petertan.net PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT SERIES FREQUENT MENTIONING IN PRAYER In this message, we want to study the frequency of mentioning prayer items before the Lord. How often should we pray over certain items? That has been a puzzle to many Christians. Of course we know that there are different types of prayer. In the prayer of faith we realize that we ask once. But then after that you still give thanks. So the question is how often must we remind God or give thanks to God for those requests. Even in the prayer of faith we have a question of how often should we keep at it? So we want to see first in the book of James 5: 16 Confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Fervent, persistent and continuous prayer of a righteous man avails much. He illustrates it with the life of Elijah. James 5: 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. And he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. He prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produces its fruits One thing to pay attention here is the fact that he didn't ask once. He didn t ask twice. He asked more than that. We can see the very example in his asking for rain. In the book of First Kings 18: 41 Even though there was no rain yet Elijah said to Ahab go up eat and drink for there is the sound of abundance of rain. Ahab went up to eat and drink. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel then he bowed on the ground and put his face between his knees and said to his servant. Go out now look towards the sea. He went out and looked and said there is nothing. And seven times he said go again. I heard some
preachers said he prayed once and he waited the other six times. The question is why must he wait if he prayed once. Some preachers said he prayed once and the other six times he just bowed down. My question is why is he bowing down? If he bowed down and then he sent his servant out and the servant said there is nothing. And he sent his servant again and the servant said nothing. If he were exercising faith and if it was a prayer of faith he was exercising, he should have been going not by what he see but by what he believe. And he would not even have to send the servant out. If you are praying the prayer of faith you don t look for the symptom. You don t look for the manifestation. You see the spirit realm and that settles it. You don't care how long it takes. You don t care whether you touch it or your feel it. So he was not praying the prayer of faith. Let's not apply the principles of the prayer of faith where it is another type of prayer. This was a different area. You can only apply the prayer of faith in areas where it does cover the promises of God. Now here he has to undo something that he has done in the realm of stopping the rain. He was controlling over the forces of nature. Whatever he did and however you look at it, he did it seven times. Seven times that was persistent. Elijah was not praying the prayer of faith because the prayer of faith does not depend on sight. Elijah was moving into the realm of the spirit and through his persistence. According to the James 5:17 it is effectual and fervent prayer. He was moving the forces of nature to bring about a visible manifestation. And when the visible manifestation came forth, he knew the rest was on the way. See he was seeking for that sign. When the sign of one tiny cloud appeared he knew that was the sign he was looking for. How do I know he was looking for a sign? He sent his servant out. You are looking for something when you ask somebody to look for it. He prayed seven times. How long are we to pray for something? God had shown me how this spirit world is in darkness. Unbelievers are all in the dark. But those who are believers are like little light bulbs that shine in the darkness of this world. I realize that Jesus says that you are light of the earth. He did not meant it as a teaching but that was literally the scene in the spirit realm. And there are different degrees of brightness according to each person's walk with God. The astounding thing that I saw was that the earth was covered by a thick cloud of darkness. And I realize that those must be the wicked spirits in the high places that Paul talked about in Ephesians 6. But from time to time wherever groups of Christians were there praying, there were
lights like laser beams that float from the Christians right up to the throne of God. And from time to time this spiritual light that looks like laser beam hit that cloud of darkness. And where so ever it hit there was a big gap. It broke through the darkness. Then there was a reciprocal light that flows to and fro wherever it broke through as if there was an open window. Sometimes it is just a single slight sometimes it s a great huge light. The light that I saw in the spirit realm was the prayer of God's people reaching to the throne of God. And from time to time it broke through the heavenlies and it brought an open window. That's when they began to receive the answers to prayer and the manifestation of God's power or promises over their life. The light that we have right now that shine is just artificial light and it consists of many different wavelengths. We see as white but it consists of many colors. But these lights cannot be used to cut paper or do operations like the laser beams that cut through metal. So this light is only good for lighting up. But if we could just isolate just one wavelength that would begin what we call the process of a laser beam. See a laser beam is light flowing at the same frequency. If we could isolate just one type of wavelength and get it all into one wavelength we are beginning to form what we call a laser beam. So the first quality of a laser beam is what I call purification of wavelength or similarity of wavelength. All the wavelengths must be the same. The second quality of a laser beam is what we call intensity. You must have it intensely. That is in great volume and in great outburst of light. Now that's the comparison of it in the spiritual realm. All prayers whether they are prayers of dedication, prayers of faith or prayers of intercession have to have intensity and purity. You can call it similarity and intensity. And it must be pure enough and intense enough in order for it to have any effect in the spiritual realm. You want to use light beams that are in the form of laser to cut metals or to do operations. We would need it in its pure wavelength and in great intensity to be useful in the natural. In James 5 notice the two words that are used here. Verse sixteen, confess your trespasses to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. The two words that are used are effectual and fervent. Of course the word fervent conveys intensity. When we talk about being
