TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 23RD JUNE 2024)
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners or sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law, he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” Psalm 1:1-5 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 174TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Its been a glorious year so far. A lot of bad things have been happening but because some of us are under divine shelter, it seems nothing is happening.
Yes, because of the shelter of God’s mercies, love, power and protection, we are witnessing nothing bad! We give God all the glory for His marvelous deeds.
I want to say, if you want to see how merciful God is, look at me and all the LORD has placed in our lives. I prefer being an epitome of God’s mercies, than a statement of how His judgment looks like.
He has shown me so much love, compassion, and tolerance that am beginning to know the LORD in ways I never knew Him before. I believe you can say the same of yourself. Indeed, He has been with us.
Today there is a proceeding word from the LORD for us, still on prayer matters. If there is any time for us to develop strong prayer knees, it is now. The bad things that are happening call for prayers from all quarters.
Not just talking to God, but talking to God with results; obtaining answers from the LORD in prayers. So, in our journey today, we will be looking at the importance of cultivating a strong prayer heart. Do not forget, our hearts are the present altars of the LORD.
Yes, a prayer heart has to be cultivated for you to be able to operate in the realm of result oriented prayers.
If you do not have a righteous prayer heart, you will always find yourself engaging in either the prayer of the Hypocrite, or the prayer of the heathen. You will find it difficult to pray result-oriented prayers.
You will find yourself praying and looking for who will see you praying, or repeating prayers over and over. The importance of a prayer heart or spirit therefore, cannot be taken for granted.
LIKE WE STATED EARLIER, YOUR HEART IS YOUR ALTAR TODAY. WITHOUT A PRAYER HEART, YOU HAVE NO PRAYER ALTAR.
If you have a good prayer heart, you have a prayer altar. God will be sending His fire upon it when you pray. But if you do not have, you will either be in the carnal or religious realm during prayers.
With a prayer heart or altar, you will be able to lift up your voice in prayer like David did, whenever the enemy comes against you, and get results.
David had a prayer heart, that was why he could move Heaven to touch earth through prayer. People without a good and effective prayer heart or altar, will not be able to call upon God when the enemy comes, they will rather call upon people to pray for them.
Those who may call, will never call in such a way that Heaven’s attention can be secured. Some will storm the internet to download stereotypes to pray or incantate, like the occult. But not David. He said;
“I will love You, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies.” Psalm 18:1-3 NKJV
It takes a prayer heart to call upon the LORD and secure His attention.
Daniel had a prayer heart; hence he was able to summon the Heavenly host through prayer. At one time he was in prayer and the answer was not coming. In that dispensation, territorial spirits could hinder angels from passing through some terrains if the angels have no command from the LORD to fight.
So, Daniel never knew the prince of Persia was hindering the angel that was bringing the answers to his prayers. But because he had a prayer heart or altar, he kept praying. When the angel finally came, here was what he said;
….. “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.” Daniel 10:12-14 NKJV
THERE IS SO MUCH IN THIS SCRIPTURE, BUT WE WILL LIMIT OURSELVES TO THE SUBJECT MATTER.
Daniel shows that People with prayer hearts can persist in prayers, touch the entire army of Heaven to enforce things on earth, and get them established as written in Heaven. The angel was delayed but it did not deter Daniel. He kept praying and persisting because of his prayer heart.
Finally, a high-ranking angel from Heaven arrived with his delivery. His prayer heart or altar brought the angel down. There is so much we can bring down from Heaven if we have prayer hearts.
When you have a prayer heart, you can persist in prayer until a blessing is born. Daniel persisted until the angel came and gave him what he was looking for. The Bible says,
“Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” Isaiah 66:7-8 NKJV
There are seven levels of righteous prayers, one of the seven is persistent prayers. This is the level of righteous prayers that is responsible for generational outbreaks of GOD.
In the school of persistent prayer, as soon as Zion travails, she brings forth her blessings. Travailing prayers is a category of righteous prayers that has become extinct in the prayer life of the present church because of the fast food nature of our Christian lives.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT PERSISTENT PRAYER IS A CHILD OF A PRAYER HEART OR ALTAR.
Sadly, many do not have it. They just have worrying hearts that cries unto God, they do not have prayer hearts.
With a prayer heart, you can pray for hours, days, weeks, months, and even years. You can lead a life time of prayer. But without a prayer heart you will pray for few minutes and words will dry up in your mouth. Sadly, so many do not have a prayer heart, that is why they move with prayer points in their hands.
Using prayer points to pray is like your child reading his or her request for food, from a hand note handed over to him or her by your house manager, to read to you. That does not happen and should not happen if you have a relationship with your child. In the same way, it should not happen between you and the LORD.
You should not storm the gates of Heaven with written prayer points or wishes that you want God to grant. That is a sign that you do not have relationship with God and you do not have a prayer heart.
Many people receive great and precious promises from the LORD but they do not see most of them come to pass. They do not see them because they do not know that it takes persistent prayers to move God’s promises, from the declaration stage, to the manifestation stage.
But a heretic or false prophet will tell you to give some money to God to see what He may have promised you come to pass. Most people prefer that because it seems easy. It aligns with the world system of paying for services rendered.
They feel, if God makes you a promise, just give His servants money and the promise will come to pass. But the Bible teaches that if God promises you something, enter the prayer room and persist in prayers and you will move it from the declaration to manifestation. You will move it into performance through persistent prayers.
However, you cannot persist if you do not have a prayer heart.
It takes a prayer heart to persist in prayer and turn divine promises into performance. It takes a prayer heart to be able to travail over time and watch the Holy Spirit bring forth what you have been travailing about from eternity to time.
WITHOUT A PRAYER HEART, YOU DO NOT HAVE A PREYER LIFE!!
A prayer heart is a heart that has been worked on by the LORD to carry the Spirit of grace and supplication; it is a heart with both faith and the ideal Throne Room reception to touch Heaven to change earth, in seconds if need be. A major highlight in our devotional text says;
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners or sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law, he meditates day and night.”
A prayer heart does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way or paths of sinners, or sits in the seat of the scornful. But its delight is naturally in the law of the LORD; in His law it meditates day and night.
That is why it knows what is in the heart of the Father concerning any issue of life and pray from that standpoint.
You cultivate this kind of Heart over time if you know how to separate from the evil flames and strange fires that dwell in the hearts of many. There are other steps to take in cultivating a prayer heart. We will be looking at the them from tomorrow.
My prayer for you today is that the LORD use what we have shared to add to the building blocks of your prayer life. Amen and amen.
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15 NKJV