Intercessory prayer is important for achieving real hop and intent for God to step in and heal another person’s life. Embracing the passion of Jesus and casting out your weakness before God will help you achieve the impossible. Here is a collection to some great intercessory prayers for healing.
Prayer #1
Lord Jesus, you are the master of life and death. Everything I have is yours, and I love you very deeply. Just one touch from you restores the sick, heals the broken, and transforms the darkness.
Only you can do this
Only you
So I ask that you would be with (name) right now
May they sense your presence
May they feel your power
May they know your love
May their body be overwhelmed
With light and truth
With healing and wellness
Just as it was in the beginning
As you first intended us to be
May they be restored
I ask for your healing on their body right now
Thank you Lord that you hear my prayer
That you have overcome the world
That you hold all of heaven and earth in your loving hands
And that you have given us the promise of eternity
In our hearts forever
Amen
Prayer #2
Lord, may justice flow like a river
Reaching barren lands and sun scorched deserts
Where people feel forgotten and hopeless
Let your water of life
Comfort them
Where children lie abandoned or abused
Let your water of life
Protect them
Where communities suffer at the hands of prejudice
Let your water of life
Shield them
Lord, we ask for a mighty downpour from Heaven
May your sons and daughters hear your voice
May we live as you lead us to live
Go as you bid us to go
Serve as you inspire us to serve
Give as you teach us to give
Until the earth is covered with the glory of God
As the waters cover the sea
Amen
Prayer #3
Almighty and most merciful God,
we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget:
the homeless and the destitute,
the old and the sick,
and all who have none to care for them.
Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit,
and to turn their sorrow into joy.
Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Prayer #4
It is best to always be aware that you never really pray alone. For when the honest love in you for other people causes you to ask God to act to strengthen, heal, defend, change, or bless them, there is someone else praying with you: the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is leading you to pray. When your love is not whole or your mind is not clear, the Spirit steps in for you, to express the intercession and draw you into it. Christian intercessors over the past two millenia have prayed their intercessions in a ‘Trinitarian’ manner : to the Father, through the Son, and in and with the Holy Spirit. God isn’t fussy about the pattern, but it helps us to see some part of how God works in prayer.
Prayer #5
The intercessory prayer you first pray about someone may not be what God wants you to pray for. For instance, you might be praying to lift a burden, but the Lord might be using the burden to prepare them to do something for God. Then again, your prayer might be what God wants to happen. Thus, we are to pray listening for the Spirit, and pray that God’s will be done. I find myself concentrating better when I mutter the words; it gives my mind more focus. The mind may go off to explore something during personal devotions, but not while you’re interceding for others — those others must be your first concern. So, it’s sometimes best to do it before you seek stillness (though God will sometimes lead you out of stillness into intercession — be open to it).
Prayer #6
Don’t be surprised if the Spirit starts tugging on your heart to take some sort of action about a matter you’re praying about. You may be the answer God sends into their lives. That’s not a license to be a buttinski, stepping into everyone’s private lives like some sort of conquering hero. But the Spirit might be calling you to be more than a bystander. Be ready for it. Be open to it. When you intercede in prayer, bring your knowledge, gifts, abilities, attention and energies before God and say, ‘use these, if that’s what it takes to set this right’.
Prayer #7
O GOD,
here is my sister –
overwhelmed with grief and pain,
tearfully seeking your healing love.
Here is my brother –
anxious, lonely, and frightened –
uncertain even how to pray.
Do not pass them by, Lord Jesus.
Shine the light of your redeeming grace upon them.
Help them to feel your loving embrace.
Comfort them in their grief and heal their infirmities;
lead them in your way of love.
By the power of your Holy Spirit I pray. Amen.
Prayer #8
Lord, look upon me with eyes of mercy, may your healing hand rest upon me, may your life giving powers flow into every cell of my body and into the depths of my soul, cleansing, purifying, restoring me to wholeness and strength for service in your Kingdom. Amen.
Here is an awe inspiring story of a man diagnosed with Stage 4 Terminal Cancer at the age of 25 with only a 3% chance of surviving. Three months after his diagnosis he was miraculously healed by Jesus.
connectusfund.org
Have you ever felt an unexplained burden on your heart to pray for the masses, for unnamed others, for your community or the world at large? The Bible is filled with examples of men and women who lifted up others in prayer, and Ephesians 6:18 tells us to: pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Table of contents
What is Intercession and Intercessory Prayer?
The primary principle of intercession is simply to tell God what He tells us to tell Him as the means of releasing His power. He tells us what to pray in His Word. We can pray the Bible. It is profoundly simple. Intercession is God’s brilliant strategy for including the saints in ruling with Him in power. Its mystery is in its weakness, simplicity, humility, and accessibility to all.
God has chosen intercession as the primary means in which He releases His power now and forever. Jesus operated in the principle of intercession when He created the earth by speaking the Word to the Father (Genesis 1). He releases His power now and will rule the nations forever in partnership with His people through intercession.
- Intercession causes us to internalize God’s Word and changes us.
- Intercession unites our heart to people and places we pray for.
- Intercession renews our hope and faith.
- Intercession imparts life (John 6:63).
- Intercession makes a long-term impact beyond this age (Rev. 5:8, 8:1-6).
- Intercession humbles us.
- Intercession changes the spiritual atmosphere of cities and nations.
- Intercession causes multiple blessings to return to the intercessor (Luke 6:38).
(Excerpt from The Revelation of Intercession by Debbie Przybylski)
Example Intercessory Prayer
Lord Jesus, I come to you today and thank you for the privilege of praying for others. I’ve been the recipient of others’ prayers so often, I understand how powerful intercessory prayer can be. I ask you first to cleanse my heart and show me if there is any unconfessed sin in my own life so that my prayers for others will not be hindered. I thank you that through your name, I can come boldly before you and pray with confidence, according to your will and know that you hear me.
SEE ALSO: A Prayer For the Sick
I lift up those in my neighborhood, in my city, and in my church. Begin with those who follow you, and help them influence others for good. Let them be salt and light, pointing others to you. Deepen their love for you and for the people around them. Guard them from hypocrisy or from giving in to temptations that could harm the cause of Christ. Raise up leaders who will serve you faithfully at all costs. Turn the hearts of fathers toward their children, and families toward you. Help them to exemplify your values, and make them bold in their faith. Strengthen my own family, and those closest to me, Lord. May our love for you help us to love and forgive others and make a difference in our world.
I pray for teachers, for students, and for all those in authority and leadership, both locally and throughout the world. Give them your mind, and surround them with godly counselors who will exercise integrity and work for justice, morality, and freedom. Help them to esteem you, not dismiss you. Send revival, Lord.
I pray for the lost, the hurting, the lonely, the sick, the bereaved, and those who are imprisoned—behind both visible and invisible walls. Send your comfort, your peace, and your calming presence to those who are without hope. Protect the defenseless, and hold them close to your heart. I pray for laborers to tell the good news of Jesus to people around our world. Jesus, my heart cries out for persecuted believers, too. Make them brave, and give them your powerful protection. I pray you will bring swift justice to those who want to destroy the innocent and those who carry your name. Bind the power of Satan, and strengthen believers everywhere.
So many needs, Jesus, but you are adequate for every need. Your name is powerful, and your power is great. So it’s in your name that I pray—and believe.
Amen
SEE ALSO: A Prayer for Peace Within
Who are you seeking intercession for today? Join our amazing praying community in the comments below and see God move in wonderous ways!
Rebecca Barlow Jordan is an inspirational author, speaker, and passionate follower of Jesus who loves to encourage others heart to heart. She has written 11 books and over 1700 other articles, greeting cards, and other inspirational pieces. Her daily devotional Daily in Your Presence is available for delivery through Crosswalk.com. You can find out more about Rebecca at www.rebeccabarlowjordan.com.
Publication date: September 7, 2016
This article is part of our larger Prayers resource meant to inspire and encourage your prayer life when you face uncertain times. Visit our most popular prayers if you are wondering how to pray or what to pray. Remember, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and God knows your heart even if you can’t find the words to pray.
