There are many teachings on prayer and breakthrough, but
more often than not, I find what God looks for in our times of speaking
with Him is often much more simple than we think.He isn't impressed with fancy
speech or Scripture references uttered like dictionary entries.
He wants us to be honest with ourselves and with Him. Laying our pride down, we
must get to the heart of the matter. We want and need Godto move and
change our lives.
Mary Hudson shows us through Biblical examples what kind of prayer moves
God to action on our behalf.
Jonathan Welton shows us how a little thanksgiving
can go a long way to changing our lives (and the world) for the
better.
The first chapter of their books are available for free
download here:
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet..." Isaiah 58:1.
The Cry is a prayer that goes beyond words. When that
cry comes out of your mouth, it is as if your spirit itself is touching the
heart of God. This is not a silent prayer, it the passionate voice of a
desperate intercessor making his case before an Almighty God, no matter what it
costs. It is the weapon of the few who stand in the gap in a spiritual battle.
It makes the difference between winning and losing.
"You number and record my wanderings: put my
tears into your bottle - are they not in Your book?" Psalm 56:8 AMP.
When we cry, God records our every tear. He knows when your
heart is pouring out before Him. Collecting tears in a bottle was a custom in
the ancient
Middle East. An offering of tears was
often left in the tomb or on the grave of a departed loved one. In Persian
(ancient Iraq/Iran) funerals, the priest would collect the mourners' tears onto
cotton and squeeze them into a special bottle --- they were that precious.
The Lord describes Himself as the Breaker, the Messiah, the
Lord of the Breakthrough, in Micah
(AMP); however He needs your heart, your passion, and your voice as a point of
contact, the leverage to bring breakthrough. He wants you
to have the expectation of a miracle with fervency in your prayers.
There are many biblical examples showing breakthrough from
passionate prayer:
A
cry for deliverance. We can look to David as our example, when he
cried out from his heart before God. The Lord heard him. His voice made
entry before the Lord's throne. At the time, King David was surrounded by
his enemies, but he did not let the circumstances discourage him:
"Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the Lord hath heard the
voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my supplication; the Lord
will receive my prayer" (Psalm 6:6-9 KJV).
A
cry of repentance. John the Baptist illustrated that. "I am the
voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord,
as said the prophet Isaiah" (John
).
John had a cry from his spirit for the lost come to salvation. He was a
rough man, living on locusts and wild honey and dressed in camels' hair.
However, with one heartfelt declaration, he gave the world
the opportunity to depart from the wilderness of sin into repentance and
fruitfulness.
A
cry for fruitfulness. Consider the sisters Rachel and Leah. Rachel was
barren while Leah conceived easily. There was a cry in Rachel's heart for
a child of her own. She pled with her husband Jacob, "Give me
children, or else I die." (Gen 30.1). The Lord gave her Jacob and
Benjamin.
The prophet Samuel's mother Hannah was another case of barrenness who
would not be denied. She poured out her heart before God. "She was in
bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.
She rose up in spite of years of ridicule from the other women around her
and cried in anguish to the Lord. Her cry brought an answer. Her son
Samuel was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament.
The Lord heard my cry for fruitfulness, too. After my
husband and I were married for two years, it did not look like we were going to
have children. The Lord moved me to cry out to Him for a miracle. He responded,
and within 3 weeks I found I was pregnant with our first child. Keith and I
went on to have three children in 6 years. The pregnancies were truly
miraculous.
Points to remember:
God needs our cry to take action.
God responds to our cries by granting deliverance,
salvation, and fruitfulness.
Keith and Mary Hudson are the co-founders of Keith Hudson Ministries based
in Southern California. Mary directs Arise! meetings for women under the
wing of Keith Hudson Ministries. They have been married for over 28 years, and
are the parents of three children. You can learn more by visiting their
website, www.keithhudson.org.
Jesus said that "from
the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks (Mt )." As I have been listening to believers all
over the country, I have heard hearts overflowing with words of fear, stress,
and anxiety. Many believers have been hit hard by the change in the American
economy. I have been asking the Lord about it and He has been emphasizing one
word to me, "thanksgiving." Not the holiday, but the attitude of the
heart.
Much of the talk from
believers contradicts our name. We are called "believers," not
"complainers". Complaining fills the void of prayer. We do not
complain about what we are praying about. For example, if I am praying for my
spouse for an hour a day, when I step out of my prayer closet I am not going to
begin to complain about my spouse. If you are complaining about something,
chances are good that you are not praying about it.
I saw a vision of a
Christian being squeezed by a vise and the Lord said, "When life
squeezes us like a grape, Jesus should pour out of us because we are meant to
abide in Him." God is calling us to release thanksgiving when we are
squeezed!
Complaining is the exact
opposite of thanksgiving. The Bible tells us to "Give thanks in all
circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thess
5:18). Notice that it says, "in" not "for" all
circumstances. We are not to give thanks "for" all circumstances
because not everything is from God. If you are sick, don't give thanks for
your sickness, because it is not from God, but thanksgiving in (or in
spite of) your sickness. In Ephesians 5:20, God does instruct us to give thanks
"for" all things, but the greek word Huper is the root of the
word "for" in this passage, which means "above,"
"beyond" or "over." We are meant to give thanks above,
beyond, and over our circumstances.
When
Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, (John ) or multiplied the loaves (John ),
He didn't give thanks for His situation, He gave thanks in His
situation. You don't have to be thankful for your situation, but you do
need to be thankful in it. This will release the anointing of God to
overcome your situation.
The
prophet Daniel was known for giving thanks to the Lord three times a day
(Daniel 6:10). What we learn
from his life is that when you operate in thanksgiving, the lions of the enemy
don't have the right to chomp on you. Or who can forget Jonah? When he
complained about his assignment to prophesy over Nineveh and ran from God, he was
swallowed by a giant fish. If you look at what Jonah did inside of the fish, it
says in Jonah 2:9 that he sang a song of thanksgiving. In the very next
verse, the fish spit Jonah out on the dry land. The principle is this: if
complaining got you into the situation, thanksgiving is the key to get you out.
We need to be a people of prayer so that when life squeezes us, a heart of
thanksgiving will pour out. According to James 4:2, "we have not, because
we ask not." If we need the Lord to move in our life, it is time to return
to a heart of prayer with thanksgiving.
"Do
not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which
transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus" (Phil 4:6-7).
If you desire to see spiritual breakthrough in your family, finances, physical
body, relationships, or any other area, it is time to begin applying thanksgiving
in your prayers. Thanksgiving is a powerful force in the spirit realm, and it
is a season where God is emphasizing the release of this force in the earth.
A fifth generation believer, Jonathan Welton is propelled by
a powerful Christian heritage. Exhibiting extraordinary wisdom and meekness as
a teacher, he leads even hesitant individuals to discover fresh experiences of
Kingdom realities. With a dual calling of teacher and seer, Jonathan raises the
standard for walking in wisdom, character, and power. He is the author of School of the Seers. For more information, you
can visit his website, www.JonWelton.com.
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