God's Power and Our Prayers There is no doubt that God has ordained in God has decreed to make the prayers of His people the cause of His triumph in many battles. . The Certainty of Victory He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist, and most.
Table of contents
- Winning Battles Through Prayer
- IT’S TIME TO PRAY THE DANIEL PRAYER
- Obtaining Victory through Prayers
- What are the rewards of meditating on Scripture? | Institute in Basic Life Principles
The cumulative message was clear. Daniel was to serve the emperor with all his heart, mind, soul, body, and strength. He was to so immerse himself in Babylon that he would be severed from his past in order to embrace the present as the only reality. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. At great risk to himself, again and again, he maintained his undivided devotion to God. In turn, God gave him knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus. And yet Daniel never forgot the temple that had been the heart of Jerusalem and of the nation.
Even at the end of his life, he remained mindful of the sacrifices that had been offered to God there as an act of obedient worship. He longed for Jerusalem every day of his life, evidenced by the fact that three times daily, when he prayed, he turned his face in the direction of his beloved city that once had been. God moved Cyrus to issue the decree that after seventy years of captivity, every Jew living in Babylon could go home. Even after a full generation of apostasy and separation from national faith in the living God, is it possible that the prayer of one person could bring renewal, restoration, and revival to America?
- The Casserole Queens Cookbook: Put Some Lovin in Your Oven with 100 Easy One-Dish Recipes.
- What are the rewards of meditating on Scripture?;
- The Gold Book - Your guide to Real Estate Investment!
By the time this book is released, this reality may be even more apparent than it is now as I write. Revelation , and many other Scriptures8, reveal that such indicators will be intertwined with His judgment in the end. The signs are all around us. When natural disasters—hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, wildfires, f loods, droughts, and tornadoes—repeatedly break records and claim lives.
When rumors of war encircle the globe daily because mercurial leaders break treaties and shatter alliances, bully other nations, and disregard sovereign borders. When terrorists slaughter innocent people, creating wide-spread chaos and fear. When our culture obsesses about celebrities without moral scruples who blatantly sensationalize their sinful exploits. When women and children are trafficked and degraded for billions of dollars in pornographic profit.
When work, sports, movies, video games, and tech toys consume our thoughts with no time left to focus on what matters most. When political solutions repeatedly fail to remedy what must begin with wet eyes, broken hearts, and bent knees. I realize we must be cautious when interpreting current events and natural disasters.
The rain falls on the just and on the unjust. Bad things often happen to good people for no obvious reason we can discern. But God has not called me to speak tentatively or without a sound biblical basis for what I see happening around us today. We have willingly, intentionally, deliberately taken the lives of almost 60 million children. Most of these abortions were not done for medical reasons, but for the convenience of the mother as a means of birth control.
Our abandonment of the nation of Israel.
Winning Battles Through Prayer
But it is especially concerning to see the United States of America, a nation founded on faith in God and dedicated to His glory by our first President and the Continental Congress, defy Him, seek to remove Him from public life, and rebel against His ways. Prayer where the pray-ers rend their hearts, return to the Cross, and repent of personal and national sin.
- Poland: A New Power in Transatlantic Security;
- Narrative in Fiction: Whispers in the Background.
- Coupon Millionaire: How to Save Money and Make Money with the Art of Couponing.
- Ransom Beach (Stephanie Chalice Thrillers Book 2)!
- Dark Lover: Number 1 in series (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series)!
- A Travel Guide to Christian Faith (Tour Leader) (Travel Guide to the Christian Faith).
- Victory through Prayer # 6.
Only prayer that moves Heaven can change a nation. So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. O Lord, we and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame because we have sinned against you.
The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
The Lord did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our fathers have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us.
For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, O God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear and act! For your sake, O my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.
As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. I once heard a Bible teacher share that when her three children were small she let them run loose in the house; then she would climb into their playpen to grab a few moments of private prayer.
And I am convinced our commitments, or lack of them, change our lives. The most important commitment I have ever made has been to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. It has affected every area of my life, as well as every fiber of my being—mental, emotional, physical, as well as spiritual.
That commitment determines the way I spend my money and my time, the friends I have and the enemies I make, the habits I establish and the habits that I break, where I go and what I do. I also made another very significant, life-altering, life-shaping commitment when I said yes to the marriage proposal offered by Danny Lotz.
IT’S TIME TO PRAY THE DANIEL PRAYER
It led me to a milestone moment on September 2, , at 8: I stood in the double doorway of Gaither Chapel in Montreat, North Carolina, the small Presbyterian church in which I had been raised, baptized, and had given my first public testimony. The stone chapel was packed with hundreds of special friends and guests whose heads were twisting and turning to catch a first glimpse of us.
With the candlelight giving a soft, romantic feel and the profusion of white f lowers giving off a subtle f loral scent, the entire scene looked like something out of my dreams. Daddy and I proceeded to walk on the same aisle cloth that he and my mother had walked over in the very same chapel where twenty-three years earlier they had been married.
With my tall, eager bridegroom grinning from ear to ear ahead of us, we met him at the front of the chapel. Because marriage is a commitment. Now, almost fifty years later, I am still living out that commitment. It has required time. It has affected me in every way, at every level, on every day. But I made the commitment to be his wife. I followed through on that commitment until Jesus came and took him home.