SEE ALSO: A Prayer to Praise God
Prayer for Healing
Prayer for StrengthPrayer for ProtectionMorning PrayersGood Night PrayersThe Prayer of JabezShort PrayersThe Lord’s PrayerThe Prayer of St FrancisSerenity PrayerA Birthday PrayerSinner’s PrayerPrayer for ForgivenessPrayer for GuidanceIntercessory PrayerIrish Prayers and BlessingsAdvent PrayersChristmas PrayersThanksgiving PrayerHoly Week Prayers for Each DayEaster PrayersMother’s Day PrayerPrayers for My HusbandPrayers for My SonPrayers for My DaughterPrayer Quotes
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Learning about Prevailing Prayer
“As a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.”
Five Newest Pages or Pages Recently Updated:
Quotes | Prevailing Intercessory PrayerIntercessory PrayerMüller Witnessing in Germany in 1845Spanish Language Resources Practical ChristianityNew ResourcesSubscribe: Path2Prayer NewsletterSupport Path2Prayer MinistriesPrevailing Prayer (Excellent series given by Dan in Calgary, Canada)Ten Essentials of Prayer (Excellent on the ABCs of Prayer)
Lost Art of Apostolic Praying (Excellent call to pray by A. T. Pierson!)
Intercessory Prayer Directory
Sample Answers to Prayer Bible Promises How To Pray and Secret Prayer
Holy Spirit and Prayer
Kinds of Prevailing Prayers
The Prayer of Faith
Prayer Meeting Promises about Prayer Requests Certainty of Prayer Requests Answered
Motives in Prayer
Faith and Prayer
Conditions for Prevailing Prayers Unanswered Prayer Prayers and Cherished Sin Prayers and Bad Relationships
What is Prayer?
WHY DO WE PRAY?
Prayer is a religious inclination. It grows out of mankind’s feeling of dependence upon a higher power or personality. “The heathen, in his blindness, bows down to wood and stone” for this very reason. He petitions and propitiates his numerous gods because of the feeling that, in some way, he may be able to gain the attention and favor of that over-ruling being or power which he is conscious of, in a vague, indefinable way, as being dependent upon for existence. His approach to this suprapersonality is by prayer. But he prays to a god of iron, wood or stone, and not to the true and living, the one only, God. Wherein does the Christian view or thought of prayer differ from that of the heathen? The heathen prays without knowledge, and therefore in blindness. The Christian prays, as we believe, to a living, knowable, answering God, and therefore the Christian prays with faith and assurance. With this understanding of prayer,
WHAT WILL PRAYER ACCOMPLISH?
1. Prayer opens the soul to God; lifts the soul up to God. God floods with light the soul of those who open their hearts to him in earnest, pleading prayer. His blessing is never withheld from the soul that seeks it with the whole heart.
2. Prayer increases faith and brings spiritual blessing. It is through prayer that we become acquainted with God, and a more intimate knowledge of God must of necessity increase our faith, and increased faith means an increasingly satisfying religious experience.
3. Prayer enlists us for God’s will. It puts us in an attitude of receptivity where we become more willing to do God’s bidding. It increases our desire to know and to do his will, and thus enlists us in his service.
4. Prayer gives us fortitude and patience. It gives us the courage and patience to face and conquer the problems, and difficulties of life with fortitude. It not only gives us the spiritual strength to do so, but often the necessary physical strength is bestowed. We are comforted and sustained by the assurance that “underneath are the everlasting arms.”
5. Prayer enables us to help others. Through prayer it is possible to influence and help others as we might not in any other way. It is the high power wireless by which our longing to do them good is conveyed to them through God.
“She had been known as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and believed herself to be such. Throughout the years of her prosperity she had served him. But pain and loss visited her. Then came to stay. Like Job, she at last stood amid the wreck of what she had loved best, and life looked barren and desolate. In the time of her affliction hope and faith moved afar off-she could see neither comfort nor the Comforter; her soul had lost its wings, she could not fly either from her sorrow or to her Lord. Her Bible was a blank -only one text remained of all it once had held: ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’
“She shuddered at the Word, but it could not be changed. There was nothing for her to do but to submit, to endure. It was useless to rebel, to cry, to moan. That one scripture dwelt with her and closed her lips to any outward demonstration of pain. The lines of her mouth and heart grew hard: ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’
“Two friends in another city met to pray for this woman one day, and one of them-the one who knew her best-used these words in her petition: ‘Help her to see thee, Lord, and when that text that so constantly recurs to her memory comes to her mind again-”Be still and know that I am God”-with it help her to remember also that “God is love.”’ And straightway, as the words were uttered, the other who knelt in prayer, caught a new vision of the Word of God and wrote into that Old Testament exhortation the New Testament fact, ‘Be still, and know that I am Love.’”
SOME CONCRETE FACTS
“From the day of Pentecost, there has been not one great spiritual awakening in any land which has not begun in a union of prayer, though only among two or three; no such outward, upward movement has continued after such prayer meetings have declined; and it is in exact proportion to the maintenance of such joint and believing supplication and intercession that the Word of the Lord in any land or locality has had free course and been glorified.”
Why the “Week of Prayer” which is generally observed by all Protestant churches each year in January? Because in November, 1858, many years ago, a call to united prayer in behalf of the world, issued by the Lodiana Mission, in India, made such an impression on the church at large that the setting apart of our annual “Week of Prayer” was the direct outcome.
It is declared that all of that “marvelous spiritual awakening which marked the whole latter half of the eighteenth century, and gave rise to the modern missionary revival, can be traced to Jonathan Edwards’ famous “Call to Prayer,” which he sent out in 1747.
TO THINK ABOUT
Why is prayer the most direct of all the helps to the Christian life?
Does God always answer prayer? Does he always answer our prayers in the way and at the time we would have him?
What must be the condition of our hearts and lives for our petitions to avail with God?
There have been remarkable instances of answer to prayer. Let others mention such instances.
Have there been times in your life when you have felt that God has definitely answered your prayer?
Author Unknown, The Sabbath Recorder, Volume 88, American Sabbath Tract Society
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Prevailing Prayers: The GREAT aim of praying people
Ever since Jacob struggled and overcame the power of the enemy through prevailing prayer, God’s children have been earnestly seeking His help; through their insistent prayers! By way of introduction, here are some quotations on prevailing prayer.
E. M Bounds:
“Jacob is an illustration for all time of the commanding and conquering forces of prayer. God came to him as an antagonist. He grappled Jacob, and shook him as if he were in the embrace of a deadly foe. Jacob, the deceitful supplanter, the wily, unscrupulous trader, had no eyes to see God. His perverted principles, and his deliberate overreaching and wrong-doing had blinded his vision. To reach God, to know God, and to conquer God, that was the demand of this critical hour. Jacob was alone, and all night witnessed to the intensity of the struggle, its changing issues, and its veering fortunes, as well as the receding and advancing lines in the conflict. Here was the strength of weakness, the power of self-despair, the energy of perseverance, the elevation of humility, and the victory of surrender. Jacob’s salvation issued from the forces which he massed in that all-night conflict. He prayed and wept and importuned until the fiery hate of Esau’s heart died and it was softened into love. A greater miracle was wrought on Jacob than on Esau. His name, his character and his destiny were all changed by that all-night praying. Here is the record of the results of that night’s praying struggle: “As a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” “By his strength he had power with God, yea, he had power over the angel and prevailed.”
John Bunyan:
“Prayer is a command of God, and is to be practiced both in public and in private; yes, such a command brings those that have the spirit of prayer, into great intimacy with God; and the prevailing prayer, will receive great things from God, both for the person that prayed, and for those that are prayed for. Prayer opens the heart of God, and is a means by which the empty soul is filled. By prayer the Christian can open his heart to God, as to a friend, and obtain fresh testimony of God’s friendship to him. My purpose today will be to show you the very heart of prayer, without which, all your lifting up, of hands, eyes, and voices, will be to no avail.”
