Him to rebuke them. Remember who you’re talking to. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Where there is light, darkness can not be. You speak to God, ask Him to bind the evil and keep it at bay. Ask Him to clear your thoughts. I start each prayer with this scripture, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me to the way everlasting.” Truthfully, sometimes I don’t even get beyond the scripture, because when you truly want God to do all those things, you leave yourself vulnerable before Him… a place I don’t like to be. Like I said, no one likes to be disciplined. No one likes to be rebuked. Asking the Lord to bring to the surface all the nastiness you hold inside isn’t exactly the best part of anyone’s day. But in it’s bitterness, shame, and brokenness there is grace. Beautiful grace.

It’s hard sometimes to think of a God of justice and judgement as the same God who is close to the brokenhearted. A God who calms the seas that rage, is the same God who calms our anxious thoughts. A God who cast Adam and Eve out of their home in the garden is the same God that sent His Son to lay down His life for us. It all comes down to one thing. Love. Greater love than we can possibly imagine. It’s this love that gave us the ability to pray prayers in the spirit, to put on the full armor of God, to intercede for others who are struggling. It’s this love that intercedes for us when we come before the throne of God, so much so that Romans tells us that we can come before Him even with “wordless groans” and He hears… He understands. This love is an unfailing love, a love that cannot be removed. No matter how much nastiness comes to the surface, His love overwhelms and casts aside, His grace is sufficient, His mercy is poured out 10 fold. When you hear the devil tell you lies, you remember Who you’re talking to. You resist him. He will flee.

The wickedness in life is not hidden, and Satan’s schemes are clear as day. Walk so closely with God that you can hear Him speaking to you even when you aren’t in your “pray room.” Each morning, ask the Lord to give you boldness and to speak to you throughout the day. Come beside the Lord and say, “I am ready to fight this battle, Lord, for I know you are for me. Show me exactly what job you have for me today that will advance Your army.” Remember, through His love, He has given you His spirit to accomplish His will. You were created for a purpose and for such a time as this. Do not be discouraged. Do not ever give up hope. Be persistent in your prayers. Do not waiver. Keep the faith. He will bring about His will. If you are broken, be broken. If you are joyful, praise Him! Do not withhold yourself from Him in fear of rebuke or rejection. His love for you, you can not comprehend.