fervent we talk about how intense and how much that object or the answer to prayer have overtaken every other desire in your life. I could greet you lightly or I could greet your fervently. So intensity is greater. The word effectual ties to the previous sentence that talked about cleansing, confessing of your fault. Something that is pure right from the depths of your heart. And notice he is also speaking about the prayer of faith in verse fifteen. Look at verse fifteen, and the prayer of faith. Generally most Christians know that in intercession you keep doing it and doing it because the freewill of the person you are interceding is involved. And they do know the dedication you must have to keep doing it and doing it. It is something that you have to keep dedicating your life to God all the time. But the prayer of faith involves a certain purity and intensity but in a different sense. If you repeat something out of fear and doubt it is bad. A bad thought, repeatedly thought becomes a mental habit. And the mental habit gradually becomes a part of your character. Then it becomes a part of your life. And it is hard to get rid of. It starts in your thought. But the positive is true. There are certain things that you have to keep repeating it. Basically it is not the repetition that is at fault. But it s the doubts present that cancelled it. Some people pray again and again because they didn't believe the previous prayer. They have gone into doubt. When you pray the prayer of faith you pray and you believe. Mark 11:23-24 When you pray believe that you have received and you shall have them. Notice the three tenses there. When you pray, that is present tense. Believe that you have received, that is past perfect tense. And you shall have them, that is future tense. So there is a present, a past and a future. Between point A the time you pray that is past and to point B the time you shall receive which is the manifestation in the future you have to keep doing something. And some things that we do in the prayer of faith is to combine with the prayer of thanksgiving. You thank God that it is done. And as you are walking close to point "B" you say thank you God that it is done. You keep on thanking God that it is done. So even in the prayer of faith you repeat. But you repeat in faith not in doubt.
The question is how often should we keep at our prayers? As long as you have the time to concentrate on those things, we need to do it until it comes to pass. Whether it is a prayer of faith and later combined with thanksgiving to continue in a right way, or the prayer of dedication or the prayer of intercession, we need to continue frequently in it. We need to continue building in our purity, in our inner change and in our intensity volume. So we have both quality and quantity in prayer. The quality of your prayer and the quantity of your prayer plays a role to bring the manifestation in whatever category it is. The reason why I talk on the prayer of faith so much is because here you get the impression that you should not repeat your prayer of faith. But the other ways you repeat it is through the prayer of thanksgiving. For example you have prayer for a supply to your needs and you have the assurance in your heart. You know and you know that it is done. You have no doubt in your heart. And from that moment onwards you keep giving thanksgiving until it comes to pass. God has made us in a finite and limited way that we cannot do all things at once. Even if you have to do many things you have to do it one at a time. Try doing Math's and Geography at the same time. Your mind cannot handle it. And in our lifetime there are so many things that we could pursue. But if you want to pursue something, you have to concentrate on that one field. But with proper spacing of time, in one lifetime you could earn many things because you have spaced out one day to do each one. For example you could be in a university earning your Bachelor of Economics and at the same time you started late in music but apportion two hours a week to music. You may have taken four years in university. During those fours years you have apportioned two hours a week or one hundred and four hours a year. Four year is four hundred and sixteen hours in music. You would also learn it at the same time as learning Economic. But yet you reached a point that you cannot do all. And in music it is very difficult to learn everything at once. I want to learn the organ. I want to learn the piano and the violin and the guitar all at once. In prayer you cannot concentrate on ten twenty things at one time. There is a certain law involved in that. You can only pray through on certain things perhaps about three or four major items and the rest are kept in the background. But you
take it up and you deal with it. It is just like if you are in the business you have fifty potential clients. You don t try to build all of them at one time. You concentrate on making a sale on perhaps two or three a day. So to be really successful at prayer you must prioritize your items. Remember sometimes one long well aim shot is more economical and powerful than a wild gunslinger that wastes bullets all over the place. You may have one thousand items to pray but in an overnight prayer meeting you concentrate only on two or three and you pray through. So that is why I say prioritize our prayers in order to bring the best results. We could do better with our time. I am sure you heard the story of a person who has so many things to do. He tried to do everything and ended up with doing nothing. You pick two or three and do it well and better than the other guy who tried to do everything at one time. It is the same way in prayers. We got to prioritize our items. Part of the prioritizing comes from our sense of urgency. If the doctor told you that you got two days to live and you have been praying for a washing machine. I would say it is better to spend your time to pray for healing during the next the two days than to pray to get the