What Prayer Does
 
Prayer has diverse benefits for the believer.

As the issues and circumstances of life vary, so also does prayer address the various needs of man.

Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.

This implies that there are different kinds of prayer, and they accomplish different things in a believer's life. Let us examine some of them.

It Provokes Help From Above.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Without help from above, we are helpless on the earth. The enemy is fierce. He knows his time is short, so he is out against the children of God with full force.

The wickedness on the earth is intense, but we have access to help from heaven to overcome them all through prayers. That is why the Bible says:

Psalms 127:1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Every blessing and accomplishment in life comes as a result of the helps of God. Paul said:

Acts 26:22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great,

saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.

He was preaching the same message as other apostles in his time, but he got better results because he had the help of God.

The Psalmist, though a great man of war who never lost a battle, knew this secret. He prayed:

Psalms 60:11 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

60:12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

The Bible also tells us the secret of king Uzziah's successful reign:

2 Chronicles 26:1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.

26:5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.

26:7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims.

Prayer is not just telling God your needs, because He already knows them.

Matthew 6:32 ...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

It is getting Him to intervene in your situation on the basis of His Word.

God is your heavenly Father and He knows your needs, but you require His help to overcome the enemy.

Therefore, what you do in prayer is to take your accuser to the court room of heaven for judgement.

Once you are justified, the help of God is released to you. When God becomes your Helper, you enjoy ceaseless breakthroughs and stand out among your peers.
 
God is committed to sending help from above when you call on Him. He gives you this assurance:

Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God:

I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

41:11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded:

they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

41:12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee:

they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

The Psalmist said:
 
Psalms 56:9 When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.

To be continued

Excerpts from, Winning prayers by David Oyedepo.

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What Prayer Does, Part 2

Mercy
 
Mercy is one of God's profound ways of helping His people.

Hebrews 4:16 ...that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
 
Certain things may be responsible for where we find ourselves and we may not know what they are.

But the mercy of God will always answer for us when we cry unto Him in prayers.
 
God was angry with David when he counted the people of Israel and sent a plague among the people, such that seventy thousand men died in one day.

But David cried out for God's mercy, which he knew would always answer for him and God was intreated.

2 Samuel 24:14 ... let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

There is a need to understand the place of God's mercy in our affairs.

What you are fighting against may not be the devil, or witches and wizards as you have thought.

It could be something you have done, like David, that has angered God. He can be intreated when you call for His mercy.
 
Maybe a curse was placed upon one of your forefathers, which you inherited without knowing.

Some people have so much money but can't account for how it is spent.

They have no land, house, or anything to show for all the money that passes through their hands; yet they are heavily indebted.
 
Some don't even know what next to do with their lives. They just keep wandering about.

They invest in all manner of businesses and never realize anything out of them.

For some people, the things or habits plaguing them are like ancestral curses.

They discover that things such as poverty, failure, marriage spell, immorality, drunkenness, lying, etc, run through all their Family tree.
 
If you find yourself in any of such predicament, you can cry out for the mercy of God to severe you from them.

You can say to God, "Lord, I don't know the cause of this thing, but You know all things. Whatever I may have dabbled into through carelessness or ignorance and which has brought this affliction in my life, Lord have mercy!

Whatever may have come on me through the negative side of my natural background, let Your mercy prevail for me!"
 
Plead the mercy of God against that mysterious affliction in your life and it will give up, and you will be free.
 
Matthew 9:13 But go ye 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.

Mercy is God's nature.

When three nations came against Judah in battle, Judah went out against them singing of the mercy of God; and the Bible says God set ambushments against their enemies.

2 Chronicles 20:21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD,

and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.

20:22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab,

and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

Lamentations 3:22 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

Excerpts from, Winning Prayer by David Oyedepo

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