I am excited about sharing a few thoughts about what to do when prayer remains unanswered but I think we also must focus on a key prayer strategy that is very powerful and leads to breakthrough.

Worship and Thanksgiving.

My friends, sometimes our prayers can turn into a laundry list. We pray on and on with names and needs that are truly important but we can become restlessly caught up in our pain, need and daily life that it's possible to slip into a place of prayer where we lose our perspective. SUMites, it’s imperative that our primary focus in prayer is to remain fully aware that we are having a love conversation with our Father, with our Bridegroom-Prince, Jesus.

The Lord truly knows our needs and yes, I believe we must pray and speak our concerns to His heart. But can you just take a minute here and imagine our Papa God, waiting, hoping even longing for us to approach the Throne of Grace and just hang out?  To listen to Him? To ask Him what He's doing on earth? What thrills His heart? What makes Him smile?

My friends, let’s turn our affection toward our Lord and our Father. Let’s take time to be intentional about worship and thanksgiving. In my prayer time, I try to begin with what I call my “Three thankfuls”. I write down in my prayer journal: 3 thankfuls: Followed by three things that come to my mind and simply acknowledge that everything good in my life is from my Papa.

I once heard a pastor teaching on this aspect of intimacy in prayer. He said that he rarely brings a list before the Lord but brings his affection. He said something like this, “God already knows my heart and my needs. So I am intentional to bring my affection to Him. And He usually moves on my heart requests.”

Interesting.

I believe there is a time to petition and there is also time to just be (Psalm 46:10)! It’s wisdom and discernment fueled by relationship that takes us perfectly into each.

So this week I have a challenge for you, when you lay down to go to sleep, rest quietly and turn your affection toward the Lord. In your imagination or quiet prayers, give Him your heart and then let Him love on you.

Today in the comments, share with me your three thankfuls for today:

I love you my friends. You LOVE well. You love God and you love people. Well done good and faithful servant!!!!!!!!!!!!!  See you in the comments. Hugs. Lynn

Essential components of effective prayer:

1. Create a time and space devoted to Bible reading and prayer.
2. Use the Word of God in your prayers.
3. Believe – Hebrews 11:6
4. Confidence
5. Engage you Will.
6. Courage
7. Fasting
8. 1 Corinthians 7:14
9. Thankfulness & Worship

If you don’t read any other post on prayer in this series, PLEASE READ THIS ONE.

My friends, there are many more aspects of prayer that we could cover. We won’t get to them all in this series but I have covered what I sense the Holy Spirit is wanting to impart to the church in this season about powerful prayer.

Today, I want to speak to one more area that is very specific to those of us who are unequally yoked. And next week we will cover the “blocks” to prayer and what to do with unanswered prayers.

About a year ago I was doing some study about defeating the demonic. Because I’m married to a pre-believer and so are you, the spiritual warfare in which we engage is right in our own homes and it can be relentless. So, I began studying as many things as possible about how to have victory in my prayers and in spiritual warfare just so I could maintain peace in my home and so my home would be a place where the Holy Spirit lives and not the demons. Anyone want that as well?

Okay, so I learned a lot. But one of the most powerful things I learned was specific to those of us married to unbelievers. First let me state that the spiritual realm is governed by laws. These are spiritual principals and regulations that were instituted by God. Just as in the natural, there is the law of gravity, there are laws the angelic and demonic must abide by and these laws are meticulously followed. The demonic relentlessly search for ways to gain access into our lives through laws that have been violated. A violation occurs when we believe a lie about God or about who we are in Christ. The devils can gain access.

So, why am I giving you a lesson in spiritual laws today. Because we must understand how authority works. There is a structure to authority in the spiritual realm. God has ultimate authority, in the Bible teaches us that God has given all authority to Christ. We, as joint heirs with Christ, receive authority in some manner or degree. We access that authority through our prayers. All this to say: The structure of the family is a system of authority. It says in the Word that the husband has authority over his wife (Ephesians 5:23). And thus, parents have authority over their children.

Why does this matter. Because men who are Christians can pray for protections over their wife and children and the demonic realm MUST listen. But in our mismatched marriages, our spouse is not under the authority of Christ so we could be left vulnerable. But….. we are not.

