The Spirit of Faith Newsletter – April 1982 (Print Edition)
“Prayer: Our Tool to Change Things”
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:16b
What is effectual prayer? It is prayer that is effective, it causes an effect. It works! It does something to change your circumstances. When we pray we don’t change God, He is unchangeable. (Mai. 3:6} You pray to change circumstances. You can change things through prayer! There are four types of prayer that change things: The Prayer of Agreement (Matt. 18:19, 20), The Prayer of Binding and Loosing (Matt. 18:18), The Prayer of Petition and Supplication (Phil. 4:6, 1 Tim. 2:1), and The Prayer of Intercession (1 Tim. 2:1, Rom. 8:26, Col. 2:1). These types of prayer are like tools… if they are used properly they will get the job done.
You would never try to use a hammer to drill a hole! The proper tool for the job would be a drill. In the same way, you should never use one type of prayer to do the job of some other type of prayer. The Prayer of Agreement might be appropriate for one thing, the Prayer of Intercession for another. There are different types of prayer. Ephesians 6:18 says that we should pray always with all prayer (the Greek says, “…all different kinds of prayer.”) God has given us the proper tools to do the job!
Jesus taught His staff to pray, “… (God’s) will be done in earth, as it is in Heaven…” (Matt. 6:10) In other words, pray that things here on earth be done in the same way that they are done in Heaven. Is there any sickness in Heaven? Any pain? Any lack? NO! Well then, from what Jesus said to pray, it is not God’s will that those things torment us here in earth either. If it is not His will for these things to exist, then why don’t they just disappear? Well, it is God’s will that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth too (1 Tim. 2:4), but that is not happening automatically. It requires something on the part of the individual receiving it. So it is with these other things. You must learn to use the proper type of prayer to change things here on earth to have them line up with the Word of God.
Romans 10:8-9 says, “What saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the Word of Faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” The word translated “saved” here is the Greek word “sozo,” meaning “saved, delivered, healed, protected, made whole spirit, soul and body, and delivered from temporal evil.” That means that if you have confessed Jesus as Lord, and believed that God raised Him from the dead, then you are the healed, you are the delivered, you are the protected! If this is so, and the Bible says that it is, then why are Christians sick, weak and in bondage? James 4:2b-3 says, “…ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” Many Christians are asking amiss, or in the wrong way, with the wrong type of prayer, or with wrong motives!
God said that His people are perishing and being destroyed for a lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6) It is time that we began to study to show ourselves approved, that we won’t be ashamed and come up short in our Christian walk! (2 Tim. 2:15)
Items of Interest in This Issue
Word of Faith Fellowship Invitation… Special Tape Offer… Spirit of Faith Broadcast coverage map
