Weekly Messages
February 29 - March 6, 2004
Lord Teach Us How to Pray
by Dr. 'Tayo
Brown
And he came to pass, that, as he was praying in a
certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said
unto him, Lord teach us to pray…”
“And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and
prayed”
“And it came to pass in those days, that he went
out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in
prayer to God”
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before
day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and
there prayed” Lk 5: 16, 6: 12, 11: 1
Friends, Jesus without doubt lived a life of prayer. He was
not so busy in his earthly ministry that he has no time to
seek God’s face in prayer, in fact he ever lives to make
intercession for you and me. One of the disciple of Jesus
came to him, I am sure this disciple has been studying
closely the prayer life of Jesus, he had known that the
secret of Jesus’ anointing and power was in the place of an
effectual and fervent prayer, he did not ask Jesus to teach
him how to perform miracles, he did not ask Jesus how to
cast out demons or how to preach a great sermon on the mount
all he requested from Jesus is to be taught how to pray.
This disciple of Jesus is ready to go to the school of
prayer, he knows prayer has to be taught, he knows the power
of prayer, he hungers and thirst for the revelation
knowledge of prayer. Through his inquiry the rest of he
disciples were taught the basic principles of prayer. There
is no affliction that will not bow when we pray. Prayer is a
means by which we talk to God and God respond back to us.
The scriptures says is any afflicted among you? Let him pray
and the Lord will deliver the righteous out of all their
afflictions when they pray. When God’s people pray, the
supernatural power of God will manifest. I still believe
this is an ultimate question we all need to ask the Lord, we
need to be enrolled in the school of prayer.
It’s so amazing that on fasting and prayer day Churches are
completely empty, many will rather want to lean on a “Mickey
Mouse” type of prayer—Bless thou O lord! Paul said my little
children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ is
formed in you. In the days of Jesus he usually offer unto
God prayers, supplication with strong crying and tears and
he was heard. He learned obedience by the things which he
suffered in the place of prayer and intercession.
Does your soul yearns for God, are you thirsty for a fervent
and effectual prayer an unselfish prayer according to the
will of God, for nations of the world, for leaders, for
Israel, for our enemies (mercy), for our country, for the
unsaved , then let’s pray like Elijah, a man of like
passion. The days we are living are the days to watch and
pray, how do we pray earnestly without ceasing? Join us in
GRA on Thurs. to learn and experience this truth of God’s
word.
GRA
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The GRA
Chosen Fast and Elijah's Prayer
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose
the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to
let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”
Isaiah 58: 6
“...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as
we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and
it rained not...And he prayed again, and the earth gave
rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” James 5: 16-17.
I don’t want to pray prayers that will avail little or
will not avail at all. What does it mean for our prayers to
be effectual and fervent? It means it has divine energy, it
is dynamic in its working, this is a prayer with
instantaneous results. When you study the life and miracles
of Elijah, who is flesh and blood like us you will discover
that he maintained a life of prayer and intercession even as
an old testament saint, no wonder he went to heaven
miraculously just like Enoch who walked with God and was
not.
GRA
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Parting Thoughts...
John Hyde a former missionary to India, habitually invested
his best time in prayer. It was in prayer that he sensed God
placing a challenge before him to win one soul every day.
One year later, he had personally led over four hundred
people to Jesus. He then felt prompted to win two people to
Christ each day. If he failed to touch that number of
people, he went back to the prayer closet, not to the local
Christian bookstore to find yet another gimmickry evangelism
outline. His philosophy of ministry was “I must look like
Christ in order to attract sinners.”
A prayerless church has adopted a totally different
philosophy, to look like the world in order to reach the
world, The only way to reach Satanists is look like Satan.
What more could we expect from a church that spends so
little. time in God’s presence. The unhappy results is that
Christians today can hardly be distinguished from
non-Christians. Let’s emulate Christ.
GRA
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