This is the secret the demonic does not want you to know. We are empowered in a special way to pray protection, favor, blessing and much more over our unbelieving spouse through, 1 Corinthians 7:14.

THIS IS OUR VERSE OF POWER AND AUTHORITY.

And let me tell you I use this passage often. And I see results.

For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. – 1 Corinthians 7:14 (NIV)

My friends, this is our authority to pray away things that are not of God in our spouse’s life and over our children. The rules of familial authority in this passage apply to the spiritual realm. I don’t know how to explain this well other than to just pray and show you how I use this passage in my prayers for my home and family.

Often, almost daily, I will pray something like this:

In the name of Jesus, I take authority over my home through the power of the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 7:14. I stand in faith over my home and it is now holy as stated in this verse. My husband is now covered with the holiness of Christ and covered by His blood. My children are holy and they will walk in glorious plans and purposes designed for them since before time began and declared by God. They, my children and husband and myself, will experience the abundance of the Lord today in our schools, ministry, workplace and anywhere else we go.

I say that any unclean spirit that is in my house MUST go right now into the pit. (I will name any here as the Holy Spirit leads me. The demonic gains access to my home at times through the television my husband watches at night.) Lord, in Jesus name and by the authority as the believing spouse, I command all demonic spirits, fear, pride, unbelief, political spirit, religious spirit, etc to leave right now. I state clearly that they cannot come back nor can replacement spirits come in. I bless my husband to receive the love of God through me and all darkness is forbidden to be in my home. In Jesus name.

Father, I take authority over my children through 1 Corinthians 7:14 as their mother. I say they are blessed and will receive today, every spiritual gift you have prepared for them. They will experience Your joy, peace and goodness (Romans 14:17) as this is Your loving and lavish provision for them. And Lord as I speak this blessing over them, I claim it for myself and my husband. In Jesus name.

Thank you Lord for the angels that you have stationed around and in my house. I stand with them - in your power and authority through Jesus as the protector and guard against evil. I declare today my family and home is a safe zone and nothing unclean can enter in. I declare today that blessings and peace and grace rest here in the power of the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. I stand with my armor fully on and in faith under the truth of 1 Corinthians 7:14. In the powerful name of Jesus Christ my Lord. AMEN… Hallelujah!!!

Okay, do you all need some authority in your home? Well now you have it. Say this prayer out loud and give me an amen in the comments. Let’s release the Kingdom of God into your family line and sanctify hour home, spouse and children. AMEN…

We love you Jesus. Thank you.

BIG hugs, Lynn

Essential components of effective prayer:

1. Create a time and space devoted to Bible reading and prayer.
2. Use the Word of God in your prayers.
3. Believe – Hebrews 11:6
4. Confidence
5. Engage you Will.
6. Fasting
7. 1 Corinthians 7:14

(You know what is so weird. Every time I try to re-post this list, something doesn't come through when I paste it into the composer. Today is was number four -confidence. And half way through my prayer as I was typing it out, half of it disappeared.---DEVIL YOU DO NOT WIN. JESUS WINS ALWAYS. So there.)

Hello SUMers, can you believe its September?

Say What?

It’s back to school. Back to church. Does your church start a whole ton of stuff this month? There are tremendous opportunities in the fall in which to participate. Just remember to find balance and not over commit yourself and leave your husband/wife feeling left out. Choose wisely!

In the last few weeks I’ve shared six prayer strategies. I absolutely believe that our prayers are magnified and moved upon by the Lord. And as I was considering wrapping up this series, the Lord reminded me about a tactic of prayer that I’ve yet to discuss: Fasting

There are times when we have prayed and prayed. Employed our will, the Word, etc., etc. And…. Nothing.

This brings me to the wild story in the book of Daniel. Chapter 10, let’s listen in to this conversation:

Daniel speaking: Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground.

Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. And the man said to me, (Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision): “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling.

Then he said, “Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven.”

There are so many things about this exchange that blow my mind but I want to point out something that most of us miss when reading this passage. Notice that it says since the first day you began to pray. What is amazing, beautiful and loving is that God heard Daniel on the very first day… And even better, God sent an answer immediately.

