Prayer Summary for Friday, July 14, 2017

Pastor Ray shared…

All this week, we’ve talked about different revivals like Azusa and things like that. Someone sent me an old Kenneth E. Hagin mini-book called “The Interceding Christian.” In it he has something about Charles Finney. I want to share the first part of it. It’s about prayer, of course.

[begin excerpt]
Charles Finney stands out as one of the greatest exponents of evangelism since the days of the apostle Paul. All theologians and church historians agree that Finney had the greatest success of any individual preacher since the days of Paul. Furthermore, in Finney’s revivals, eighty percent of all his converts stayed saved.

Since the turn of the century, we have seen a great revival in the Pentecostal movement. Yet Pentecostal leaders, both past and present, agree that not even fifty percent of the converts remain true to God. No one has had the success Finney had. Yet he never used any kind of gimmick. He didn’t rely on sensationalism; he depended solely upon prayer.

In his autobiography, we read that when Finney would go into a town for a revival, almost the entire town would turn to God. After one such revival in which practically the entire city was converted, the only theater in town had to close down because no one attended. All the “grog” shops, Finney’s term for what we know today as beer joints or nightclubs, also had to close down after the revival.

What was the secret of Finney’s success? He said, “there is no more secret, no more mystery to having a revival than there is to a farmer’s reaping a crop. If the farmer tills the soil, puts the seed in the ground, and trusts God for the rain, then when the time comes there will be a harvest.”

Finney had an elderly man working with him who was semi-retired from the ministry. People called him “Father Nash.” Father Nash would go ahead of Finney three weeks in advance of a planned revival to try to get two or three people to enter into a covenant of prayer with him. Someone asked Finney what kind of man this Father Nash was. “We never see him,” they said. “He doesn’t enter into any of the meetings.”

Finney replied, “Like anybody who does a lot of praying, Father Nash is a very quiet person.”

Show me a person who is always talking and I’ll show you a Christian who never does much praying.

“On one occasion when I got to a town to start a revival,” Finney said, “A lady who ran a boarding house contacted me. She said, ‘Brother Finney, do you know a Father Nash? He and two other men have been at my boarding house for the last three days, but they haven’t eaten a bite of food. I opened the door and peeped in at them because I could hear them groaning, and I saw them down on their faces. They have been this way for three days, lying prostrate on the floor and groaning. I thought something awful must have happened to them. I was afraid to go in and I didn’t know what to do. Would you please come see about them?’

“No, it isn’t necessary,’ I replied. ‘They just have a spirit of travail in prayer.”

Finney prayed much himself. Rising every morning at 4 o’clock, he would go out into the country and pray until 8 o’clock.

As we look again at the scriptures in Romans 8:26 and 27 in a little more detail, we see how they also relate to travail in prayer on the behalf of others. There are some who will be saved because they hear the truth and respond to it. But there are others who never will be saved unless somebody intercedes for them. Only intercessory prayer will break the power of the devil over them and release them.

There are people who will be healed by simply believing what God’s Word has to say on the subject and by appropriating healing unto themselves. This is what I did when I was raised up from what doctors said was my deathbed. Some will be healed by the laying on of hands and anointing with oil. But some such as unsaved people or baby Christians who don’t know their rights in Christ will never be healed by any of these methods. Somebody will have to pray for them.

Prayer and travail on the behalf of others works. These other things such as laying on of hands, require the individual’s direct cooperation. But prevailing prayer overpowers the works of the devil—“to the pulling down of strong holds” (2 Cor. 10:4).

A Presbyterian pastor told me about a member of his church—a young mother with three children—who had open heart surgery. During such an operation it is necessary to stop the heartbeat, of course. However, after they started it again, the woman died. The doctors managed to get her heart going again, but they said there was absolutely no chance for the young woman to live.

Even if she were to revive, it would have been better for her to die, for her brain had been deprived of too much oxygen. If she were to live, she probably would not know anything. It was inevitable that she had brain damage.

During that night while the pastor was sleeping, he was awakened by the sound of someone groaning. He noticed his wife wasn’t in bed, so he supposed she must have become ill. He got up to see about her, and found her on her face on the living room floor, groaning and praying in tongues. As they were new in the things of the Spirit, he didn’t understand what was happening, nor did his wife.

