August 10, 2014

Dr. Elizabeth Coleman Dowdy, Sr. Pastor, Lion of Judah Worship Center

Prayer should always flow from faith; you should know what God has said about the situation, then STAND.  Eph. 6:10 says,”having done all to stand, stand therefore…” we must strip ourselves of every weight, forgive, yes even those who made excuses for their actions and did not ask for forgiveness.  Those who hurt you and took pleasure in your pain.  Take a deep breath and forgive by faith, not by feelings.  Strip away, confess every sin and stand naked before the LORD who already knows our past, present and future.

Our scriptural text is John 14:13-14, “And whatsoever you shall in my name, that I will do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (NKJV).  The pillar scriptures, those we use to support the base scripture are: James 5:15, “And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven”.

1 John 5:14 says: “ Now this is the confidence we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and if we know that He hears us, then we know we have the petition we have asked”.

Those are awesome scriptures that build our confidence level in the living God to be there for us.  We live in a shallow world, people say they will be there for us, but when a need arises we find they are nowhere in sight.  Sometimes we bring that fear into our relationship with God, forgetting that: “He is not a man that He should lie…”

Prayer and faith are twins, actually they are Siamese twins that should never be separated.  Faith is always praying, prayer is always believing.  Faith must have a tongue that speaks, prayer is that tongue of faith.  Faith must receive, prayer is the hand of faith that is stretched out to receive.  Prayer must rise and soar, faith must give prayer the wings to fly.  Prayer asks, faith lays its hand on the thing asked for.

Not every prayer is a faith-based prayer, and that is the only prayer that receives an audience with the Father.  A faithless prayer will result in murmuring, complaining, and unbelief, and it becomes role-playing, because it is mimicking the real thing.

We should stay prayed up, and filled with the Word.  We may not always believe it, but as believers in Jesus Christ of Nazareth, we are in warfare with the kingdom of darkness.  A battle that we may not always give the proper respect nor preparation to, because it is not a physical war, and the weapons of our warfare are not physical.  Prayer is one of those weapons, for it to be successful, it must of necessity be based in, and dripping with faith in the Name of Jesus, faith in God’s willingness to confirm the words we speak, faith in His Word, and faith in our words.

Not all prayers are prayers of petitions, there are other forms of prayer. Matt. 18:18, the prayer of binding and loosing; Matt. 18:19, the prayer of agreement; the prayer of consecration, (Jesus prayed in the garden); the prayer of petitions, John 14:13; the prayer of intercession, 1 Timothy 2:1; the prayer of faith, James 5:15.  Each form has specific requirements, sometimes they merge.  When Peter and John were going into the temple to pray, they encountered the lame man.  They did not say, “Lord if it be thy will…; they spoke the word of faith into his situation and the results were immediate.  No matter what form of prayer is utilized, it must be framed with faith to enter the throne room of grace.

Copyright © 2014 E. C. Dowdy. Written and audio material may not be reproduced without written permission.