My friends, I’m fully convinced that this is true today for us. God listens and wants to give us our answers. But here is where it gets really interesting.

Answers are delayed, thwarted by our own words remember, and can be amended if we change our prayer or God has another plan in motion. But in my heart I’m convinced that His love and goodness moves Him to reply with immediate answers to our heart-felt prayers.

Let’s listen into the rest of this astonishing conversation with Daniel and the angel Gabriel.

Gabriel: I have come in answer to your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.”

WHOA!

God replied to Daniel immediately but there was an epic battle in the spiritual realm for 21 days! SUMites, this passage is in the Word so we can understand that this is how prayer and answers to prayer unfolds. We must know that contending in relentless prayer is often needed. Prayer when combined with fasting is needed to break a block in the spiritual realm.

We could spend months on the study of prayer with fasting. But we won’t as we cover fasting every January during our powerful community fast. We will be fasting again as a community, next month and it’s going to be amazing, stay tuned. More to come on that.

When you fast to gain access to the Father’s heart and to hear His voice, can facilitate an answer so commanding that it can breakthrough powerful principalities of the dark realm.

Wow and Wow!!!

I wonder if any of you have sensed that you were battling in prayer on the spiritual plane, against a strong darkness, right before a breakthrough? Things that make you go, hmmmmm.

I would love to hear any fasting stories from you, SUMites. I know this can be a confusing area for those who have never fasted. So, if you have a testimony about prayer and fasting and how you saw God move, please, PLEASE share it in the comments. Someone may need to read it. And that someone could be me.

I love you deeply my friends. I’m praying for our community and I’m expecting breakthrough!!!  BIG HUGS, Lynn

Essential components of effective prayer:

1. Create a time and space devoted to Bible reading and prayer.
2. Use the Word of God in your prayers.
3. Believe – Hebrews 11:6
4. Confidence
5. Engage you Will.
6. Courage
7. Fasting

Do you believe God wants courageous kids?

I convinced He does. Just take a look in the Word. The Lord commands us to be courageous and to “Fear Not.”

Yep, easy to say. But what does a life of courage look like in 2016? What does it mean to pray without fear?

I’m convinced that the attributes we have studied over the past several weeks, praying the Word, belief, confidence, engaging your will, all lead up to courageous praying. Prayers that ROCK the heavens and defeat the demonic realms.

All of these attributes lead us into the supernatural realm of powerful prayers, fueled by unwavering faith.

There comes a day when you have settled your doubt and truly believe. There is a moment in time when the Word of God comes alive and is truly a sharp, two-edged sword that you wield. There is a season after walking in step with Jesus that you become a courageous, sold-out, Jesus-freak. That is the moment where love over takes fear of defeat, fear of man, fear of failure, fear of condemnation, guilt, shame and comparison. You step into the reality that you are a Child of The Most High God and are empowered and enthroned as royalty. When you speak you have the power of life and death upon your tongue. (Proverbs 18:21)

(Wow, when I grow up, I want to become this person.) I hope I’m mostly there! *grin*

Those who arrive at this place in their faith walk are intercessors clothed in humility and also of, …… great power! They are the Believers who have spent time in the Presence, in the secret place, alone with God. Believers who know the Word and how to pray it and when the Word is aptly spoken, it’s as beautiful as baskets of fruit of silver and gold (Proverbs 25:11)

You may think that these intercessors are the “Big Names” in our Christian communities such as Beth Moore and Tony Evans. And they likely are but I’m more impressed with the ordinary mom who rises early to pray for her little ones by name. I’m moved by the Dad and husband who prays every day on his way to work for his family and for the Kingdom of God to advance in his workplace. I’m undone to consider the ordinary widow who is alone at home, but not truly alone because at the utterance of her small voice, literally thousands of angels are sent on assignment to save this world and shape culture.

Oh how I want to be one of THESE believers. I want to pray and see people healed emotionally and physically. I want to pray and see America return to her Christian roots. I want to pray and see those who are tormented by fear and illness set free. I’m moved to pray and see this:

The name of Jesus, glorified!!!

