Prevailing Prayer IV Outline

It may be good to look as a reminder the new covenant versus the old covenant:

Mat 3:11 "As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Eze 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

2. A Short Recap on prevailing prayer

a. What is prevailing prayer? Simply put prevailing prayer is answered prayer and is prayed by God’s leading, direction and will.

b. Why does God want us to pray – “prevailing prayer”
i. It reveals a part of God’s nature, character or will in a specific situation that He wants to reveal
ii. He gets the glory alone in prevailing prayer when He is lifted up.
1. Joh 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
2. Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
iii. It strengthens our Faith and the Faith of other believers (remember the story of Helen the Missionary from Zaire)

c. Where and when should we pray prevailing prayers…wherever and whenever the Spirit leads you to pray and we should be looking to God for the wisdom to pray in this manner (see James 1:5-6)

d. How do you pray prevailing prayer
i. You must first want and desire God’s character to be revealed in a situation no matter the personal cost. If you are walking in the flesh this is will not happen.

1. So many of us could care less what God wants but we go to him with a list of ours…it is like a fly on the wall saying turn down the lights.
ii. You must learn how to wall according to the Spirit.

1. Too many of us are satisfied with the flesh and use Christ as an add on in their life instead of the center of their very being.

2. Watchman Nee said “To be able to pray with the spirit a Christian must learn first to walk according to the Spirit. No one can pray with his spirit if during the whole day he walks after the flesh.
a. The trichotomy of man

3. The goal is God
a. Are you seeking God as He says to seek Him
i. Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
ii. God truly knows the heart and will not be mocked
iii. TV time versus time with the Maker of the Universe
1. World Series or Bucs Games, Working out
2. Time with family and friends, work

Example 1 of prevailing prayer, Elijah
1Kings 18:1
i. After many days (yet we are so impatient in our immediate gratification mindset)
ii. The Word of the Lord came to Elijah (God revealing His instructions and prevailing prayer)

1Kings 18:36-37
i. Elijah prays what God has revealed to him
1. For the Glory of God and to reveal His supremacy over all other gods
2. To bring the people back to Him, which is His will
a. 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

1Kings 19:11-14
i. How does God come to speak to Elijah?
1. In that still small voice, that which Elijah’s ear had been trained to hear
a. Isn’t that what happened to Samuel as a boy
i. 1Sa 3:9 And Eli said to Samuel, "Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
2. This story also give me great confidence in the mercy of God for His patience with Elijah

ii. How do you know it’s Gods will and not your own ways or thoughts?
1. Training yourself in Godliness – 1Cor 9:24-27

Watchman Nee - easiest error Christians can commit at this moment is to follow some irrational feeling or experience rather than the leading in their inner man. Once baptised in the Holy Spirit, they have entered the supernatural realm. Unless believers appreciate their own weakness, that is, know how incompetent they are in themselves to encounter the supernatural, they shall be deceived.

2. Use the resources God gives us: The Word, fellowship, prayer (especially for wisdom) and His Holy Spirit

3. Believe that God is who He says He is (Heb 11:6)

There is no situation where you cannot look up to God and what He want to reveal, unless we are not willing
God respects our free wills and will not make us into robots
i. God can be graceful, merciful, and gentle but still our response can be self-centered or God centered
1. We see both kinds of examples throughout the Bible
a. Saul and David - Goliath
b. Judas versus the other disciples
c. Ananias/Saphira versus Stephen

Stephen is an excellent example
Acts 7:54-60Prevailing prayer is finding out what Gods wants and then moving forward in full obedience, even unto death