We can partner with God
Because God so loved the world, He gave his one and only Son, Jesus, so whoever believes in him will have eternal life. (John 3:16) Our Father gives us his Spirit to confirm to us that we are His children. (Romans 8:16) God will never leave us or allow us to be separated from his love. (Romans 8:28-39, Deuteronomy 31:8, Hebrews 13:5-6) His love for you is unchangeable: There is nothing you can do to make God love you more and there is nothing you can do to make God love you less.
If you don’t feel you are a child of God – ask your Father for a gift of belief and ask His Spirit to confirm this in your spirit and to lead you to Scriptures, other people and circumstances that will help you to know God intimately. (Romans 8:31-39)
- www.fathersloveletter.com A paraphrased compilation of Bible verses that are presented in the form of a love letter from your Father God. Available in various multimedia formats and 97 languages… www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKmdIdQg3Ks
We need to partner with God
We have no light of our own so, to be light in this world, we need to become sons who reflect the glory, the likeness, of our Father! (Matthew 5:14, Romans 8:17-22, James 5:16, Col 1: 25-29)
- Even Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. By myself I can do nothing.” (John 5:19, 30)
- Jesus said, “I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.” (John 14:31)
- For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say. (Jn 12:49-50)
Study what is it to be ‘like your Father.’ Character First: inward values that determine outward actions. www.characterfirst.com/assets/CFDefinitions.pdf
Prayer is About Relationship
Prayer is not an end in itself…it is a communication tool for building relationship with God and each other. When the disciples asked Jesus, Lord, Teach us how to pray, He began with, Our Father. (Luke 11:1-4) Deeper and deeper intimacy awaits us! To be one with God -as the members of the Godhead are one is pretty awesome! (John 17:20)
Partnering with God means letting Him into more and more aspects of yourself, your life and your world:
- Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. (Mark 12:29-30)
- Jesus answered, The first and principal one of all commands is: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. (Mark 12:29-30 Amplified Bible)
God will bring abundant life to your spirit, soul (mind, will, emotions) and body as you let Him. It’s a matter of constant choices. Hebrews 11:8 says Abraham obeyed and went to a place of inheritance, not knowing where he was going. Abraham could do that because he relied on the fellowship and guidance of God.
To trust intimacy with God we need to know Him scripturally. Intimacy with God through his presence, will develop our sensitivity and trust in God and our confidence in discerning His voice. Once we begin to know God we can trust let Him reveal who we are, who others are and our destiny in this generation. When we know our Lord well enough we can trust and pray for His will, rather than our own, in all things. And we will be able to rest in God’s peace and joy in all circumstances. (Matthew 6:9-15)
- I will bring them to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. (Isaiah 56:6)
Be Still and Know That I AM God.
Know My Voice.
Jesus.
Destiny and Inheritance.
There are Many Forms of Prayer
- Adoration: Be Still and Know That I AM God
- Listening Prayer, Prophetic Discernment: Know My Voice
- Confession and Repentance
- Personal Supplication and Healing
- Intercession for Others
- Prophetic Declaration and Thanksgiving
- Praying for Cities and Nations: Transforming Australia
Confession and Repentance
When we ask the Spirit of Jesus if there is anything in us that is unlovely, life draining, a barrier to connection with God and others – He will bring to mind things we’ve thought, done or said or offense we are carrying against someone else. This comes as gentle conviction and invitation rather than condemnation. Immediately we can ask Jesus to forgive us and cover us with His righteousness – and lead us in His right way. It may mean making things right with someone we have wronged. This is a vital way that truth sets us free.
- If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)
- See Acts 2:38-43
Personal Supplication and Healing
- Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. (Psalm 55:22)
- Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. (1Peter 5:6,7)
Your Father loves to give gifts to you as His child, to help you live fully.
- Ask for and receive His gifts of hope, belief, faith, love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
- Ask to receive God’s forgiveness and for his gift of forgiveness toward others. This will set you free from old entrapments in your thinking, actions and relationships.
- Ask for God’s power through His Holy Spirit.
- Ask for faith to receive healing.
- Ask God to help you unpack your destiny.
- Ask God for His perspective; His righteousness and justice.
Healing Rooms Australia e.g. www.healingrooms.com.au www.healinglifemin.com
Personal Ministry Centres e.g. www.prayerministriesnetwork.com/pmcentres.html www.sonrise.org.au www.sydneyheal.com www.dayspring.com.au/ministries/sozo.html www.ellelministries.org/aus www.elijahhouse.com.au www.restoration.org.au/prayerministry.html www.familyfoundations.com Follow the prompts to find coordinators in your area.
Partnering with Jesus through Intercession: Standing in the Gap to Pray for Others
- And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18)
There are many forms of intercessory prayer. There is power in faithfully, regularly praying for those you have committed to pray for. There is power in praying as the Spirit of God leads, in tongues and with word of knowledge. God’s Spirit enables us to glimpse God’s heart on a matter can we intercede personally, deeply and prophetically, bringing their burden to Jesus. (1 Corinthians 14)
Jesus and His Spirit intercede for us:
- Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend. (Job 16:19-21)
- During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. (Hebrews 5:7)
- In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)
- Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
Intercede for Leaders:
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1Timothy 2:1-2)
- Peter Wagner, Prayer Shield.
- Tommi Femrite, DVD Leaders You Need Intercessors.
- Tommi Femrite, E. Alves & K. Kaufman, Intercessors: Discover Your Prayer Anointing.
Be watchmen for your sphere of influence:
Your neighbourhood, suburb, region, city, nation.
- I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. (Ezekiel 22:30)
- Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:7)
- Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. (Psalm 127:1)
Pray for Israel. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
May those who love you be secure. May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels. (Psalm 122: 6-7) Our God is a covenant keeping God and never forsakes his children. Pray God’s chosen people will fulfil the destiny he has for them. www.celebratemessiah.com.au www.jewishprayerfocus.org
Partnering with God through Declaration and Thanksgiving
When we partner with God’s heart and know his will in a matter, or can let His Spirit lead us, we have confidence to declare God’s will on earth as in heaven; to proclaim a thing by faith…on earth as in heaven. Declaration includes declaration of who God is; His scriptural promises and prophetic word in the heavenly realms, testimony to others and action in our spheres of influence.
- He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. (Colossians 1:28)
See examples of declaration in prayer guide at www.40daysofprayer.org.au
Let our thanksgiving be proclaimed – in adoration to God and in testimony to other people. See Psalm 118. Let us not be like those who failed to return in thanksgiving for Jesus’ healing:
- One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:15-18)
Having prayed we have a responsibility to act on what Jesus has asked us to do
- Ask God when to bring a word in right season to introduce people to Jesus… and abundant life.
- Ask God to show you how to become equipped as a mature disciple and harvest worker.
- Ask God to show you your present sphere of influence and assignments in your world.