If you are a SUMite, you are already headed toward this purpose. God chose you to know how to pray with power and to bear witness to the salvation of your family. You were chosen to bring love, forgiveness, healing and hope to many people through your prayers.

So, right now all you need to do is say this: I BELIEVE.

I believe in God our Father.
I believe in Christ the Son.
I believe in the Holy Spirit.
I believe I can pray with power.
I believe I can utter words and angels move.
I believe that I was born for such a time as this to bring the Kingdom of God into its rightful place in our world.
I believe God listens and loves to answer my prayers, even the outlandish stuff.
I believe I am commissioned to be an intercessory, a prayer warrior and a powerful servant of the Most High.
Today, I will pray with purpose, power, belief, using the Word, with conviction and confidence and finally with unfailing courage. I will not relent or give up or give in. I will stand for goodness, honesty, integrity and truth. I will love lavishly and forgive easily. I will offer hope and a hand to those who I can and I will always forever remain loyally in love with my Jesus.

This is my high and holy calling and I will believe nothing less. In the name of Jesus. Amen and Hallelujah!!!

Stand tall SUMite because your prayers are bringing His Kingdom to earth. Now can I get an amen in the comments? And share a courageous, outlandish prayer, dream, hope, request in the comments. And let’s pray with courage for ourselves, our families and for one another.

Woo Hoo!!!

My Prayer: I pray for every nation to come to the truth that Jesus is the son of God and through Him they have the abundant life now and for all eternity. I approach the Throne of Grace with boldness to contend for the full salvation of my husband and family members. I pray that the fire of the Holy Spirit falls on me with such intensity that I can pray for others and they are healed, delivered and receive a powerful encounter with the love of our Father. I pray for everyone here that this day, they see the goodness of the Lord in that land of the living. In Jesus name. AMEN

Let me leave today’s post by reiterating six essential components of effective prayer.

1. Create a time and space devoted to Bible reading and prayer.
2. Use the Word of God in your prayers.
3. Believe – Hebrews 11:6
4. Confidence.
5. Engage you Will.
6. Pray with Courage!

Have an amazing encounter with our King. I Love you. Lynn

Okay, your turn! Hugs.

Well, I wonder how many of you had an “opportunity” to exercise your confidence and take a step of faith in love and out of fear this past few days?

I will tell you one thing, when you pray in confidence, the devils are afraid and you bear witness to some pretty astonishing things in the Kingdom of God!

Hallelujah and AMEN!

So here is the next component of powerful prayer.

WILL

Our will. Our free will.

Christians like to debate, free will. And we, who are married to pre-believers, live daily praying that our spouse will engage their free will and turn to Jesus. But what many believers don’t realize is that our will, when engaged in prayer is powerful.

I’m struggling with how to explain this. Because it is similar to engaging confidence and belief. But there is something more.

What I believe is that as God’s kids, we are to pray heaven to earth, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What makes powerful intercession is when His will and our will are aligned and then we stand in conviction.

We are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is the Lord’s purposes to bring about the fulfilment of your prayers. It is God’s will and thus your will to pray and see people freed and healed.

The only way I can think to explain is to provide two examples.

One: O Lord, I humbly ask that you would be kind to me. I have had a headache and it won’t go away. Lord, if it is your will, please heal me. Amen

Two: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I state clearly right now that Jesus died for my complete healing. I come before the Throne of Grace to be healed completely and permanently by the blood of Jesus. Holy Spirit right now, in Jesus name, I command this pain in my head to leave and never return. And in the place of pain I speak peace, joy and healing. I praise you Lord that you love me so much to provide my healing. I will walk in your love and healing right now. In Your powerful name, Jesus. AMEN

I wonder, can you discern the difference?

Do I believe God can and does respond to both prayers? Absolutely. Yet, I KNOW that when we pray within our authority, exerting our full conviction (our will) in belief with confidence. The heavenly realm responds. First, angels move under this kind of direction and second, demons flee as they are afraid of what you might say next and it scars the crap out of them.

