FERVENT PRAYER

by Jonas Clark

There is a time to pray quietly and privately, but there is also a time to pray fervently and corporately. The apostolic equipping dimension will release a spirit of prayer into your life.

You can expect upon entering the apostolic equipping dimension that your prayer life will be strongly affected. Prayer is the breeding ground for apostolic assignments. It is the realm of intimate communication and fellowship toward our Lord. Prayer is talking to God and him talking to you. In the apostolic dimension you will quickly learn that prayer is not something that you do but rather is the lifestyle of the righteous.

A PRAYER LIFESTYLE

A prayer lifestyle is a consistent, integrated way of living.

The apostolic dimension will lead you into a realm of effective fervent targeted prayers that are guided by the Holy Spirit. The Word teaches us that, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16 KJV). From this scripture we learn that there is a way that the righteous should pray in order to avail.

To avail in prayer means to have great success.

The Amplified Bible teaches us through that same scripture that there is a tremendous power available for the righteous who pray fervently. Let's take a look.

"The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]" (James 5:16 AMP).

Are you ready for a tremendous prayer life?

FERVENT PRAYER

So what is fervent prayer? This scripture gives us a mighty key that unlocks a realm that few enter. It teaches us how to pray, get answers and releases tremendous power into our lives. Even Jesus' apostles did not know how to pray. They even asked the Lord to teach them how. We too must learn how to become effective in our prayer lives.

To pray with fervency means to pray with an emotional intensity. A fervent prayer is...

hot...burning...glowing...aggressive...strong...forceful...targeted.

If you could pray the way Jesus did, would you?

Jesus himself prayed fervently. The Word teaches us,

"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared" (Hebrews 5:7 KJV).

Notice that Jesus prayed while on the earth with strong crying mixed with tears. The word strong is the Greek word ischuros meaning to be...

loud...powerful...violent...militant...forcible...strong.

HEARTFELT PRAYER

This is a picture of Jesus' personal prayer life that seldom is taught. Many people pray religiously. They go through a routine that is boring, lifeless, and ineffective. Jesus teaches us how he broke through in prayer. Let us learn from him.

There is a time to pray quietly and privately, but there is also a time to pray fervently and corporately. The apostolic equipping dimension will release a spirit of prayer into your life. Teaching out of her wonderful book, Effective Fervent Prayer, Mary Alice Isleib says,

"Jesus is coming soon. If we don't pray, who will? There is still much work to do, more ground to break and prepare, more enemies to defeat, battles to win, strongholds to pull down, and more of the plan of God to be birthed in the earth. 'Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'

We are living in a time that is special; it's also a time where the Church will be required to pray as never before. When you understand what prayer is and how it works, you can see great changes in your life and in your city and nation. You can pray! Jesus in you is a great Prayer Warrior - He knows how and what to pray to bring results. He has given you His Word and His Spirit. You are mighty in Him! The Church holds the keys to God's plan in the earth. Prayer unlocks the door to God's power in your personal life and to deliverance for the nations."

David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the largest church in the world, the Yoida Full Gospel Church in Soeul Korea, which has over a million members, tells us how important prayer is. "You could remove the powerful preaching from our church and it would still continue. You could remove the administration of pastoral care through the cell group system and the church would still continue. But if you removed the prayer life of our church, it would collapse."

The apostolic dimension will release you into times of loud, strong, fervent, targeted, effective prayer. Remember, fervent heartfelt prayer is the key to an effective prayer life and makes much of God's tremendous power available. It is the power in prayer that will shake the nations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.