TODAY’S DEVOTION (SUNDAY 7TH JULY 2024)
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the Hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
“Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. Matthew 6:5-8 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 188TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Our LORD and King has been so mindful of us. To Him belong the glory for giving us another day. We do not take it for granted because we consider it a major investment of Heaven into our lives.
In His mercies, He has watched over us, kept us from the evil one, and unleashed His Grace to work in our lives these 188 days.
Indeed, His grace in our lives has given us divine peace, divine revelation, and divine direction, making us what we are today.
Today we will be going back to prayer matters having considered fear matters in yesterday’s devotional. Of a truth, the LORD has been gracious and has opened His good treasure to us on every mater we have considered on this platform; matters of having a heart for righteous prayers, inclusive.
One way to build a heart of righteous prayers is by meditating in the word that addresses what you want to pray for before praying.
That will even enable you to pray the prayer of faith. Prayers of faith are miracle bound. Meaning they are always result oriented. You pray them by first meditating on relevant scriptures before entering the prayer knee realm.
It’s been proved over and over that whenever we meditate on Bible records of what God did when men and women like us prayed in those ancient days, there seems to be a release of fresh fire from the LORD into our spirits that activates our faith to believe God for similar miracles.
Personally, I have seen dimensions of God break out in my life and ministry through this kind of word intake.
The Holy Spirit will always bring one story or the other that I might have read to mind, and then move forward to animate its possibility in my spirit, as I pray and meditate on the scriptures. It has a way of killing my doubts.
IT IS ONE WAY I HAVE FOUND THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPING MY WEAKNESS OR INFIRMITY IN PRAYER.
The Bible says;
“Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26 NKJV
The prayer realm is a realm you cannot operate successfully if you do not have the helping hands of the Holy Spirit.
Only He can help in your spiritual weaknesses or infirmities; only He can deal with the very forces that limits our prayers and hinders us from breaking through in the spirit realm. He is the superior power of the spirit realm. Working with Him in prayers is the only way we can have results in prayers.
Every believer must know that God wants us to be heard in Heaven, victorious in warfare and result oriented in our prayer lives. But for that to happen, there is a way we ought to pray. That way is only made possible by the Holy Spirit helping us.
If the Spirit of God is there, He will search our hearts as we pray, then connect or align us to what is in His own mind concerning what we may be praying about, then He will go ahead to make all things we may be presenting to God in prayer, to work together for our good.
That is how the Spirit makes intercessions for us according to the will of GOD, using our own lips. To buttress or underscore this truth, the rest of that scripture says;
“Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:27-28 NKJV
Without the Holy Spirit, nothing about righteous prayer will be possible.
Righteous prayers, as we saw some time back, involves prayers of faith. Prayers of faith are prayers we pray based on what God has already done in the Spirit realm.
They are not prayers you pray based on what God will do. They are prayers you pray based on what God has already done in the Spirit realm which needs to be done in the natural realm. Now, praying such prayers is not possible without the Spirit of God governing you.
THAT BRINGS US TO OUR DEVOTIONAL TEXT FOR TODAY.
The text is full of great insights on result-oriented prayers. But we will cover just what we can in this devotional, and leave the rest, maybe, for another day! A major highlight says;
“Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.”
There are some questions to ask here because if you are looking for hidden truths, you must learn to ask the questions that will unlock them.
The first question is, “who was Jesus saying we should not be like when we come into the prayer realm? And what Kind of prayer do they pray? The second is, if the father already knows what we need, why do we still need to pray?
Why is prayer necessary since He already knows what we need? Let me begin with the last set of questions, then if there is time, we look at the first set deeply and objectively.
In one of our prayer schools, I did say that righteous prayers are prayers that proceed from God. They are not prayers that proceed from our needs or worries. They could be addressing our needs and worries, but they always proceed from God.
In other words, they begin from God, continues with us (sometimes for days, weeks, or months, if they are travailing prayers) then they return back to GOD. In the Spirit’s realm, any prayer that did not start from God will not be answered.