When I pray and demand that the demonic leave someone for whom I’m praying or for myself, I go on to set the demons on fire and chain them in the pit, never to return. They don’t want to mess with me, my friends. *grin* (Could it be that I am a small-but giant badass in the Kingdom? Can I say that on a Christian blog? *sheepish grin*)

So, I have a question for you. Have you prayed in this manner, in full belief, with confidence and exerting your full will? Have you had someone pray over you who prays with these convictions?

Share your stories in the comments. I can’t wait to read them. And please take a minute to share because the Holy Spirit is impressing upon me that your testimonies are going to help another reader to find healing, hope and transformation.

Let’s be a community of badasses for the Kingdom of God and start kicking butts and taking names and chaining the demonic in the pit!  Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

You are amazing prayer warriors, SUMites…

Okay, how is this prayer series feeling for you? Are you walking in belief today? I know so many of you are on this amazing journey to become prayer warriors that scare the crap out of the demonic. Wahooooo! So, let’s work on another component of effective prayer.

Confidence.

Yep, this is a public and private thing. Confidence is crucial for effective prayer.

Confidence follows right on the heels of belief. But it’s a BIG jump off the cliff to believe and then follow through in confidence. But our Father greatly desires that we develop into people of Godly confidence.

Let me give you an example of what I think this looks like in real life.

My local church offers a once a month “Overflow Worship” night. We come together on a Sunday night and the service is all worship. I LOVE these. My most intimate moments with the Lord occur in worship. About a year ago during one of these sessions, the worship leader got up and said this, “Anyone who wants an extra touch tonight from the Lord, come on down to the front.”

At first no one moved. No one wanted to be the first. No one wanted all eyes on them. The people in the audience were more fearful of the opinions of people than to receive a touch from God. I can tell you there were people in the audience that REALLY wanted to go forward. They ached to go up front on the chance God would see them and help them, but fear kept them pinned to their seat.

NOT this girl. I decided in a moment I didn’t care what people thought, I wanted God more. I moved out of the seats and walked straight up to the very front. Finally, a few more people also went up front. But many remained seated.

This is what I believe God is looking at. He is waiting on the edge of His seat, hoping, cheering and urging our spirit to respond to Him. And it’s often in the public square that God does this. He wants you to take a step of faith to receive His blessing, healing and more. He’s speaking over you, “Come on baby girl. You can do this. Take one confident step out of the shadows, out of the fear. Show me you are willing to take a step for me and I will throw the floodgates of heaven open over you.”

Love is a choice. Much of our life is decided as we choose between love and fear. Choose love. God is calling His children to choose love. Choose to believe. Choose to be confident in what we know is true.

Confidence is a compelling attribute in a believer.

BTW, do you know what I received because I stepped out of the shadows and went down front? I’m convinced I saw an angle that night. It’s an astonishing story but alas I’m way over word count. I will have to share it another time.

Okay, now here is the rub. Because you just read this post, God is going to place before you a moment to step out in faith with confidence and choose Him, choose love. It’s gonna happen and likely in the next few days and probably it will require a public display of faith. So pray now to be ready and respond when He does. Then come back here and tell all of us about it.

Let me leave today’s post by reiterating four essential components of effective prayer.

1. Create a time and space devoted to Bible reading and prayer.
2. Use the Word of God in your prayers.
3. Believe – Hebrews 11:6
4. Confidence

Have an amazing encounter with our King. I Love you. Lynn

Of late, the Holy Spirit is shouting to my soul, two words: Prayer Strategies. Truly, just ask Dineen. Every time I’m on the phone with her, this comes up. And wow wee, am I ever receiving some powerful prayer strategies for this season.

My friends, so many of us aren’t experiencing the answers to our prayers and I’m grieved by this fact. Well, NO LONGER… We the SUMites are going to learn how to pray and pray with fierceness that sets captives free and releases the prisoners. What say you? Ready to learn more?

Belief!

Simple really. But utterly so complicated.

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. —Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)

A key component to effective prayer is belief. Really, this is at the core of most issues of faith. We simply MUST believe. What does that mean and what does that really look like? Good questions.

