Prayer for Others

This last message in Min. David Pawson's series on prayer addresses praying for others or intercessory prayer.

• When we intercede for others, we are completing a circuit between Heaven and earth for God's power to flow on that person's behalf.
• Angels are also involved in the circle of power in intercessory prayer.
• Why we pray for others.  Our motives for prayer can get so mixed up that prayer can be perverted by self-interest.
• We also must be careful not to pray at others due to self-righteousness.  It can be easy to preach in our prayers at others who we feel are "not as spiritual" as ourselves. 
  
  

Prayer By Myself

A message from Min. David Pawson on the importance of secret prayer, praying by one's self.

• The secret of religion is religion in secret.
• In theory, having a secret life of prayer should be the easiest thing to do. 
• By nature we are blind and deaf to the Lord and we must learn to communicate without relying on our senses.
• In most things that we learn, we have to learn them as a duty before they become a delight.
• Let your feelings be hooked unto your faith; don't let your faith be hooked unto your feelings.
• When we persist in prayer out of love & obedience to God, we can come to the point where hindsight proves He was there all along.
• The more relaxed with, and related to, God we are in prayer, the more we are aware of His presence in the spirit.
• If you are having issues with being aware of the presence of God when you pray, ask Him to fill you with His Spirit.
• There is a level of prayer which is not limited by bodily senses or mental deduction, but is made real by spiritual awareness.

Prayer With the Saints

The following message is from Min. David Pawson's series on prayer and addresses corporate prayer:

• There is no such thing as private prayer for a Christian.  The very minimum in prayer for a Christian is four: Father, Son, Spirit, and yourself.
• Once you become a Christian you cease to be an individual and you become a member of the Body of Christ. (Isn't that wonderful?!  People spend all of their lives trying not to be alone and in Christ we never have to be, even is no one else is physically with us.)
• This is why Jesus said that when we enter into our prayer closet to pray to the Father in secret say, "OUR Father..."; "give US..."; "lead US"; and "deliver US". (Matthew 6:6-13)
• All prayer is therefore corporate prayer, even when you are physically alone.  Yet, it is also important to pray together with other Christians.
• There is a Biblical basis for praying together.  In the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation, there is more about praying with the saints than praying by yourself.  The promises in the Gospels are nearly all to people praying together.  The practice in Acts is nearly always praying to together.  The precepts in the Epistles are nearly always about praying together.  The predictions in Revelation are about people praying together.

Prayer Without Hindrances

The following message from Min. David Pawson addresses how to pray with hindrances.  I have been blessed by all of these messages, but especially this one.  I hope you can take some time to listen.

• For months Job wasn't getting through to God and he believed that he was in the right and that God was in the wrong in letting him suffer.  When you don't get any answers from God, stop arguing with Him and you might find that He can then bless you.
• Many of the difficulties we have in prayer are of our own making.
• There is one basic problem in prayer: unanswered prayer.  Not that you don't get what you ask, but you don't get any reply; when the Heavens feel like brass.  All other issues in prayer are related to this.
• Psalms is filled with such phrases as: "Answer me...Incline your ear...Hear my prayer....Hear my cry!"

Prayer Through the Son

The following message from Min. David Pawson is about how we are to pray to the Father through His Son Jesus Christ:

• Christians are the only ones who can call God Father.
• Christian prayer cannot mix with any other type of prayer because it is not like any other type of prayer.
• The main difference between religion and Christianity is Jesus Christ. Because of this, Christians have five things in prayer that no one else has:
• The teachings of Christ for our prayer
• The example of Christ to follow in our prayer
• The blood of Christ to plead in our prayer
• The intercession of Christ to rely upon with our prayer
• The name of Christ to use during our prayer
• Jesus taught the disciples how to pray as well as what to pray.
• In terms of how to pray, Jesus taught:
• Pray with sincerity.
• Pray with simplicity.
• Pray with humility.
• Pray with tenacity.
• Pray with intensity.
• Pray with charity.
• Pray with unanimity.

Prayer in the Spirit

So many people do not understand what it means to pray in the Spirit.  This message from Min. David Pawson breaks this down from the Scriptures.

• Prayer is not a natural thing to the flesh and we don't know how to pray as we ought.
• One of the main functions of the Holy Spirit is to help us in how to pray.
• Praying in the Spirit is an added dimension to all prayer and supplication.
• The Holy Spirit is the divine letter writer; He takes what we want to say but cannot express or put to words and gets it out on our behalf.
• Prayer in the Spirit has two distinct aspects:
• The Holy Spirit takes over your mind, giving you the right thoughts, which you have the responsibility to express.
• The Holy Spirit does not use your mind at all, but takes over your mouth, and it is your responsibility to move your mouth and tongue.
• Both of these kinds of prayer are praying in the Spirit.