Charles Finney:
“Benevolent desires are doubtless pleasing to God. Such desires pervade heaven and are found in all holy beings. But they are not prayer. Men may have these desires as the angels and glorified spirits have them. But this is not the effectual, prevailing prayer spoken of in the text. Prevailing prayer is something more than this. Prevailing, or effectual prayer, is that prayer which attains the blessing that it seeks. It is that prayer which effectually moves God. The very idea of effectual prayer is that it effects its object…. When the fallow ground is thoroughly broken up in the hearts of Christians, when they have confessed and made restitution—if the work be thorough and honest—they will naturally and inevitably fulfill the conditions, and will prevail in prayer. But it cannot be too distinctly understood that none others will. What we commonly hear in prayer and conference meetings is not prevailing prayer. It is often astonishing and lamentable to witness the delusions that prevail upon the subject. Who that has witnessed real revivals of religion has not been struck with the change that comes over the whole spirit and manner of the prayers of really revived Christians? I do not think I ever could have been converted if I had not discovered the solution of the question: “Why is it that so much that is called prayer is not answered?”
S D Gordon:
“If there be any regrets in heaven — heaven is not supposed to have any regrets, we think of heaven as having all the regrets turned out and kept out, — and yet, if there could creep in regrets, I think there would be at least two, as we look back to the earth-life from the hills of God. One regret would be this: that we did not do more quiet praying, more claiming. I do not mean more simple repetition of religious language on our knees, but more insistent claiming, that the power of the Lord Jesus Christ shall apply here, and there, over the earth. That will be one regret, if there be regrets: that we did not ask enough, and did not ask big enough. We will say to ourselves, “What beggarly askers we were down on the earth!” The second regret, I think, if there be regrets, will be this: that we did not trust enough, that we did not trust God enough. We did not step out, when we could not see where to put the foot down, when He said, “Step out.” And if we might rule our lives here by what we shall think of them when we get yonder, then, I believe, we shall surely wear down the doorsills into our prayer-rooms.”
F B Meyer:
“We must believe that God is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. The Father is the object of our prayer, through the mediation of our Lord Jesus and by the aid of the Holy Spirit; but however we conceive of it-whether the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit is the prominent object before our thought-we must believe that there is an eye that witnesses our poor endeavors, an ear that listens, a mind that can be impressed and affected by our requests. But further, we need a living faith which reckons on the faithfulness of God and believes that it has already received its petitions, when they are founded on speciï¬ï¿½c promises and evidently prompted by the Holy Spirit. When we pray, it is not enough merely to speak a long list of requests into the ear of God; it becomes us to wait after each one and to receive by an appropriating act of the soul. It is as though we saw God take from the shelves of His storehouse the boon on which we had set our heart, label it with our name, and put it aside until the precise moment arrived in which He could bestow it on us without hurt.”
George Müller:
“There is not a more blessed and powerful weapon for the children of God, than that they should give themselves to prayer. For thus they can have the power of God on their side—the almighty power of God. And by making use of this power, through the instruments of prayer in all things we need, we can have the infinite wisdom of God brought to work for us, and have God Himself at our side, as children of God. Therefore we should seek to make a far better use than ever we have clone of prayer. And you, my beloved Christian friends, who are in the habit of meeting often at the noonday prayer meeting, expect great things at the hands of God; look out for wondrous blessings, and you will find how ready He is to give those things which we ask for.” From Counsels to Christians
Andrew Murray:
“We wanted to have the comfort and the joy and the strength first, that we might do the work easily and without any feeling of difficulty or self-sacrifice. And He wanted us in faith, without asking whether we felt weak or strong, whether the work was hard or easy, in the obedience of faith to do what He said: the path of fruit-bearing would have led us to the place and the power of prevailing prayer. Obedience is the only path that leads to the glory of God. Not obedience instead of faith, nor obedience to supply the shortcomings of faith; no, but faith’s obedience gives access to all the blessings our God has for us. The baptism of the Spirit (xiv. 16), the manifestation of the Son (xiv. 21), the indwelling of the Father (xiv. 23), the abiding in Christ’s love (xv. 10), the privilege of His holy friendship (xv. 14), and the power of all-prevailing prayer (xv. 16),–all wait for the obedient. Let us take home the lessons. Now we know the great reason why we have not had power in faith to pray prevailingly. Our life was not as it should have been: simple downright obedience, abiding fruitfulness, was not its chief mark. And with our whole heart we approve of the Divine appointment: men to whom God is to give such influence in the rule of the world, as at their request to do what otherwise would not have taken place, men whose will is to guide the path in which God’s will is to work, must be men who have themselves learned obedience, whose loyalty and submission to authority must be above all suspicion. Our whole soul approves the law: obedience and fruit-bearing, the path to prevailing prayer. And with shame we acknowledge how little our lives have yet borne this stamp.”
Thomas Payne:
“NEARLY the whole of Church history furnishes us with some remarkable examples of the power of prevailing prayer – examples which should encourage us to lay hold of God’s strength in the exercise of this important duty. Moreover, the Bible teems with promises which are backed up with testimonies of God’s faithfulness in answer to the earnest pleadings of His people. Therefore it is possible, by these, and by the help we may derive from the following examples, to prove the omnipotence of prayer in a manner we have never yet dreamed, and should cause us thereby to let go all our doubts with regard to its reality and power. “
Samuel Rutherford:
“I had never more cause to fear than I have now, when my Lord has restored me to my second created heaven on earth, and has turned my apprehended fears into joys, and great deliverance to His church, whereof I have my share and part. Alas! that weeping prayers, answered and sent back from heaven with joy, should not have laughing praises! Oh that this land would repent, and lay burdens of praises upon the top of the fair Mount Zion! Madam, except this land be humbled, a Reformation is rather my wonder than belief, at this time. But surely it must be a wonder, and what is done already is a wonder.”
J. C. Ryle:
“But this I do say, that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured it is all vain talk if he does not pray…. And I say, furthermore, that of all the evidences of the real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books and make fine speeches and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is in earnest. The Lord himself has set his stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When he sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, he gave him no other evidence of his change of heart than this, “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts 9: 11).”
A. B. Simpson:
“There is a knocking prayer, to which the promise is given, “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” This is more than seeking. This is the prayer that surmounts the great obstacles of life, the closed doors of circumstances, the brazen gates and adamantine mountains of hindrance and opposition, and which, in the name of our ascended Lord and in the fellowship of His mediatorial rights and powers, presses through every obstacle and treads down every adversary. It is not so much the prayer that knocks at the gates of heaven and extorts an answer from an unwilling God, as the prayer which, having received the answer and promise, carries it forth against the gates of the enemy and beats them down, as the walls of Jericho fell before the tramp and shout of Israel’s believing hosts. It is the prayer which takes its place at the side of our ascended Lord and claims what He has promised to give, and even commands, in His mighty name, that which He has already commanded through His royal Priesthood and all-prevailing intercession. It is faith putting its hand on the omnipotence of God and using it in fellowship with our Omnipotent Head until it sees His name prevail against all that opposes His will, the crooked thing s made straight, the gates of brass opened, and the fetters of iron broken asunder.”
Charles Spurgeon:
“Oh! that you studied your Bibles more! Oh! that we all did! How we could plead the promises! How we could plead the promises! How often we should prevail with God when we could hold him to his word, and say, “Fulfill this word unto thy servant, whereon thou hast caused me to hope.” Oh! it is grand praying when our mouth is full of God’s word, for there is no word that can prevail with him like his own. You tell a man, when you ask him for such and such a thing, “You yourself said you would do so and so.” You have him then. And so when you can lay hold on the covenant angel with this consecrated grip, “Thou hast said! thou hast said!” then have you every opportunity of prevailing with him.”
Hudson Taylor:
“Should we not do well to suspend our present operations and give ourselves to humiliation and prayer for nothing less than to be filled with the Spirit, and made channels through which He shall work with resistless power? Souls are perishing now for lack of this power. . . . God is blessing now some who are seeking this blessing from Him in faith. All things are ready if we are ready.”