washing machine. If tomorrow the third warning of your rental payment is due and you are just about to be moved out of the house. You know that is "D" day. I would say that is the area you should concentrate on. Like you are given two days to live. Get healed and then get the washing machine later. Now the other side of prioritizing is what we call the leading of the spirit. Where the Spirit can pick up certain things and pressed it in form of a prayer burden upon our lives. These may be things that are not regarded as priority. But the Spirit picks up certain things and impressed it heavily upon you. Then He is telling you prioritize these items. So we need to concentrate on certain things. And what we need to learn from the Holy Spirit is this: to concentrate on praying for those things until they come to pass. Until the manifestation come to pass. So in other words if you are praying for your husband or wife to be born again. I will say that is a priority because you see them everyday. You suffer the consequences of an unbeliever in your own family everyday. That would be a top priority. And I would say that too many give up easily. Even in intercession there is a point where you enter from the realm of petition to thanksgiving. But we have to
be so persistent with a bulldog grip on those prayers, that you hold it fast and you will not let it go. I am talking about things that the old Pentecostals have learned in the early days. John G. Lake speaks about how there are times certain prayer burden grips him or he grips them that he would not let go for days. I mean for days he prayed for nothing else but that item. In his book he speaks about how there was one time a plague in the region where there were missionaries in. There was one intercessor praying in the bushes. And John G. Lake came and saw this guy was not through yet. And he prayed and he felt the burden coming upon him. And they didn't leave that place for days. During that time they were praying for nothing else but against that plague. They got a thousand and one things to pray for but they learned to focus and concentrate. You see that is intensity. Finally when they prayed through the whole plague stopped. Modern Christians have lost this art in prayer. We are trained in the art of prayer of faith but we forget that prayer of faith is not against intensity and volume. And we need to learn how to focus on certain items at a time and give it all you got. And if it is so urgent that you pray through. I mean it doesn't matter how long it takes or how often do you pray. You pray and pray until it leaves off from you. Certain items may leave off temporarily. Then the next day it comes on again and you have to go on it again. Certain items you realize you could not pray through yet. You got to keep continuing. Successful prayer is prayer that is effectual and fervent. It has purity. It concentrates on certain item and bring it through all the time. Before a mission trip, for months I prayed for nothing else but that. You can only prioritize certain things at a time. We are limited in time and in form. So we cannot be doing a thousand things. We are not omnipresence. We need to prioritize certain items. And we have to flow with the Spirit of God that He may lead us and guide us in our priority of certain things. This is Elijah with all his fierce tenacity. I would reckon if the servant didn't see anything on the seventh time he would remain there. If the servant didn't see anything for the fortieth time he would still remain there. He would wait until that rain come to pass no matter how long it takes. Praise God.
It is just like casting out demons. When you new in casting out demons The demons sometimes are quite reluctant to obey you. They could sense that you are a freshie. When you say, "Come out in Jesus Name," they will have a closer look at you first whether you mean it or not. When they see that this guy is serious then they will come out. But as you are experienced in that they sort of know you. They recognize you. Before you could say come out. They come out because they know you just as the demons recognized Paul. You become more effective with the one command. In the same way, as we become more experienced in prayer, we may not take quite as long as we need to when we first started. When we first started and learned this secret of purifying our prayers and concentrating them and then intensifying them, it may take us quite a wrestling in the Spirit to get through something. But if you could over come one thing with this principle, it becomes easier to over come the second thing and the third thing. Until your ability to be effectual and fervent to have purity and intensity to have quality and quantity becomes so well trained that all you do like a laser beam. You just focus and it will just focus. For some of us our crystals are a little bit out of line and our voltage is a little bit too low. So when we try to focus our laser beams, it sometimes goes out of line. Sometimes it has a little bit of impurity inside. But as we train ourselves in the spirit, we could become so well trained and we could perfect it. That all you have to do is just concentrate on one item and intensify it and they run. So we develop the skill in effectual prayer that the bible teaches us to do so. And so remember to focus on certain item intensely. Certain items you may need to pray very long before you began to taste the effect of it. But it is concentrated prayer in an item and tasting the benefits that will encourage it. Its just like if you try to learn ten musical instruments at one time. It can be quite discouraging because you are finding it hard to perfect all. But if you just take your time and learn perhaps two or three and then you perfect it, you get the satisfaction of learning something. Then you go to another thing. You get the encouragement. But if you try to concentrate on so many things and you are not succeeding on anything yet, it can be quite frustrating. Nothing taste better than answered prayer. The joy of answered prayers put spark into your spiritual life that you are more intensified to other
things. So when you pray don t try to focus on too many things. Check what is urgent in your life. And let the Holy Spirit lead and guide you. There could be just one or two items that you continually pray as a good habit. But then you got to be opened to the Spirit.