But whatever you have to sacrifice or invest to make the commitment, the Daniel Prayer will be worth it one hundred times over when Heaven is moved and this nation is changed. Daniel teaches us about prayer by his own example. One thing he teaches us is that his commitment to pray required preparation.
His preparations may have been as simple as setting aside this particular place for prayer where he could be undistracted and undisturbed. A refuge away from the all-consuming culture closing in around him. My designated, prepared place for prayer in my home is the corner of my living room.
On one side of the wingback chair where I sit is a fireplace. On cold winter mornings I light the fire, and it adds a cozy ambience that I find appealing. On the other side is a table with a drawer in which I keep several different translations of the Bible, three small devotional books, a Bible-study notebook, a personal journal, my reading glasses, pencil, pen, legal pad, iPad, and tissues.
Gathering those materials required preparation that included selecting a Bible that does not travel with me, but is used only for the purpose of prayer so that it is rarely removed from the chair side table. But I also know I need the regular, disciplined prayer of others. When I began my international ministry almost thirty years ago, God impressed on my heart to establish a Personal Prayer Team. They meet on Thursday mornings in the home of one of the members. Four of the ten ladies now serving have been on my Prayer Team for the entire time.
I was blessed beyond words when my daughter, Rachel-Ruth Wright, not only felt called to be on my Personal Prayer Team, but two years ago was selected to be the Chair. While these women pray for me personally, several years ago I became acutely aware that our ministry office and staff also needed a dedicated prayer team. So I set aside a place for prayer in my ministry office. I did this when one morning in my early morning devotional study of Exodus, I was struck by the fact that Moses had set aside a tent outside the camp of Israel and designated it for prayer.
I knew God was impressing upon me to set aside a room in the office where nothing else would take place except prayer. I selected a room in the center of the building and placed enough chairs in it for every staff person who serves at AnGeL Ministries. I had the walls painted a navy blue to give it a quiet, secluded atmosphere. At one end of the room is a small bench in front of a large cross, one made of mirrors so that those kneeling before the cross can see themselves ref lected in it. At the other end of the room is an easy chair with a table beside it on which is a lamp, a box of tissues, a Bible, and a card box containing prayer requests people send to our ministry.
Outside I hung a small framed sign: When I called them, each one agreed to serve. Another immediate, precious personal blessing was that my daughter, Morrow Reitmeier, was one of the names God placed on my heart. She agreed to serve on the Office Prayer Team and has been a member ever since. From that time until today, on Thursday mornings every week, these six very dedicated women gather in the Meeting Place to pray for the office staff and our ministry needs.
To do so, the staff has to submit individual requests to the Prayer Chair by Tuesday afternoon so that she can email the list out to her team. That way the Prayer Team is already prepared to pray when they arrive on Thursday mornings. Once a month the Prayer Team invites a staff member to meet with them to get a fresh, firsthand grasp of his or her needs whether personal or professional. The positive difference prayer has made in our office and ministry staff is beyond measure.
The harmony, unity, efficiency, and stability have been more than wonderful. While God meets us wherever and whenever we call out to him, a Daniel-like commitment requires deliberation and preparation in order to maximize the impact of our prayers. For me, the commitment began with my decision to place prayer at the heart of my ministry, and then I have had to maintain that commitment by ensuring it is fully carried out by the Prayer Teams.
Think about this for a moment. While you may not need a team of people praying for you, do you have perhaps one or two friends who could be your prayer partners? And do you have a designated Meeting Place? Would you consider establishing one?
Obtaining Victory through Prayers
Make the commitment to place prayer at the heart of your home or your office. I understand that not everyone has the space to set aside just for prayer. When she had a few moments, she pulled out her box and had everything she needed for prayer. Obviously, her commitment to pray required preparing a box of readily available materials. She found a way to make it work within the context of her circumstances, something we all can do.
I know business professionals who go to their office an hour earlier in the morning to have time for prayer. But even electronic devices need preparation to be readily available for use in prayer. You need to have previously downloaded apps for the Bible, for devotionals, and for other materials to enrich your prayer time. Then follow through and do it.
He established the habit of meeting God in his designated place for prayer three times a day, and he maintained that commitment even when under pressure and in the face of life-threatening attack. Do you not only have a set-aside place for prayer, but a set-aside time to meet with God in prayer? When do you pray? For years, I battled getting up early in the morning for prayer. I knew, and still know, that any time during the day is acceptable to God. The woman who taught me how to study and teach the Bible, Miss A. Because, of course, the violin needs to be tuned before the symphony so that its sound is pure.
With the same reasoning, we need to begin our day with prayer to ensure we live in sync with God. Why would we spend time only in evening prayer after we have already stumbled through the day? I was also aware that again and again, a morning time of prayer is referred to in the Bible. Just in the Psalms alone there are repeated references: In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: God is infinite wisdom. The Apostle Paul wrote this instruction to believers in Colosse: Scripture states that without faith it is impossible to please God see Hebrews As you learn the commands of Christ and meditate on them, the Lord will make Himself known to you.
The Word of God is a powerful, two-edged sword.
What are the rewards of meditating on Scripture? | Institute in Basic Life Principles
When used correctly, it overcomes the attacks of Satan. Cleansing of the mind, will, and emotions is an essential component of sanctification: Follow this instruction and begin today to meditate on the Word of God. As you do, your life will be blessed with increased faith and wisdom and rich fellowship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Skip to main content. What are the rewards of meditating on Scripture? Rewards of Scripture Meditation.