Unknown Christian:
“We may smile at this peculiar way of testing the acceptability of a prayer. But is it not a fact that the majority of Christian men and women who pray to a Living God know very little about real prevailing prayer? Yet prayer is the key which unlocks the door of God’s treasure-house. It is not too much to say that all real growth in the spiritual life-all victory over temptation, all confidence and peace in the presence of difficulties and dangers, all repose of spirit in times of great disappointment or loss, all habitual communion with God-depend upon the practice of secret prayer…. Oh, how great must be God’s wonder today! For how few there are among us who know what prevailing prayer really is! Every one of us would confess that we believe in prayer, yet how many of us truly believe in the power of, prayer? Now, before we go a step farther, may the writer most earnestly implore you not to read hurriedly what is contained in these chapters. Much — very much — depends upon the way in which every reader receives what is here recorded. For everything depends upon prayer…. Men of power are without exception men of prayer. God bestows His Holy Spirit in His fullness only on men of prayer. And it is through the operation of the Spirit that answers to prayer come. Every believer has the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him. For “if any have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” But a man of prevailing prayer must be filled with the Spirit of God.”
Ellen White:
“There is necessity of diligence in prayer; let nothing hinder you. You will obtain the blessing you desire if you faint not. Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, and your fears before God. You cannot burden him; you cannot weary him. He who numbers the hairs of your head, who notices the fall of a sparrow, is not indifferent to the wants of his people. “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” He is affected by our sorrows, and even by our utterance of them. Take everything to him that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for him to bear; for he holds up worlds; he rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing is too small for him to notice that in any way disturbs our peace. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for him to read; there is no perplexity too sore for him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of his people, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere, contrite prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which he takes no immediate interest. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”
Prayer Subjects Directory
Prevailing Prayers: The GREAT aim of praying people
…which MANY do not attain!
Charles Finney once attended a prayer meeting where the members asked if they couldn’t offer intercessory prayers on his behalf. Finney knew that he needed prayer, but he needed prayer that would be answered—prevailing prayer! He answered, “No!” This was a crisis moment for Finney, because he knew the Bible encouraged the followers of Christ to believe in the power of prevailing intercessory prayer, but from what he could tell, the intercessory prayers of these members were not prevailing. For a time Finney questioned whether the Bible was true. But he continued to ponder their offer to intercede in spite of a seeming lack of answers, his refusal, and came to realize they lack of prevailing came from neither praying according to what the Bible taught on the subject, nor sending up intercessory prayers with the expectation that they were going to be answered.
Read more of Finney’s story… Read Finney’s Prevailing Prayer
This web page and the related sub-pages are dedicated to sharing what the Bible teaches on the subject of prevailing intercessory prayer. Subjects include what is possible through prayer, the certainty of answers, what the Bible teaches on how to pray in a prevailing way, what hinders prevailing prayer and causes unanswered prayers, some thoughts on prevailing in intercessory prayer, healing prayer, prayer for revival, and the need to persist and praise God while waiting for the answer. Both Bible and quotations from many sources are used to establish each point.
Prayer Subjects Directory:
Intercessory Prayer
Nineteen Reasons For Unanswered Prayer TestimoniesPrevailing Prayers Quotes
Christian Devotions Quotes Famous Prayers Sample Answers to Prayer Bible Promises How To Pray and Secret Prayer
Holy Spirit and Prayer
Kinds of Prevailing Prayers
The Prayer of Faith
Prayer Meeting Promises about Prayer Requests
Certainty of Prayer Requests Answered
Motives in Prayer
Faith and Prayer
Conditions for Prevailing Prayers Unanswered Prayer Prayers and Cherished Sin Prayers and Bad Relationships Obedience and Intercessory Prayer Overcoming Satan and Deliverance Ministries Prevailing Intercessory Prayers Prevailing Healing Prayers Prevailing Intercessory Prayers and Fasting Revival Prayer Perseverance & Praise Prayer Groups Dan’s Sermons & Seminars Books and Sermons on Prayer Links on Prayer Fnney Prevailing Prayers
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Dan’s Sermons & Seminars
Prevailing and Intercessory Prayer
I have a seven part series of sermons entitled Prevailing Prayer, and give specific insight on:
Prevailing Promises (what can we expect when we pray),Prevailing Authority (how should we pray),Prevailing Objectives (what should we be praying about),Prevailing People (what kind of people get their prayers answered), Prevailing Relationships (why is unity so important to answered prayer),Prevailing Intercessory prayer (what is the secret to succeeding in intercession),Prevailing Healing prayer (how should we pray for another person’s healing),Prevailing Prayer for revival (what does it mean to pray for revival), andPrevailing Outcomes (why must we persist praying if God knows everything, and why is praise so important).The series: Prevailing PrayerDan’s Sermons and Seminars
Read more about Finney’s Early Adventure with Prevailing Prayer
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Bible PromisesJ. C. Ryle said, “Few Christians realize the number, and length, and breadth, and depth, and height, and variety of the precious “shalls” and “wills” laid up in the Bible for the special benefit and encouragement of all who will use them.” I believe this is very true and have therefore added lists of promises to encourage my readers to utilize God’s promises more in their praying. A wide variety of authors have pointed out that claiming promises is a sure fire way of obtaining God’s help IF we are praying according to the conditions listed in the Bible. George Müller would search the Scriptures for a promise to claim prior to praying, and would often open his Bible to the promise, put his fingter on the promise, and ask God to honor His word. Is it any wonder that he obtained so many promises. Unfortunately many of us don’t persist in prayer sufficiently to obtain answers, often thinking it must not be God’s will to answer that prayer, rather than searching our hearts or our prayers to see if there is something amiss!”
Samuel Clarke’s
Precious Bible Promises of God
Clarke’s Precious Promises of God was published in 1705 and was a much read listing of promises on a wide range of subjects. I have split them out to add additional verses and quotations. You will find rich reading at this link!
J. C. Ryle:
Claiming Bible Promises
J. C. Ryle wrote wonderfully encouraging words on believing and claiming God’s promises. Consider his thoughts and then pray with greater confidence!
A Testimony:
Promises Bring DeliveranceRead a testimony of how claiming promises brought deliverance.
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Famous Prayers
Here we want to share some famous prayers that were offered down through the centuries. I believe you will be blessed in reading these prayers that are so touching, and were offered at such important moments.
Apostle Paul: Ephesians 3:14-21
This marvelous prayer is offered in the desire that God’s people will be filled with all the fullness of God, and certainly rates as one of the famous prayer offered in this history of this world.
Thomas Watson: Final Prayer Prior to Ejection
Watson, a Puritan Pastor, offered this prayer in 1662 just prior to being ejected from his church as a result of the Act of Uniformity passed by the British Parliament. 2,000 pastors were ejected at that time.
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Sample Answers to Prayer
Here I share sample prayers that have been answered to provide instruction by way of example.
Answers to Prayer Samples
Prayer Subjects Directory TopHow To Pray
Learn to Pray
This short article answers many questions about how to pray. For example, Is prayer required to receive God’s blessings? If we refuse to pray, will the prayers of others get through? After praying, should we fold our hands and do nothing? These and many other questions are addresssed in this article.
Secret Prayer
Henry Wright: Secret Prayer A Great Reality
Key Thought: Should it be asked expressly, What is the spirit of Prayer? I answer at once, The spirit of Christ. Our prayers will grow in power, in proportion as we grow in likeness to Him. If we long for the assured confidence of ‘I know Thou hearest me always,’ we must be panting after the ability to say, ‘I do always those things that please Him.’ (Read the rest of Secret Prayer A Great Reality)
Austin Phelps: The Still Hour
This is a wonderful book on secret prayer. It has often been recommended as a key book on the subject.
Prayer from the Heart
A Friend: His Prayer
This friend’s prayer really touched my heart recently. This was the main prayer, by the way, of a church I was attending. It reminded me of the blessings that come when humble people pray. I wish more humble people were allowed to pray in all churches. His prayer also provides instruction on how to pray. Everyone wants to learn “how to pray,” as if it were complicated. I keep telling people, just pray as if you were talking to a friend, and share everything that is on your heart. The Spirit will help you greatly in this!
