Sat 10 Oct 2009
Pray For Those You Love and Unleash the Power of God
Posted by Helen Calder under Prayer, Praying for the lost, Spiritual Authority
[6] Comments
In the early years of our marriage, my husband Malcolm and I wandered far from God. During those years, my mother-in-law would often say to us with a twinkle in her eye, ‘God has got His net over you.’ Sure enough, the day came when, weary of our backsliding, we recommitted our lives to Jesus, going on to passionately serve Him in Christian ministry.
How did my mother-in-law know God had His ‘net’ over us? She knew because she was praying. Her prayer for our recommitment and salvation made the net of God’s grace inescapable.
Some Things Only God Can Do
Before we can exercise life-changing prayer, it is vital we acknowledge that between where circumstances are now and where we believe God wants them to be, is a gulf that we cannot cross. This gap means that no matter how hard we try, or no matter what we say, we are powerless in ourselves to make the desired changes happen.
- There are things that you believe to be on God’s agenda for your life, family and others you care about, that you are helpless, apart from God, to make happen
- There are people you care about who are far from God right now, whose hearts will only be changed by the power of God’s Holy Spirit
- There is no way by natural means that person who is dear to you will have that addiction or bondage broken over their life.
Let’s take a moment right now to stand together at that chasm and let the realisation sink in. Take a good look at the distance that you cannot leap across without help.
Now imagine there is a bridge, suspended between this natural reality and the seeming impossible fulfilment of God’s Will. Stepping up to that bridge you see a sign that reads, ‘Ask in My Name—Jesus.’
In John 15:16-17, Jesus said,
‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.’
God’s Plan for Prayer
Jesus taught us to pray, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ He revealed that the will of God must be ‘asked’ into being. And He didn’t just teach that, He demonstrated it. In the book of Luke especially, we see that Jesus lived a life of prayer.
It was God’s plan from the beginning that His people rule in the earth, under His authority.[1] God has designed prayer to be the means by which we exercise that authority and partner with God to fulfil His purposes. This is also true of His plan to bring salvation to people.
Watchman Nee once said that prayer is to the will of God as railway tracks are to a train. A train engine can have tremendous power; it can go a thousand miles a day, it can pull a heavy load. It can have all the potential in the world, but unless there are tracks for it to go on, it’s not going anywhere. The train and tracks are designed to work together”[2]
I heard the testimony of a woman who was very dry and religious in her faith. She was admitted to hospital with a ruptured, infected appendix; her condition was so severe that she died. As her spirit was leaving her body she saw her father rushing into the hospital. He uttered one word of prayer—‘Jesus.’ She saw that prayer beam up to God’s throne like a shaft of light. That single word of prayer was answered; she lived and her faith was transformed.
Like that beam of light, your prayers and cries to God are significant and powerful. You can be a Supernatural Christian and make a difference in the life of those you care about. Your prayer can help bring them to God.
The above is a brief excerpt from my new e-book: Pray for the Lost: Impact the Eternal Destiny of Your Loved Ones Through Prayer.
In this book, I explore a number of things relating to this subject.
There are some tough issues as we examine the spiritual condition of a person who is lost and far from God, or a Christian who is backsliding. But there are also some exciting discoveries about how your prayer can release the resources of heaven, including angels, signs and miracles and the Spirit of God. There is a whole section on some practical ways to pray for unsaved loved ones and some discussion and keys to wage spiritual warfare. You will also learn a bit more about my own story and how I was saved through the ministry of prayer and deliverance.
See also Portal Moments: Supernatural Encounters and Answers to Prayer
© Helen Calder Enliven Publishing
[1] Gen 1:28, Dan 7:27
[2] Watchman Nee, Let Us Pray, 1977
This is great material Helen.
I have your book, “How To Be A Supernatural Christian In Your Everyday World” and thoroughly recommend it. If anyone reading this hasn’t purchased it yet, do so today. Use this link http://www.supernatural-christian.com
Helen, please keep writing and sharing with us because you are making a real difference.
I recently read a series by Peter F Hamilton. It is known as the Night’s Dawn Trilogy. The first book is titled “The Reality Dysfunction”.
