Happy New Month. I pray that the Lord will bless you, cause his face to shine upon you and give you peace in this Month of April, in Jesus name. Each time you pray, may the Lord give you an answer of peace.
Last month our central theme was love. We discussed it from a different perspective as the Holy Ghost gave us understanding. It was life-changing. This month of April, we shall be dealing with Prayer.
I don’t want to define what prayer is. We have had several of them and our prayer lives remained unchanged. Overloading yourself with definitions won’t change it either. But an in-depth understanding of the principles and power of prayers.
I find it necessary to consider the preliminary of prayers. Before you start to pray what do you need to do? For some believers, moments of prayers are calculated towards bombarding God with tongues. After they spent hours laboring in the place of prayer, they come out the same, with their prayer request still staring them largely in the face. They have ignored the preliminaries of prayer and jumped straight to begin their prayers.
Is prayer preliminary in scripture? Yes.
Even Jesus our Lord and Saviour employ the use of prayer preliminary.
John 11:41-42
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. 42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
What was Jesus trying to do in the scripture under quotation? He was trying to get the attention of his Father. It was a prayer preliminary.
After getting the attention of his father through Thanksgiving, he began to pray and see how speedily his answers came.
John 11:43-44
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. 44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
Jesus did the same thing in the book of John 6. After Thanksgiving, bread multiplied.
John 6:11
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
There are several prayer preliminaries that you can do. It can be Thanksgiving, it can be worship, and it can be praise! Whatever you can do to gain height in the realm of the spirit or get God’s attention, do it before you begin your prayer. That way, you are sure to get the answers to your prayers.
Instead of starting with prayer, first, seek to gain the attention of heaven. Look for spiritual network signals until you find it. And when you do, you can utter every word; it will be answered by God.
Why do you think people sing before they start praying? Many of them are piercing through pillars until they get to a place where networks freely flow. Sometimes, you can spend hours singing and praising God. It isn’t a waste of time. It is a time of seeking to gain an audience with God.
When you have found it, then you make your request known unto to God. This is one preliminary we have ignored and often come out with prayers unanswered. You hear people say, I pray every day for 5 hours, yet nothing has changed concerning their lives. They have failed to look for their spiritual ascend and abide there.
A plane will keep gaining height up to the sky until when it gets to a certain point above sea level. Afterward, the plane will be cruising at the level, undisturbed by anything. Some pilots can activate auto-pilot and relax.
The pilots know. When they have reached that height, they simply cruise. Friends, we can learn from these commercials pilots who fly people across the globe. You should seek for and find your spiritual height and tabernacle there. You remain there and tell God all you desire and your prayers will be answered.
How to Know when you Gain Prayer Height
If you have been praying, then you have been to this place before without knowing. And since you weren’t aware of where you have been to and how you got there, replicating the same thing will be impossible. Have you ever prayed and you lost consciousness of your environment? Or have you ever prayed to the point that you didn’t feel like stopping at all with the totality of your focus centered on Jesus alone? If you have, then you have gained height in the spirit. At that point, you can ask anything and you will get it. When the portals of heaven are opened, you can be heard. Unfortunately, our present day generation believers are too busy to tarry in God’s presence until they have gathered height in the spirit. It seems as if the life that we lead has been affected by our technological world. Everything is now fast. But that does not change God. If you want your prayers answered, then you should begin with prayer Preliminary. Get a connection to heaven and once you have done so, keep at it.
The day you have an understanding of this vital prayer principle, that day your life will change. Your prayer time won’t be wasted. Your two hours of prayer will be impactful than someone who spent several hours. It is your connection that determines your reception. The more connected you are, the better you will receive from God.
Sometimes, when we come to God with our several prayer needs, we are coming from a noisy background. And when I mean noise, I am referring to the cares of the world. While you may physically be in the presence of God, it is pointless because these things overcrowd your heart. It will be surprised to see that even though you may be physically praying, your heart is heavily planted on your needs. But prayer preliminaries help you deal with these things. The time you spent worshipping God or praising him or looking for spiritual signal would have handled these distractions. When eventually you gain spiritual ascend, your prayer time becomes productive.
We need to give great heed to the prayer preliminaries if we want to see the results of our prayer. The Bible says the prayer of a righteous man avails much.
James 5:17-18
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
But no matter how righteous a man is, if there is no connection to heaven, his prayer won’t move anything. The Bible gives us the example of Elijah who was subject to light passion like us. The bible was telling us that this man called Elijah is like you. Yet this same man locked heaven and pocketed the keys. For over three years, there was no rain anywhere in the land. Why did the prayer of this man wroth so much power? It is simple. Elijah had learned how to connect to heaven. He offered his prayer and the heavens became brass, without any trace of rain for over three years.
The quantity of time we spent in the place of prayer is good. Yet if we don’t have a spiritual network where we can talk to heaven, fewer results will be achieved. I want to ask you this question, have you not been praying? Imagine that all the prayers that you have been praying all this long have been answered? Where would you have been right now in your walk with the Lord? I leave you to answer this question.
When believers just want to satisfy their daily schedule of prayers without first connecting to heaven and get a spiritual signal, it becomes hours of prayers with nothing to show for it. Even if you want to tell someone something important over the phone, but there is no connection on your phone, you won’t be able to say anything to the other person.
Before you begin to pray, seek connection. Don’t be in a haste to start your prayers. Check all the spiritual signals until you have it. And when you do, then begin to pray. At that point, the eyes of heaven are upon you to grant you all of your heart desire. The challenge is, some of us stop the prayer when it is about to begin. We spend a long time praying. But when we gain spiritual height, we stop. For God, that is the time that our prayers should have started. Heaven’s attention may be on you, yet you just stopped when the show is about to begin.
This is what we shall be dealing with this month. May the Lord help us.
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