TODAY’S DEVOTION (Sunday 6th February 2022)
“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 37TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF AMAZING GRACE
Its been a glorious year so far. The wars the LORD shared with us will come are indeed raging, but because we are within the house of His mercies, love, power and protection, we are witnessing nothing! But we are hearing and following everything happening outside there.
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 look like. He has shown me so much love, compassion and tolerance that am beginning to know the LORD in ways I never knew Him.
To Him belong all the glory for His marvelous works in our lives.
In our journey today we will be looking at the importance of cultivating a prayer heart. Yes, a prayer heart has to be cultivated for you to be able to operate in the realm of Righteous Prayers. If you do not have a prayer heart, you will always find yourself engaging in either the prayer of the Hypocrite, or the prayer or the heathen.
You will find yourself praying and looking for who will see you praying, or repeating prayers over and over. You will just be in the carnal realm. If you do not have a prayer heart, you will not be able to lift up your voice in prayer like David did, when the enemy comes against you.
David had a prayer heart that was why he could move Heaven to touch earth through prayer. People without prayers hearts will not call upon God when the enemy comes, they will call upon people.
Those who may call, will never call in such a way that they secure Heaven’s attention. Some will storm the internet to download stereotypes to 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.
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. He never knew the prince of Persia was hindering the angle that was bringing the answers, because then that was possible, unlike now that the blood of Jesus has been shared, and the middle wall of partition removed.
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
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. You are the next on GOD’s list.
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. This is one prayer category that has become extinct in the prayer life of the present church because of the fast food nature of our Christian lives.
Persistent prayer is a child of a prayer heart. Sadly, many do not have it. They just have worrying hearts that cries unto God but no 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 the 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 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 so give some money to see what God has said 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 for declaration to manifestation.
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 for from eternity to time.
Now, how do one cultivate a prayer heart and what is a prayer heart? Let us start with how to cultivate a prayer heart. Then if possible, we look at what a prayer heart is.
In yesterday’s word, we saw the danger of having a heart that is filled with evil flames or strange fires. If you look deeply in that word, you will realize that most visions people see in prayer especially about others flow from hearts that are filled with evil flames or strange fires.
To cultivate a prayer heart, the first step you must take is to expel all evil flames or strange fires that exist any where in your heart. Walk away from extra Biblical anointing and spiritualities. Ask the LORD to pour upon you the Spirit of grace and supplication. Seek word and Spirit Baptism. Plant yourself in a praying Church that operate as pillar and ground of truth.
Then be humble and submissive. Do not be haughty or arrogant. Embrace the teachable spirit. The Bible says “the humble He will guide in justice.” Walk humbly before the LORD, expose yourself to His voice and let Him expel every strange fires or evil flames from your heart. The Bible says
The voice of the LORD (the voice of truth) in a Church that functions as God’s pillar and ground of Truth will deal with any flames in your heart and purify it for the next wave of glory – the wave that will make it a prayer heart. The Bible says;
“The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD divides the flames of fire.” Psalm 29:5-7 NKJV
When the heart encounters the voice of the LORD; the voice of truth; it will be sanctified, washed, and made pure. It will become free from the spiritual pollutions of strange fires and evil flames, making it suitable to become a prayer heart.
A prayer heart is a heart that have been worked on by the LORD to carry the Spirit of grace and supplication; it is a heart with the Throne Room Dimensions to touch Heaven to change earth in seconds if need be. It is a heart with the grace of divine attention to break through barriers and persist in prayers. It has capacity to know what is in the heart of the Father and can pray from that standpoint irrespective of the circumstances around it.
Only this kind of a heart can pray righteous prayers! 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