'Prey!" The Prayer
- Heidi Eva Jones
- Dec 31, 2024
- 6 min read
Volume 13 Issue 12
Greeting in His Name,
WOW! We have made it to the end of the year. And I am sure that there have been some successful and some not so successful moments in life. But pat yourself on the back because you are dawning another year. A year that starts right now. Mark Twain said, "The secret of getting ahead is getting started." I encourage you to start everything bathe in prayer. Seek the heart of God in every matter of your life. With that being said, today's blog is entitled Prey! The Prayer. I hope you find some inspiration, conviction, and queries.
shalom and love,
heidi
Acts 4:31 NIV, After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Some years ago, we had a major change in our prayer time at church. My Pastor [at the time] changed our prayer time from Saturday to Friday. Now, you may say this is not a big deal, but my flesh resisted because we went from a time of prayer on Saturdays at either 9 am or 6 pm to a prayer meeting on Fridays from 10:30 pm through 6 am Saturday. I mean, this is a serious prayer meeting! Not only did my flesh question it, but it [my flesh] started to justify this statement, "you don't have to come every Friday. You don't have to stay ALL night..." and then, just as quickly, my heart pondered, "there has to be a good reason, and this is probably for the good." As always, when I need an answer, God sends it.
By the end of service one Sunday, the Pastor reiterated the prayer meeting Friday and how he and God had a talk explaining that we would have to do something intense for us to expect an intense move of God. WOW! My heart and mind quickly raced back to the end of 2010 when I proclaimed a bold statement for my life: THIS IS A YEAR OF VICTORY! Thinking back on this bold statement, I realize that even then, it would take great faith to turn my financial, emotional, and spiritual state into VICTORY. Of course, I can testify before entering the New Year that God heard my request way back then, and every year is a year of VICtORY! So, when asked to do a teaching for the first prayer meeting, I laid down, and God began to speak. He told me that since this is a prayer meeting, it would surely be in line to talk about prayer. Since the Pastor already stated that this is an 'intense' move for God, then we need to "PREY" the prayer - meaning, just as an animal goes after its prey with intense concentration and intense hunger, we should go after God with the same tenacity, or 'doggedness,' to get an answer to our prayer. You will find below that first bible study, which became a study through the book of Acts.
Go after it.
Acts 1-3
2 Chronicles 20:3, 17-18
God reminded me of the scripture in Psalm 42:1 KJV, As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. So we must go after it, and this is my first point! I chose the first four books of Acts to help us understand the intensity that is needed to make something happen. This intense church had to take on intense behavior during some intense persecution to bring the church to fruition. One of my commentaries said this of this first-century church: it was not only a persecuted church, but a Spirit-filled church, a powerful church, and a praying church. At your leisure, read Acts 1-3 to get the full effects of this church's intensity and to see that Christ and His call had to be made known. As you review Chapter 1, you will see the call and how they went after their assignment as true ambassadors for Christ. Acts 1:14 NIV, They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. They knew, as we should know that the only way we will see the will of God, the move of God, and experience the power of God is through constant prayer. To expect something from God, we must go after - prey, the Father, in prayer.
Don't stop till you get it.
Acts 4:1-22
I Thessalonians 5:17
Acts 4:18-20 NIV, Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, "Which is right in God's eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." For the disciples, their "don't-stop-till-you-get-it" was to see the church established. For you and me, it can be several things: a job, house, children, a better walk with God, our place in ministry, and even more significant, our desire to see family members and friends who are unsaved – SAVED! We must have an attitude that we will not give up or stop until their change comes. As I get older-younger I see that our main goal in walking with the Lord should be saving souls. When Christ gave his grand commission at the end of Matthew, which He recaps at the beginning of Acts, it says nothing about having things, which is what we hear in sermons most often, but it does speak of seeking and saving the lost. Often times you hear more about God moving for you on the job, in the home, for your children and family—and He will, but we don't want our gospel to always be a "gim'me" gospel. We should strive for the mentality and maturity of the Acts church, where 3000 and 5000 souls were saved within one church setting. For me to experience that would be an intense move of God experience! Let me divert a little.
God gave me the letters K.K.P during the wee night (when most folks are in a deep sleep). I asked God, "What does this mean?" He explained to me that when a person is a frequent flier with an airline, they get frequent flier points or miles, and the same with some credit cards. The more they fly or spend, the more points they earn. Well, God said to me I have a K.K.P. plan - Knee Knocking Points plan. The more I get on my knees in prayer, knocking on the door of God's heart, the more He will add points to my prayer plan. God is asking what do you want? Unlike the frequent flier plan, God has no hidden terms of agreement, no undercover agenda; you "prey" the prayer, you get the points.
Prey! Pray! Until that place shakes!
Acts 4:23-31
2 Samuel 22:7-8
Okay, let's recap prayer from Acts 1-4. Acts 1:14, They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. In the same chapter, verses 24-25, Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." In Chapter 2:42, They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Chapter 3 opens with Peter and John entering the temple at three in the afternoon to pray. In Chapter 4, when Peter and John returned from their imprisonment, they reported to the believers all that the chief priests and elders said and the people, Acts 4:24; when they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. As you go through all these chapters, you will see what the power of prayer can do, especially when you 'prey' after it. But this is where we get to the point, Acts 4:31 NIV, After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Do you see what's about to occur in our churches if we truly pray before the Father with sincere hearts? Do you see? Bodies healed. Do you see? Men, women, boys, and girls saved. Do you see? I don't know about you, but I feel the house of prayer shaking. I believe and know that if we make an intense decision to come and focus our time and energy on the Father in prayer, there will be great rewards. I am expecting great rewards. I want to close with this: always remember, whether you are at a prayer meeting on a Friday night— 'praying' or at your home in the midnight hour— 'praying' or at your job in the noonday— 'praying,' remember to "prey" the prayer!
LIFE QUOTE
“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on."
-Henry Ellison
Let Us Laugh!
A priest, a minister, and a rabbit walk into a blood bank. The rabbit says, “I believe that I am a type o.”
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