Inward Prayer
Gerhard Tersteegen: Inward Prayer
“In process of time, a latent inclination, by which they are more completely drawn away from all other things, and led and exhorted to set their affections upon God. They perceive that something noble, entire, and complete is required of them: their hearts tell them from God, that he desires to have them solely and wholly for himself.” (Read all of Tersteegen’s thoughts on inward prayer)
Communion with God
E.White: Communion with God in Prayer
The reason why so many are left to themselves in places of temptation is that they do not set the Lord always before them. When we permit our communion with God to be broken, our defense is departed from us. Not all your good purposes and good intentions will enable you to withstand evil. (Read the rest of this short article on the importance of daily communion with God)
Early Morning Prayer
William Law: Early Morning Prayer
Holy Spirit and Prayer
Annonymous: Four Things to Seek from the Spirit When Praying
It isn’t easy to pray. Even those who love to pray, and don’t mind praying for many hours, often find that continued praying beyond 30 minutes is hard going. The author of anonymous short piece gives timely practical suggestions on enlisting the Spirit’s help when praying.
Dan Augsburger: That You Bring Forth Fruit
Key Thought: The prayer here meant is no mere devout performance of duty, the due utterance of an expression of reverence and dependence; it is “prayer in the Holy Ghost” (Jude 20), who “maketh intercession for us … according to (the will) of God’ (Rom. viii. 26,27). It is the prayer of a heart filled with Him, and therefore filled with the humble but intense desire that His will may be done, and in particular that His implement may be used for His glory. Results of life, word, and work in answer to such prayer are “fruit that remaineth.”
Prayer Subjects Directory TopKinds of Prevailing Intercessory Prayers
In presenting seminars I am often questioned about the many kinds of prayers being sent up. People seem to be concerned that in learning about prevailing prayer, we are reducing prayer to some kind of formula. We aren’t! But we are learning the Bible’s specifics regarding intercessory prayer, and how we can prevail in prayer on behalf of other people. Though we may concentrate on one kind of prayer, we mustn’t forget that many kinds of prayers are going up all the time, and each kind has its purpose. The links provide further information on some of them.
Kinds of Prevailing and Intercessory Prayers
The Special “Prayer of Faith”
“A definite request… made in definite faith, for a definite answer.”—James Fraser, Mountain Rain (Missionary to China)
“A heart full of God has power for the prayer of faith. Faith in God begets faith in the promise, in the promise too of an answer to prayer. Therefore, child of God, take time, take time, to bow before Him, to wait on Him to reveal Himself. Take time, and let thy soul in holy awe and worship exercise and express its faith in the Infinite One, and as He imparts Himself and takes possession of thee, the prayer of faith will crown thy faith in God.”—Andrew, Murray, With Christ in the School of Prayer
“There is no prayer acceptable to God, but the prayer of faith; and that this simply means, that all prayer must be offered in full confidence that God will be true to his word. What, then, is the Scriptural doctrine of the prayer of faith? Simply this, that when we pray, we must fully believe that God will be true to all that he has promised. This implies that we are ready to learn what his promises are, and to make them the basis of a sure expectation.—William Patton, Prayer and its Remarkable Answers
“In answer to the question, But why, if the answer to prayer is so positively promised, why are there such numberless unanswered prayers? we found that Christ taught us that the answer depended upon certain conditions. He spoke of faith, of perseverance, of praying in His Name, of praying in the will of God. But all these conditions were summed up in the one central one: “If ye abide in Me, ask whatsoever ye will and it shall be done unto you.” It became clear that the power to pray the effectual prayer of faith depended upon the life. It is only to man given up to live as entirely in Christ and for Christ as the branch in the vine and for the vine that these promises can come true. “In that day” Christ said, ” ye shall ask in My Name.” It is only in a life full of the Holy Spirit that the true power to ask in Christ’s Name can be known. This led to the emphasizing the truth that the ordinary Christian life cannot appropriate these promises. It needs a spiritual life altogether sound and vigorous to pray in power’. The teaching naturally led to press the need of a life of entire consecration.”—Andrew Murray, The Ministry of Intercession
“The prayer of faith” is the great secret of getting what we need in our personal life; what we need in our service; what we need in our work.”—R. A. Torrey
Charles Finney: The Prayer of Faith (from Lectures on Revival—MUST READ!!)
Wesley Duewel: The Prayer of Faith
Joseph La Conte: The Prayer of Faith
Dwight L. Moody: The Prayer of Faith (he is responding to question)
Andrew Murray: The Prayer of Faith (With Christ in the School of Prayer)
Andrew Murray: The Prayer of Faith (Abide in Christ)
F B Meyer: Power and Prayer (speaks to need of Holy Spirit)
William Patton: The Prayer of Faith
Octavius Winslow: The Prayer of Faith
Our Prayers of Communion
Prayers for Specific Requests
Intercessory PrayersPrevailing Prayers for HealingSecret, Personal, PrayersUnited PrayersPrayer Meeting
“The prayer meeting is an institution which ought to be very precious to us, and to be cherished by us as a Church, for to it we owe everything. When our comparatively little chapel was all but empty, was it not a well-known fact that the prayer meeting was always full? And when the Church increased, and the place was scarcely large enough, it was the prayer meeting that did it all.” Charles Spurgeon—This is only one of many wonderful quotes on prayer meeting and the value of praying with other people when extraordinary answers to prayer may be expected.
Facilitated Conversational Prayer
This method of praying in a group helps all participants feel comfortable participating, and is strongly recommended!
A Good Prayer Meeting
“Before leaving home, go to God in secret prayer. Plead with him for his blessing, and He who “seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” With your heart softened by the love of Jesus, go to the meeting, feeling that you are personally responsible for its success. If but few attend, you should feel under double responsibility. You are in the service of God, and should do what you can with your talent, tact, and skill to make his worship interesting. You bestow care and thought on business matters; you labor to make them a success. Would you do less for the worship of God?” (Read the rest of the article on prayer meeting)
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
The Promise of Prevailing Intercessory Prayers
What is possible through prayer? Are your prayers being limited because you have a limited idea as to what God can do? See what the Bible and great Christians have said applying the promises of God to prevailing prayer.
Dan Augsburger: Praying Boldly
“People in the Bible who obtained grace included Noah who was warned of the coming flood, Lot who was warned of Sodom’s coming destruction, Joseph is mentioned as having found grace with Pharaoh. Moses had favor with God. Ruth found grace with Boaz. Many of these people had reaons to believe they didn’t have standing with the person who favored them with grace. But they did, and we also have favor when we approach God at His throne of grace!” (Read all of Praying Boldly)
Prevailing Prayer Possibilities
Prayer Subjects Directory TopCertainty of Prayer Requests Being Answered
Does God really respond to intercessory prayer? Andrew Murray said that daily answers should be the rule, and not the exception, for every child in the Father’s house. Learn more about the certainty of obtaining answers in the following articles.
The Certainty of Prayer Requests Being Answered
The Certainty of Answered Prayer (E. M. Bounds)
The Wonders of Answered Prayer (E. M. Bounds)
“Prayer is going to God for something needed and desired. Prayer is simply asking God to do for us what he has promised us he will do if we ask him. The answer is a part of prayer, and is God’s part of it. God’s doing the thing asked for is as much a part of the prayer as the asking of the thing is prayer. Asking is man’s part. Giving is God’s part. The praying belongs to us. The answer belongs to God.” (Read the rest of the article on the wonders of answered prayer)
The Certainty of Prayer Requests Being Answered (Andrew Murray)The Omnipotent Power of Prevailing Prayer (James McConkey)
Notice what James McConkey says on the subject: “Beloved, what a tremendous responsibility is ours! What a unique privilege! That all the power of an omnipotent god is ready and waiting to be put into triumphant irresistible action at the prayer of one of His children! That the very hosts of heaven are marshaled against the powers of darkness at that importunate call of yours which is according to the will of God! He declares that all power in heaven and earth is His, and then, as it were, places Himself at our disposal and says, “Now my child you pray and I will work; you ask and I will do! ….” Read the rest of the article
Motives in Prayer
What motivates you to pray? Your personal needs? The honor of God? Fellowship with Him? This is an important question for right motives certainly play an impotant role in obtaining answers to our prayers!