For those who haven’t guessed it is a Science Fiction series. But it is the kind of Science Fiction that I love. Where you look at a new idea or technology and explore the implications for society and how people choose to respond.
In this series, they discover that there is life after death. Go figure! But not in the passive way we deal with it as we contemplate the eternal journey where our life on earth is but the first step. For them the barrier between the dead and the living is broken and we see a much more visceral encounter. It creates both a moral and pragmatic dilemma. You can learn more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nights_Dawn_Trilogy.
For me, the most interesting part is the effect this new knowledge has on the leading characters. One of them declares that it changes everything. Up until now we have lived as if what we do now is our only reality and we are doing the best we know how. But faced with the unmitigated reality that we are eternal and that life goes on past the end of our mortal bodies, and that our choices in this life set up our eternal outcome, everything changes.
In the book, some of the dead are free to choose how they will progress, and some are stuck in a never ending night that they cannot escape from. The difference etween the 2 groups is simple. Love. If you love others, then that sets you free to choose good for them and in death you can move into the greater eternal. If you don’t, eternal imprisonment is your outcome where you see the living and wish you had your time again to choose better.
Now this is a secular storyline but I was struck by how much of it resonated with the eternal Gospel we live under. Our choices in this life determine our forever outcomes. And love is the only way forward out of darkness. Jesus showed this to us on the cross where in love he broke the bonds and made it possible for us to be free to progress forward in love ourselves.
So praying for those we love is therefore both natural and powerful. God’s story is much more powerful than Peter Hamilton’s fiction and His outcome ultimately much more interesting.
I am quite sure that all our best ideas about heaven fall way short of what God has in store for us.
And how great will be to share that with all those we love and are connected to.
Ray Keefe
http://www.successful.com.au
Helen this is wonderful and a topic always true to my heart. Thanks for the inspiration to keep it up. My one issue I’m dealing with at the moment is a friend I’ve been praying for for 10 years now, I’ve been wondering if I should stop praying as much for her and concentrate on someone else – am I casting pearls before swine. I love her so much I don’t want to give up. Maybe it’s a topic you could cover in your book.
Sounds like Peter Hamilton’s onto something there, Ray. Maybe I should break my Rule of Reading and delve into the science fiction genre for this one.
Appreciate your thoughts about how choices in life now affect eternity’s outcomes. If only more people lived by that truth!
Don’t give up, Fiona! Persistent prayers are the ones that are answered. I was reading on this article http://www.intimacywithgod.com/page37.html
about DL Moody, who prayed for over 60 years for two of his childhood friends, and one was saved during his last sermon and the other immediately after he died. I would love to look into this story some more, because it illustrates a great truth.
I’m with Helen, Fiona.
There are many stories of people who have prayed for a long time before they saw an outcome. Prayer will never force another against their free will. What it does do is to change the spiritual landscape they live in so they can freely make a choice when the time is right.
If in doubt, persevere.
Ray Keefe
http://www.successful.com.au
About science fiction in specific and fiction in general.
C.S.Lewis wrote some Science Fiction as well as some Fantasy. He and J.R.R.Tolkien lamented the state of fiction writing and some of the de-humanising trends depicted and decided to contribute works of their own.
Their strategies differed. C.S.Lewis believed people needed to be clearly shown the message and so felt the writing needed to do this without much subtlety. His Narnia series is written from this perspective where it is hard to miss the point.
J.R.R.Tolkien believed that unless someone discovered a truth for themselves then they would not fully own and possess it’s meaning. The Lord Of The Rings is written from this perspective. “Even the smallest person can change the world”, is my favourite idea in that book.
C.S.Lewis also wrote the Space Trilogy which includes: “Out of the Silent Planet”, “Voyage to Venus” and “That Hideous Strength”. These were quite acclaimed and showed how the literary vehicle of Science Fiction could be used to convey core Christian ideas.
Some C.S.Lewis quotes on the power of literature:
- If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.
- Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.
- Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.
- The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.
So Helen, irrigate away
Ray Keefe
http://www.successful.com.au