In the early years of our mismatched marriage, I struggled for a long time in my faith because I had a relationship with church and not with Jesus. What I mean by that is, the primary focus of my time, learning, and prayer life was centered in church. I didn’t study the Word on my own, I only believed what I heard from the pulpit. I didn’t pray much. I only remember uttering crisis prayers from that time in my life. You know, the kind of prayers you beg God to intervene when you have totally screwed up your life? Yep, I was a crisis praying kinda girl. Good grief, so embarrassing to admit. But I’m not alone, am I?

Because my faith was built on sand, I lacked the depth of relationship and Bible wisdom I needed to cease doubting and truly believe what God said in His word. Praise be to God because for those people, like me, who are truly hungry for more of God, the Lord will go to great lengths to bring you into full faith…

We MUST believe in God, His Word, His plan and His purposes for us, our family, our community, nation and the world. When you take that step over that line in the sand and vow to never look back in doubt, a whole new realm of answered prayer begins to unfold.

Example: Recently, I have come to fully believe what the Word teaches about healing. I have experienced supernatural healing. Read my story here: Does Jesus Heal Today?  

But I have also prayed for others for their healing and have watched Jesus, Holy Spirit and the angels move and bring emotional healing and healing of physical ailments. I have prayed healing over myself many times and it happens. Say what? I’m still mystified about how this all works but I have belief that God heals, thus He does.

So here is a recent story: A few weeks ago, two weird, red and ugly and swollen sores showed up on my face and they were something other than acne. They were mean looking and had been on my face for a couple of weeks and showed no sign of healing or leaving. I pointed them out to a friend whom I was praying and said to her, “I believe God will remove these sores from my face. They are illegal and the demonic is not going to mar my face because I am a Child of God.”

Two days later these weird sores were gone. I texted my friend and gave witness that I had been blessing my face and praying over these sores and commanding them to go. They had to go and I believed. I prayed in faith and they were banished. By the way, she had a breakthrough as well! Hallelujah our God, our amazing Father, is soooo good and kind. Thank you Lord!

My friends, we need to step into belief. Did you read the last half of the verse I shared earlier?

He rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Let’s choose to believe. Really believe. How do we do this. Start to pray for supernatural faith. Declare you believe the Word of God. And when a moment in time arrives to choose fear or faith.

CHOOSE FAITH.

Let me leave today’s post by reiterating three essential components of effective prayer.

1. Create a time and space devoted to Bible reading and prayer.
2. Use the Word of God in your prayers.
3. Believe – Hebrews 11:6

Okay, who needs to state clearly and publicly that they want to step into a new level of faith? In the comments pray that you want supernatural faith and belief. Declare it in the comments for all SUMites to read. We ALL will come into agreement with you, you with all of us.

This is your time to activate your faith and begin to walk in your destiny.

I LOVE you all so much. I will be echoing your declarations in the comments. Hugs, Lynn

Hello SUMite Nation,

The Holy Spirit is speaking the Word – PRAYER! (Don’t tune out. This is good.)

“Oh man, did she just write – PRAYER.”

Did you just whisper this under your breath?

Let me explain what I feel the Lord is impressing upon me as well as upon most of His church right now.

Prayer.

Some of you may remember that I served on staff in Women’s Ministry at my local church for years. I led Bible study groups, choose studies for our women and directed a lot of the Bible study efforts. I left that position four or five years ago as our online and book ministry began to grow.

What I always found fascinating and utterly disappointing in the years of choosing Bible studies was the fact that if we chose a Bible study about prayer, no one signed up. Yep.

Bummer! But true.

However, what I’m discovering in 2016 is that God’s people are hungry to learn about prayer and learn to pray effectively. It was evident by the online class on prayer this past Tuesday. And it seems that every time I post a prayer on Facebook, it gets shared around. I’m so truly excited about this change in the heart of the Church. Hallelujah.

So over the next few posts I want to pour more into prayer. I want to encourage all of you who attended the class with more information. And for those of you who missed it, now is your time to also gain wisdom, knowledge and anointing to pray with power for REAL results!

Sound good?

A word before we continue: Prayer is NOT a way to arm twist the Lord into doing our will. Prayer is a conversation between a Father and His child. It's learning to listen to God and then obeying His will. 

I want to look at a few keys to vibrant prayer as well as “blocks” that keep us from breakthroughs. Such as:

• The Word of God
• Belief
• Confidence
• Will
• Courage

And finally we will discuss the “why.” When prayer remains unanswered, why?