John Wesley: Works of John Wesley
“From works of charity or mercy, our Lord proceeds to those which are termed woiks of piety.” And when thou prayesi,” saith he, “thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.”—”Thou shalt not be as the hypocriies are.” Hypocrisy, then, or insincerity, is the first thing we are to guard against in prayer. Beware not to speak what thou dost not mean. Prayer is the lifting up of the heart to God: all words of prayer, without this, are mere hypocrisy. Whenever therefore thou attemptest to pray, see that it be thy one design to commune with God, to lift up thy heart to him, to pour out thy soul before him; not as the hypocrites, who love or are wont, “to pray standing in the synagogues,” the exchange, or marke places, “and in the corners of the streets,” wherever the most people are “that they may be seen of men;” this was the sole design, the motive and end, of the prayers which they there repeated. “Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”—They are to expect none from your Father which is in heaven.”—John Wesley, Works of John Wesley
Daniel Whittle: The Wonders of Prayer “Discerning Prayer” (Motives in prayer)
“The highest use of prayer is to bring the soul nearer to God, and not the making of it a mere matter of convenience to escape physical ills or supply physical necessities. That which is born of the flesh is flesh” and continues flesh until the end. “Have no confidence in the flesh” is always a much needed exhortation. Now, unquestionably, the desires of the natural heart may and do deceive us, and often lead us to believe that our fervent earnest prayer for temporal blessing is led of the Spirit, when the mind of the Spirit is, that we will be made more humble, more Christ-like and more useful by being denied than by being granted. Again, we are in danger of disobeying the plain commands of God’s word in allowing prayer ever to take the place of anything in our power to do, and that we are commanded to do as a means to secure needed good. He who has said “pray always,” has also said, “Be ambitious to be quiet and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing.” (Read the rest of Whittle’s introductory)
Charles Finney: Lectures on Revival (Excerpt on Agreeing in Prayer)
“We see the hypocrisy of those who profess to be praying for a revival while they are doing nothing to promote it. There are many who appear to be very zealous in praying for a revival, while they are not doing any thing at all for one. What do they mean. Are they agreed as touching the things they ask for? Certainly not. They cannot be agreed in offering acceptable prayer for a revival until they are prepared TO DO what God requires them to do to promote it. What would you think of the farmer who should pray for a crop and not plough nor sow ? Would you think such prayers pious, or an insult to God?” (Read more from Charles Finney on motives in prayer)
George Müller: Narratives (on Motives in Prayer)
“This circumstance now led me to lie low before my God in prayer, and to examine my heart once more as to all the motives concerning it; and being able, as formerly, to say that his glory was my chief aim, i. e., that it might be seen that it is not a vain thing to trust in the living God, and still continuing in prayer. I was at last brought to this state, that I could say from my heart that I should rejoice in God being glorified in this matter, though it were by bringing the whole to nothing.” (Read more from Müller on this subject)
Jeremy Taylor: Rules for Holy Living (on Motives in prayer)
Taylor’s book greatly influenced John and Charles Wesley, as well as George Whitefield.
“There is no greater argument in the world of our spiritual danger and unwillingness to religion, than the backwardness which most men have always, and all men have sometimes, to say their prayers; so weary of their length, so glad when they are done, so witty to excuse and frustrate an opportunity; and yet all is nothing but a desiring of God to give us the greatest and the best things we can need, and which can make us happy; it is a work so easy, so honourable, and to so great purpose,-that in all the instances of the religion and providence, (except only the incarnation of his Son,) God hath not given us a greater argument of his willingness to have us saved, and of our unwillingness to accept it, his goodness and our gracelessness, his infinite condescension and our carelessness and folly, than by rewarding so easy a duty with so great blessings.” (Read more of what Jeremy Taylor says on the right motives for praying)
Ellen White: Various Writings
“The relative estimate which the Pharisee and the publican place upon themselves is as false as that which others place upon them. Both resort to the temple at the hour of public prayer, professedly to worship God; but what a contrast there is in the motives that actuate them, and in their feelings, as expressed in their prayers! The Pharisee went, not because he felt his great need of God, but because he wanted to be thought a very pious and excellent man. He was perfectly self-satisfied, and thought that others looked upon him with the same complacency with which he regarded himself. He did not present the offering of a broken and contrite heart. He did not come with confession of sins, and with love flowing out in words of gratitude for the great mercy of a covenant-keeping God. He came not to present his needs. He made no supplication; he expressed no want. Standing in the temple of God, he dared to boast of his own goodness, and to measure himself with other men, and claim superiority.” (Read more on the subject of motives in prayer)
Prayer Subjects Directory TopBible Conditions for Answered Prayer
Finney noticed that failing to pray according to what the Bible taught on the subject, and failing to expect answers were major reasons for unanswered prayer. Learn more about how following the Bible conditions for answered prayer bring about prevailing in prayer.
Conditions for Answered Prayer: Introductory Thoughts
George Müller: Strengthening Faith
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Complying with the Bible Conditions: Testimonies of Great Christians
Great Christians have uniformly agreed on the necessity of praying according to what the Bible teaches. Here are some representative testimonies.
Rosalind Goforth
Francis Ridley Havergal
Prayer Subjects Directory TopWhy Unanswered Intercessory Prayer?
Unanswered prayers often result from ignoring hindering factors. There are primarily two—cherished sin and unresolved differences—and these must not be minimized. Learn more about how these hindering factors keep us from prevailing in prayer, and what the Bible and other great Christians have said on the subject.
Introduction & Testimonies on Hindering Factors
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Bad Relationships With Others
In my own experience, bad relationships with others and lack of love played a greater role than I ever imagined. Please don’t ignore this factor.
Unresolved Differences/Lack of Love
More Quotes on Prevailing Prayer and Unity
The Blessings of Love & Unity
Dan Augsburger | Father’s Faith MP3
F. B. Meyer: Where is Abel Your Brother?
“At the end of every day, before we close the door upon it, we should review our attitude towards God, and allow its incidents to pass beneath the searching scrutiny of His loving eye; and in this review we should be specially careful to recall our attitude towards our fellows. Indeed, if we are true to God’s inner voice, we shall be almost sure to hear Him speak about about our brother. In the cool of the day, God still walks in the garden asking, first, “Where art thou?” and, secondly, “Where is Abel, thy brother?” To answer these two questions aright, is to exercise oneself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man.” (Read the rest of this sermon)
Obedience and Intercessory Prayer
Failure to obey God, failure to keep God’s commandments, is a major reason for unanswered prayer. Read the suggested articles to find out why.
E. M. Bounds:
Obedience and PrayerObedience and Intercessory Prayer
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Overcoming Satan and Deliverance Ministries
Andrew Murray: The Might of Satan
Our only security is in the intercession and guidance of Him who overcame Satan (Eph. 6:10,12,16). Far be from us the idea that we know all the depths of Satan, and are a match for all his cunning stratagems…. May our only security be the conviction of our frailty and weakness, our confidence in Him who certainly keeps the lowly in heart. (Read the rest of the Might of Satan).
“But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Matt. 16:23
“What it showed me was the deliverance from the power of the devil was won through definite resistance on the ground of the cross. I am an engineer and believe in things working. I’d found that much of the spiritual teaching one hears does not seem to work. At any rate my apprehension of other aspects of truth had broken down. The passive side of leaving everything to the Lord Jesus as my life, while blessedly true, was not all that was needed just then. Definite resistance on the ground of the cross was what brought me light. I felt like a man perishing of thirst, for him some clear, cold, water had began to flow; for I found it worked. People will tell you, perhaps after a helpful meeting, that such and such truth alone is the secret of victory. No–we need different truth at different times. “Look to the Lord!” Some will say “Resist the devil” is also Scripture (James 4: 7), and I found it worked! The cloud of depression dispersed. I found that I could have victory in the spiritual realm whenever I wanted it. The Lord Himself vocally resisted the devil: “Get thee behind me, Satan!” In humble dependence I do the same, talking to Satan, using the promises of Scriptures as weapons. And they worked! Right then, the terrible oppression began to pass away. I had to learn gradually how to use the new-found weapon of resistance. I had so much to learn. It seemed as if God was saying, “You are crying to me to do a big work to do the Lisu; I’m wanting to do a big work in you yourself.” James Fraser, Behind the Ranges (Fraser was a missionary with Hudson Taylor in China. This biography is wonderful and worth reading!)