He asked, “Honey, what is the matter?”

“I don’t understand it,” she said, “But in my spirit I have a burden to pray for the girl who had heart surgery. I just can’t let her die.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t pray that she would live,” he said. “If she lives, her mind won’t be right, and that will be a terrible thing for those three children.”

The wife replied that even though she couldn’t understand it, she had this overwhelming burden and had to pray for the young woman. She spent three nights in prayer, groaning and praying in tongues.

On the fourth day the young mother suddenly regained consciousness and was completely healed. Her mind was keen and alert. The doctors were astonished. This remarkable healing came about because the Spirit helped the pastor’s wife in prayer. [end]

Pastor Ray continued sharing…

That’s a good example of answered prayer. I just read something that Pastor Lynne had said about when all of a sudden someone comes to our minds. She was saying that if they come up, we lift them up. Your response shouldn’t be, “Oh wow, I haven’t thought about that person for a long time.” We don’t just think about them. We pray over them. It doesn’t mean we have to go get somewhere and pray for four hours. We lift them up and cover them.

You think there are people in this ministry that need someone to pray for them? Yes. I do too. I wanted to do that for a while this morning. Today we’ll focus on the church for a while. When you’re praying in other tongues, tune your natural ears to what you say in other tongues and let Him by the Spirit direct your prayers. Maybe you’ll hear in your tongues something you’ll understand, like a word. You can go with that for a while.

Prayed…

Thank You for Your presence today and the ministry of Your Holy Spirit
We magnify the name of Jesus and we declare that Jesus is Lord over America
You direct and lead us
Thank You for power that works through us
We lift up every detail of the changes
We call things to move in the right way and right direction
That’s working… in this house…
We’re open to Your will and ways
New days, new hours, new changes
Your hand is upon us… thank You for the activity of Your Spirit
We push out the boundaries… and we declare that increase to come…
All the numbers… all the souls… all that are coming in…
We pray over the keys over every operation… getting us to our destination
Thank You for a spirit of prayer
For the signs, wonders, miracles and the operation of Your Spirit
We pray for revival here in this place in Jesus’ name
An awakening in Jesus’ name… for a divine awakening… names, you know the names, Lord
Out of the old ways and into the new days… not just blending in with the world but rising above it
How many? Many more… much greater
Outward… we move it outward… open up those ways and steps… we pray over the keys, the opportunities
Thank You for the drawing by Your Spirit… like a magnet… drawing the lost in
Signs, miraculous happenings… we’re hungry for it
We pray over the message, our pastor’s message…
Help from heaven… Ministering spirits, Go! Bring the finances in… over and above… more than enough
INCREASE, INCREASE, INCREASE!
We lift up Pastor Mac… we declare an abundance for him and through him… an alignment of things that need to be… ideas, wisdom from heaven … turning and turning and turning into the new, never having been there before… he hears and knows… thank You for the insight on what things need to be done and when… a showing and a knowing and a growing… the money will come…and the resources, they shall come too… we declare it… assignment… it shall be carried out… every part of the vision… a double on some things… an increase that will be like a double… two times greater… suddenly… supernaturally a double change…
Insight, revelation, understanding…
We lift up Pastor Lynne… they operate and go forth as one… supernaturally… closer and closer… the blood is over them… a revealing by Your Spirit… we’ll see it and say it…
Thank You for that increase… a shift into a new lane… new places and territories
We lift up the two new outreaches… we pray for Pastor Jim and Jamey… great new unusual revelation about these assignments… we remove limitations… resources will be there… the numbers… we lift up the buildings… right destinations… there is a way… assignments will be fulfilled…

Pastor Ray interjected…

I want us to go over to France. Today is Bastille Day. It’s like our Fourth of July. A year ago, there was an attack in Nice. Over 80 people were murdered. Also, Pastor Marie is believing God for the right building they can move to.

Continued praying…

We bind the devil from stopping these operations
Stop in your maneuvers coming against these ministries
Get out of the way! Be removed!
By faith, we go to Nice, France right now… the city is where this operation needs to be… can’t be way out in the country…
We pray for the absolute right place… they’ll know it when they see it and the finances will be there for it
Your favor, Lord, with the city of Nice, with the mayor and those working with the mayor… Your favors goes before them
Reveal it to them… to the city… to the church

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