The reason is, only what comes form God is acceptable in Heaven. Whatever is not from God is iniquity or an abomination in His sight. That is why the prayer of the wicked is an abomination unto God because it is not always from Him.
The only prayer of the wicked that comes from God is the prayer of repentance because repentance is a gift from God that is deposited in our hearts by His Holy Spirit.
The bottom line is, if you want to see results in prayer, you must understand the principle of alignment. Whatever comes from the earth that is not from God, will not be acceptable in Heaven. The Bible says;
“Forever, O LORD, your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.” Psalm 119:89-90 NKJV
HEAVEN ONLY RESPONDS TO THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN SETTLED IN HEAVEN, TO MAKE HAPPEN ON EARTH.
If you want to see answers in prayer, make sure that whatever has not been settled in Heaven, should not be conceived in your heart, or prayed by your mouth. That is why Jesus, the one who answer our prayers, said, when we pray, we should say, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth AS IT IS IN Heaven.”
What is the meaning of that? It simply means, when we pray, we should connect what the Father in Heaven already knows that we need on earth, at an immediate present, and ask Him to give us.
What the Father already knows that we need is what is in Heaven. That is what to ask that it be done on earth. I hope you understand me!
To come into the prayer realm therefore, you are to begin with a revelation of what the Father already knows that you need. If you do not have that revelation at an immediate present, please don’t attempt prayer.
You will end up praying like those Jesus said we should not be like in prayer. Sadly, the very people Jesus said we should not be like are the ones leading prayer meetings in churches today!
Who are the very people Jesus says we should not be like in prayer, and what kind of prayer do they usually pray? Let’s get the answers. Other highlights in our devotional text says;
“And when you pray, you shall not be like the Hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.
But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them….
THE FIRST PEOPLE JESUS SAYS WE SHOULD NOT BE LIKE WHEN WE PRAY, ARE THE HYPOCRITES.
The kind of prayer they pray is what they Bible describe as the prayer of the Hypocrites. It says “For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.”
This kind of people and prayer warriors are everywhere today. People do not know that prayer is not what you do to be seen by men. It is what you do to be seen by God alone. That was why Jesus never prayed publicly.
Yes, you may be shocked to discover that He never prayed publicly except at the grave of Lazarus. All He did on the streets of Jerusalem was to speak and the people got their miracles.
In so many portions of the Bible, you find Him retreating to quiet places to be alone with God; most times throughout the night.
There was no place He gathered people on corners of streets to pray and bind demons troubling the city, or to uproot this altar or arrest the spirit of this or that, like many so-called apostles and prophets do today. He knew you do not bind demons or transform spiritual landscapes by gathering in large groups and praying.
You preach the word of truth and righteousness to people individually, until their spirits are reformed, and mindsets transformed, for demons to be bound and spiritual landscapes of Cities transformed.
The kind of religious shows our so-called fathers of faith put in the name of prayer, is void or empty of genuine kingdom advance, and very unproductive to God but productive to them, who have collected money from politicians or other big wigs to do such political prayers.
When it comes to changing the moral fabric of a society, you need to preach the word of truth and righteousness to the nation not lead in national prayer meetings.
PRAYING LIKE THE HYPOCRITE UNLOCKS ANCIENT SPIRITS INTO THE SPIRITUAL LIVES OF PEOPLE.
That is why in Kenya and Eastern Nigeria for example, so many Christians have returned back to ancient practices and religions God buried decades ago.
It takes a strange or spiritual blind ‘child of God’ not to understand these anti-Christ developments going on as prayer movements. Sadly, they are going on in the name of the LORD and making a lot of money in the process.
The prayer of the Hypocrite people call prayer movements has never changed the moral life of any City or nation, it is Righteous preaching and Righteous prayers (made in the closet) that has changed societies.
I think enough has been shared for the day. I will pick up from here tomorrow. I encourage you to sit with the LORD with these things and let Him speak to you further.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY
“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth.
They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out.
Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands.
Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.” Isaiah 59:1-8 NKJV