Overcoming Demon Harrassment
Prayer & Overcoming Satan
Deliverance Ministries 1
Overcoming demon possession is an ongoing challenge for some Christians? Are deliverance sessions necessary? Is binding the geographic territory part of what needs to be done? The following book provides information on how 100s were delivered from demon possession by the preaching of the gospel and all that it entails.
Overcoming Demon Possession
Overcoming Satan’s Attacks (James Fraser)
“The aim of Satanic power is to cut off communication with God. To accomplish this aim he deludes the soul with a sense of defeat, covers him with a thick cloud of darkness, depresses and oppresses the spirit, which in turn hinders prayer and leads to unbelief–thus destroying all power (instead of seeing Heb. 11:1).
(Read more here…)Overcoming the Power of Satan – A Mother’s Testimony
An excerpt: “She came again that night to the pastor and his wife for help. After she had been with them for some time she thought they were refusing to help so she bolted out the door and ran downtown. She saw a clock that said, “3 O’clock” and she realized that they had been working with her all night. She felt so bad that she had run from them that she wrapped her arms around a tree and cried out to God, “If there is a God in heaven and if He can help me, please do! ! !” She opened her eyes and looked up in the tree. She saw Jesus as if he were on the cross. He spoke one of His beautiful promises to her–I never did find out what that promise was. She did not see His face. She said there was a light around it that kept her from seeing what He really looks like. But she saw His nail-scarred hands.” (Read the entire article)
Gerhard Tersteegen
Gerhard Tersteegen recorded the following on the subject:
“In his earlier years, he was frequently attacked by strange spirits, and supernatural influences, which he ascribed to his having associated with some, who had converse with them. At this period, when he left his work, for the purpose of private prayer, he was seized with such a shaking, that every limb trembled. Being conscious, however, from his knowledge of the Divine character, that this was contrary to it, he never gave way to this strange, disorderly, and terrifying influence, but returned to his work. After repeating this a few times, the trembling ceased, and the temptation was at an end.”
And the following:
“A female in an ill state of health, imagined that she heard a supernatural voice calling upon her to arise and pray; but it being in the winter season, her weak frame could scarcely support the exertion; she therefore consulted our departed friend on the subject, who advised her not to rise in the cold, but when she thought herself again called, instead of getting up, to resume her devotions in bed: upon doing which, she heard the supernatural voice no more; and other singular things, which had previously occurred, also ceased. To these, the following relation may be added. A friend of his once visited him, who was very intimate with a person who possess d a great degree of filial devotedness to God, but who had seen many extraordinary visions, and to whom many strange things had occurred; she likewise said many edifying things, and foretold events, some of which were to take place after her decease. These, the friend above mentioned, communicated to Tersteegen, who gave him the following reply: “Pay no attention to all these extraordinary things, which are only dangerous, and tend to hinder a growth in grace. I cordially admire the substantial change which divine grace has wrought in her, but you and I will live long enough to see that nothing will follow of all these things, however desirable they may be.” The result confirmed this opinion. After her decease, the friend above alluded to, visited him again, and expressed his sorrow at not having paid more attention to his advice; on which he said, “This event will be useful, and serve as a preservative to you in future, to keep you from being carried away by such singular and extraordinary things, and to pass them by.” The good man, however, despised no extraordinary gifts, light, or visions; but his advice was, that they should be carefully and thoroughly examined; because, persons who gave themselves up to them, might be easily deceived by the influence of strange spirits.”
Intercessory, Healing and Revival Prayer
Prayer Subjects Directory TopPrevailing Intercessory Prayers
Intercessory prayer is a major reason that people pray. Sadly, many pray year after year without gaining answers? Why? Is it that intercessory prayer doesn’t work? Because of the lack of answers, many stop interceding; some even give up on God. Further information on intercessory prayer and how to intercede with God is given below.
Intercessory Prayer (Main Page)
Prevailing Healing Prayers
Prevailing Intercessory Prayers and Fasting
Jesus made it clear that some things are only overcome by prayer and fasting. In some parts of the world, prayer and fasting is still an important part of prevailing in prayer. I think it should be everywhere. Learn more about fasting below.
Fasting for Our Friends (Orson Parker)
“The fasting and praying should be preceded by a faithful talk with the one prayed for, or a kind letter written with a humble confession if need be. Without this, the fasting and praying will be of but little use. The philosophy of this is, that the person prayed for knows that the wife, parent, or friend, is then praying for him. The husband who knows that his wife is fasting and praying for him, will think more in forty-eight hours than he has thought under the preaching of sermons for years; and if his wife were lying dead in the house, his feelings would not be more intensified.” (Read the rest of Parker’s thoughts on Fasting)
A Compelling Case for Fasting (John Wesley, a sermon)
“Of all the means of grace there is scarce any concerning which men have run into greater extremes, than that of which our Lord speaks in the above mentioned words, I mean religious fasting. How have some exalted this beyond all Scripture and reason;-and others utterly disregarded it; as it were, revenging themselves, by undervaluing, as much as the former had overvalued it! Those have spoken of it, as if it were all in all; if not the end itself, yet infallibly connected with it: these, as if it were just nothing, as if it were a fruitless labour, which had no relation at all thereto. Whereas it is certain the truth lies between them both. It is not all, nor yet is it nothing. It is not the end, but it is a precious means thereto; a means which God himself has ordained, and in which therefore, when it is duly used, he will surely give us his blessing.”
Necessity of Fasting (Benjamin Davis)
“Fasting, then, is natural to the grief-stricken Christian, and it is necessary to the Christian who cannot grieve. The earnest soul will fast for very earnestness, and the sluggish soul should fast that it may become earnest.”
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Do you say that fasting belongs to the old dispensation, and is contrary to the spirit of the gospel? I answer, Surely the example of Christ and his apostles ought to be sufficient to satisfy us upon this point, and we cannot do wrong in following such an example. The disciples fasted not whilst Christ the heavenly Bridegroom was with them, but they often fasted when he was taken away from them. Matt. ix. 15. Acts xiii. 2, 3; xiv. 23. 2 Cor. vi. 5; Xl 27.”
“Saturday, 25th.—The work at Hillhead still goes on; many more have been awakened. I have sought the Lord today, by fasting and prayer, that the blessing may come to my people in town also. How great the Lord’s goodness seems to me at times in looking back all my life. Shall I ever have a hard thought of such a Lord as mine? His afflictions are sent in deep love, and then followed up by new mercies, as if He were hastening to soften the stroke. Today my little Janie sat in the study playing with some little books, and, as if sent by the Lord, went on repeating Psalm ciii and then the paraphrase, ‘Take comfort, Christians, when your friends in Jesus fall asleep.’ Was she God’s messenger to me, lisping the message for my sake though she knew it not?”
Journal Entries on Fasting (Robert Murray M’Cheyne)
“His morning hours were set apart for the nourishment of his own soul; not, however, with the view of laying up a stock of grace for the rest of the day, —for manna will corrupt if laid by, — but rather with the view of “giving the eye the habit of looking upward all the day, and drawing down gleams from the reconciled countenance.” He was sparing in the hours devoted to sleep, and resolutely secured time for devotion before breakfast, although often wearied and exhausted when he laid himself to rest. “A soldier of the cross,” was his remark, “must endure hardness.” Often he sang a psalm of praise, as soon as he arose, to stir up his soul. Three chapters of the word was his usual morning portion. This he thought little enough, for he delighted exceedingly in the Scriptures; thcy were better to him than thousands of gold or silver.”
Duty and Use of Fasting (Joseph Milner)
This sermon greatly encourage Henry Martyn who was among the first missionaries to China.
Journal Entries on Fasting (Henry Martyn)
“September 22, 1805. Had some thoughts of devoting this day to prayer and fasting, but was undecided as to the latter, whether it would be right in the present weak state of my body, to omit the meal of dinner. Read in the morning a good deal of David Brainerd; his dying testimony in favour of such occasional abstinence is very weighty. I began to pray, first in reference to my own soul, that it might be made truly penitent.”