I might throw a few extras in somewhere along the line. Also, I won’t spend too much time on discussion about praying the Word of God because that was covered in the class on Tuesday. (I hope to offer that class again in the future, for those of you who wanted to attend and couldn’t.)

You know maybe we actually need to start at the beginning. How do we create a prayer life? What do we do when we just can’t pray? How do we respond when we feel so beaten that our prayers are full of defeat and tears? Anyone?

I’ve shared many times that all I have in the Kingdom, is the result of my intentional efforts to create time and space to be with God. I know this is often THE most challenging part of prayer but even a few minutes a day will change your life. You can read about that here: Breakthrough Praying for Breakthrough Living. (Skip down to where you see the Bible and start reading there.)

Today, I pray significantly different than I did in 2008 when that post was written. I often pray about the same things but the way I pray, the words I speak and my convictions are what has changed and is also what moves heaven in response.

So, today, I challenge you that if you to create and stick to a time to read the Word and pray everyday.

Let me leave today’s post by reiterating two essential components of effective prayer.

1. Create a time and space devoted to Bible reading and prayer.
2. Use the Word of God in your prayers.

Okay, what might be helpful is for all of you to share how you created time and space in your life for prayer. Share in the comments. Someone reading this need to emulate what you did. Especially help mothers of young children with suggestions.

Also, share in the comments if you learned news tips from the class, Praying the Word, and how you will now pray the Word in your prayer life. Someone reading this also needs to read how you pray the Word.

SUMites, God intends to set His praying people upon a broken, dark and evil world. He expects His kids to pray and bring His Kingdom to earth. Are you ready? It’s gonna be fantastic.

I’m traveling the next couple of weeks. I will be checking in here as I am able and pop in to be part of our astounding community.

Okay, PLEASE take a minute to write what you have learned to help a SUMite on the road behind you. Love you a ton, Lynn

Good morning Sumite family! We have some very exciting news for you today! First, let me begin with a little background information. Recently, I have noticed more and more people requesting prayer in all areas of my life, even from pre-believers. I've noticed an increase, especially here, within the virtual walls of our church. It's as if people are crying out to God in a more desperate way. After noticing this increase, I asked God to show me how to best meet this need within our community in spite of our geographic limitations. He answered me with John 17, specifically verse 20-23. Let's read Jesus' prayer:

"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who would ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one - as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."

This passage convicted me of how often believers miss out on this unity with the Holy Spirit and with other believers. It may be due to denominational differences, differences of opinion, varying life experience, the hectic pace of life or the enemy whispering in our ear. But, here in our community, we have been given the chance to experience this perfect unity. The opportunity to come together purely as Followers of Christ, to stand on His word and live obedient lives. That led me to my next question, how can we move toward this perfect unity? For that answer let's consider these verses:

1 Timothy 2:1 "I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them, intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them."

1 Thessalonians 5:11 "So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing."

2 Chronicles 7:14" Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."

After laying my questions before God and digging into His word, I began to see His answer was Prayer Partners. Specifically, one to one dedicated and confidential prayer partnerships. Those who are interested would contact us and then be partnered up with another person through email. You would commit to contacting your partner at least once a week (but hopefully  more often) to share prayer requests, praises and then pray daily. The method of contact is up to you and your partner, you have a world of unlimited technology at your finger tips.

Can you see how God has broken down our geographic limitations? God-willing, these partnerships will bloom into authentic friendships deepening your walk with Christ and becoming the living example of John 17:23. We will also post monthly prayer topics to focus our prayer efforts and intercede as the body of Christ. These monthly topics will give us the opportunity to cover our faithful leaders, Lynn and Dineen, and other issues as the Spirit directs us. 

If you're ready to receive a prayer partner and embark on this new adventure then click on my name below this post! 

Christy Edney

Dineen and I, Lynn, are psyched that Christy has stepped into this new role here in our community. Christy has been an active part of our community since 2011. She has a heart full of love for God and for people.

Watch for a post from her about prayer and prayer partners once a month. Thank you Christy for your love and dedication to this family on the web.