Journal Entries on Fasting (David Brainerd)
“In the time while I remained in this state my notions respecting my duties, were quite different from what I had entertained in times past. Now I saw there was no necessary connection between my prayers and the Divine mercy; that they laid not the least obligation upon God to bestow his grace upon me; and that there was no more goodness in them than there would be in my paddling in the water (which was the comparison I had then in my mind) and this because they were not performed from any love to God. I saw that I had heaped up my devotions before God, fasting, praying, &c. really thinking I was aiming at the glory of God; where as I never once truly intended it.“
Dying Wishes (David Brainerd)
“But the way to enjoy the divine presence, and to be fitted for distinguishing service for God, is to live a life of great devotion and constant self-dedication to him; observing the motions and dispositions of our own hearts, whence we may learn the corruptions that lodge there, and our constant need of help from God for the performance of the least duty. And O, dear sir, let me beseech you frequently to attend to the great and precious duties of secret fasting and prayer.“
His Experience with Prayer and Fasting (Charles Finney)
“Sometimes I would pursue a wrong course in fasting, and attempt to examine myself according to the ideas of self-examination then entertained by my minister and the church. I would try to look into my own heart, in the sense of examining my feelings; and would turn my attention particularly to my motives, and the state of my mind. When I pursued this course I found invariably that the day would close without any perceptible advance being made.”
Fasting Brings Flood-tides of Blessing (Reginald Radcliffe)
“The more I dwell upon the subject the more I consider God’s normal plan of acting, so to speak, in heathen lands would be by “floods,” and not merely by units—moving by the outpoured Spirit, neighbourhoods, towns, and even provinces and nations; and converting out of them, not by units, but by flocks and multitudes, if only we would not stay His hand by our hindering unbelief. Then I think (and I am sure I am with you in this) the individual Christian worker must in solitude stir up himself to take hold upon God, or, rather, open his mouth wide to receive of God. He must make time to be alone with God. Furthermore, while Protestants have hated improper fasting—merit-making fasting—they have too generally forgotten Christ’s words: “Then shall they fast;” “When ye fast.” Again, have we not all been in error in not sufficiently looking and praying for the young converts to be immediately endued with power at once to witness for Christ? But this last, although so important, and an agency which, I believe, was so generally and so vastly used in New Testament times, is not the main subject on which I wish to lay stress.”
True Fasting (E. White)
“The lesson given to the Pharisees and the disciples of John is for us. There is a work to do in seeking to bring sinners to repentance. The time spent in needless mourning and bodily humiliation might far better be devoted to merciful acts for suffering humanity. So long as souls are under the dominion of Satan, there must be no saving of self. There is stern, practical work to be done. The works of righteousness revealed in showing kindness to the needy, clothing the naked, relieving the oppressed, give evidence that the Spirit of God is operating on the heart. In the place of advancing and enriching ourselves, oppressing others, and neglecting the simple duties of life; in the place of putting on an appearance of great devotion and afflicting our bodies, we should humble our hearts before God. “Go ye,” says Christ, “and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
True Fasting (Chysostom)
Speaks of “bare fasting.”
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Prevailing Prayer and Revival
Many pray for revival on a daily basis. There are marvelous stories regarding the power of prayer for revival in church history? Would you like to experience revival? Learn what praying for revival is all about.
Oberlin Evangelist: Pray for Revival
William Crosbie:
A Call To United Prayer
Prayer Subjects Directory TopThe Need to Persevere & Praise
Andrew Murray once stated that the need to keep persisting in prayer was one of the greatest mysteries about prayer. The same could be said for praise. Why are persistence and praise so important in prevailing intercessory prayer? Learn more below.
Persevering
Griffith John: Prayer the Source of Power
Our Lord does speak of difficulties in connection with prayer, and very serious difficulties; but the scientific difficulty is not among them. The difficulties of which He speaks are on man’s side. He speaks of the want of faith as a difficulty, of the want of perseverance as a difficulty, of the want of union with Himself as a difficulty. According to His teachings, it is the absence of these that causes prayer to remain unanswered, never by reason of science which makes it impossible.” (This is one of the best sermons I’ve read on the subject)
Praise
Charles Spurgeon: Prayers Answered; Love Nourished
Gerhard Tersteegen: Persevering Prayer for the Holy Spirit
Emilyn Carty: Experience Joy
Prayer Subjects Directory TopHow to Start and Maintain a Prayer Group
One of the nicest things a person can do is join others praying. Jesus said a greater power would attend their efforts when joint prayer was going on (Matthew 18: 19). Learn more about prayer groups at the following link. There is also information on how to pray conversational way that drawers all participants into the prayer time.
Prayer Group ABCs (Dan Augsburger)
Facilitated Conversational Prayer (Inclusive conversational prayer)
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Dan’s Sermons & Seminars on Prevailing and Intercessory Prayers
Prevaling Prayer (Calgary Series)
Prevailing Prayer (Excellent audio from series in Nashville, TN. Follows syllabus)
Prevailing Prayer (7 part series by Dan Augsburger)
Toronto Maranatha Series
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Books and Articles on Prayer
Here are some of the books and articles that have greatly blessed me on prayer. I especially recommend Murray’s With Christ in the School of Prayer, and the Kneeling Christian. You will be blessed learning about intercessory prayer by reading Prayer Changes Things by Gordon and Meyer’s Intercessory Prayer. Over time more books on intercessory and prevailing prayer will be added.
Prayer Books & Sermons (A listing with links)Striking Examples of Prevailing PrayerMatilda Andross: Prevailing Prayers
John Bunyan: Praying in the Spirit
Charles Finney: Prevailing PrayerCharles Finney: Prevailing Prayer (1847 Series) Part A
Charles Finney: Prevailing Prayer (1847 Series) Part BCharles Finney: Prevailing Prayer (1847 Series) Part CJames Fraser: Prevailing Prayers of Faith (This is MARVELOUS!)
Rosalind Goforth: How I Know God Answers Prayer
S. D. Gordon: Prayer Changes ThingsF. J. Huegel: The Cross & PrayerHenry Law: Thronging the Mercy Seat
James McConkey: The Omnipotent Power of Prevailing Prayers
James McConkey: Prayer (This is his excellent book on prayer)
F. B. Meyer: The Power of AppropriationF. B. Meyer: Intercessory PrayersGeorge Müller: Prevailing Prayers
George Müller: The Secret of His Power in PrayerGeorge Müller: Hints on Prayer Andrew Murray: With Christ in the School of Prayer
Austin Phelps: The Still Hour
A. T. Pierson: The Lost Art of Prayer
Charles Spurgeon: Prayers Answered; Love NourishedCharles Spurgeon: Sermons on Prayer
Unknown Christian: Kneeling ChristianE. White: The Power of Prevailing PrayersE. White: The Conditions of Prevailing Prayers
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Links on Prayer
Over time links on prayer will be added here.
Prayer Subjects Directory Top
Please share your feedback on what you learn here.
www.path2prayer.com
Father God, Thank You for every good and perfect gift from above. Thank you Father for your son Jesus, the only begotten Son, Lord and Savior of the world-it is in the name of Jesus that I pray without ceasing.
Father, Thank You for the Holy Spirit who dwells within me, thank you Holy Spirit for leading me into all truth. Father God on today I intercede on behalf of ( _____ ). Father, You tell us in your word (Psalm 8:2) that out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength. Father, on this day I pray that ( _____ ) will receive the goodness and healing of the Lord Jesus.
I stand steadfast and immovable on the promises of God and declare that ( _____ ) is healed and whole by the blood of the Lamb. I am obedient to your word that tells me to pray without ceasing and to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.
Father God, you said in Isaiah 53:4-5, speaking of Jesus, that Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed. Glory to Your name Lord.
Father God, I believe and open our mouth and DECLARE that ( _____ ) is healed by the stripes of Jesus. Thank you that you said in your word to let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. In that name of Jesus, I open our mouth and declare that
( _____ ) has the mind of Christ and I declare in the name of Jesus that ( _____ ) is delivered from rebellion and is obedient to the Holy Spirit of God who dwells within him.
Father God, thank you for would never leaving your children. All blessings, honor and glory belong to you now and forevermore. Amen.
www.intercessorsneverquit.com
