Recently, one of my YouTube viewers, Jason Johnson, let me know that he was quite displeased with the content of my video, True and False Conversion: Are You Gathering or Scattering?He said quite a bit in his rebuttal, but the crux of his argument is below in his own words:
You are preaching ‘works salvation’ aka Lordship Salvation. In one breath you say, you do nothing to get saved, it’s a gift! — true!. Then in the next you say one has to practice holiness and do all these works to ‘stay saved’ or prove that they’re saved — not true.
Well, I confess, he nabbed me. I do believe there is no such thing as a salvation layaway plan where He becomes your Savior now and your Lord later. This teaching is an error in support of the “once saved, always saved” lie.
My response to Jason is below. You can read all of his rebuttal here. Okay, on to my response:
I appreciate your comment, Jason. Actually, I take my position after having fully studied this subject. The bottom line is this: The once saved, always saved people believe in salvation without faith. They offer salvation without repentance. Faith will “always” have works. Isn’t that the message of the book of James?
It really is not appropriate to tell us what Paul says about Abraham and his faith “without works” and to leave out what James says about Abraham’s faith: “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar” (James 2:20-21).
James asks the question, “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” (2:14). Jason, your answer to this is, “Sure, James, Paul says it does.”
But doesn’t it make more sense to reconcile the Scriptures rather than to try and use one against another? God is not confused about this matter. If a person says he loves God and consistently embraces a life of sin, as the Scripture says, that person is a liar.
Your gospel offers salvation from the penalty of sin, but not the power of sin. This is why once saved, always saved people harp on being powerless against sin. It is tragic that churches would teach people that obeying God is an option rather than a command, or worse, that it’s impossible.
And, yes, salvation by grace through faith demands obedience to Christ. However, because we are saved by grace through faith, the weak saint can cry out to God for forgiveness seventy times seven…times infinity if necessary.
However, the Lord knows the difference in a weak, struggling child of God who hates his or her sin and who has fallen victim to it, yet holds on to his faith in godly sorrow, and a person who has bought into the “no faith needed” gospel, and uses this lie to justify a life of rebellion against God.
I assume that your position, salvation by grace alone, and my position of salvation by grace through faith, will not be reconciled.
What a weak, powerless, emaciated gospel that tells us to believe some facts about Jesus, say a prayer, and we can live in rebellion against Him, and the worst that will happen to us is we may die sooner than the original plan. But, hey, no problem. We wake up in paradise!
That is not the message of the Bible. Your doctrine has populated hell with multitudes of people who might have otherwise served Christ had you not stripped the gospel of its power.
What do you think? Is obedience to Christ only an option once a person becomes a Christian? Leave a comment.
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If you want to grow in spiritual warfare and supernatural ministry, read about Eric’s School of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Ministry at ericmhillauthor.com. The school’s main forum is Facebook.com/groups/ericmhillauthor.
I received a letter from a reader of my books. This person told me that she is a practitioner of hypnosis. This was my response to her.
Thank you for sharing your testimony. I’m glad you’ve found my book helpful.
Concerning hypnotism, I’ll briefly offer that I do believe it is extremely dangerous. I believe any external ingredient that altars the mind, such as alcohol and other drugs, is dangerous because it compromises the seat of our emotions and will, and who knows what else. Does hypnotism help people? Whether the answer is yes or no is not the issue. The issue is what is the origin of the power that purportedly heals or helps.
Witchcraft is a good example. I’ve found from my experience in deliverance ministry that witchcraft is a bona fide facilitator of demonic power. It works. Ironically, some witches purport to be white witches. That is, they feel they’re using their power to help people, not to hurt them.
I recall one man who sought my assistance to get rid of a demon who had invaded him and tormented him by moving around in his ear all the time. He got the demon by going to a witchdoctor (he was African) to get rid of a sickness. He was healed of the sickness, but took home a demon as part of the cost of seeking help through a condemned practice.
Alcohol helps the sad person forget their misery. Fornication helps the lonely feel loved.
But not without a cost.
I urge you to reconsider this practice of hypnosis. The human mind belongs to the Lord. No person should yield it to another. And no person should presume to manipulate something that should be directly accessed only by the Lord.
If you found this post helpful, please use the buttons below to share it with others. Also, try one of my other articles on prayer by clicking here
If you want to grow in spiritual warfare and supernatural ministry, read about Eric’s School of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Ministry at ericmhillauthor.com. The school’s main forum is Facebook.com/groups/ericmhillauthor.
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also… Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.”
Acts 12:1-3, 5
We know that prayer is our most powerful weapon. We preach it. We teach it. We speak it. We sing it. We write it. Nonetheless, often it’s either the last thing done, the thing done with little duration, or the thing done not at all. What’s going on? Are we lazy? Negligent? Unbelieving?
Certainly, I know there are moments like these and people like this. This book’s intent, however, isn’t to beat up on people; so I’ll let God handle any reprimands. Rather, I want to help those who know, or possibly only have an inkling, that prayer can help their situation, yet find themselves not praying. These people aren’t lazy, negligent, or unbelieving. There’s something else going on here.
Busyness, Tiredness, and Past Prayer Failures Can Steal Prayer Time
There have been times when I planned to pray and later got so busy doing stuff that by the time I finished, I was exhausted. I’d either press through and get on my knees and promptly fall asleep, or I’d try to outsmart my tiredness by prayer walking in my room. Often that only transformed me from a lying mummy to a walking zombie! Not a lot accomplished.
I haven’t yet figured out how to be absolutely dead tired and pray with any real energy or duration. B…u…u…t I have discovered something useful. If I really want to pray, I have to deliberately take steps now to either not be dead tired later, or change my prayer time from later to now.
What Can You Stop, Start, or Modify to Save Time?
Write or type a list of your daily activities. Which are fixed and which are not? For instance, are you married? Do you have children? What about other obligations that aren’t going anywhere? Now do the same with activities where you have more discretion. How often do you do these things? For how long? Is there anything you can stop, start, or modify that will give you more time to pray? Can you cut sixty minutes a day? Thirty? Ten?
Do you know how much more powerful you would be in prayer if you offered ten more minutes a day of intelligent prayer to your heavenly Father who is just itching to show you His mighty power? Did you know that ten minutes a day comes out to sixty hours a year? The last thing Satan wants is for you to spend sixty hours in the presence of God your Father!
Maybe this short list will give you some practical ideas of how to find time to pray. Ask yourself can you stop, start, or modify any of these activities: cooking, cleaning, talking on the phone, surfing the web, reading, watching television, shopping, eating, sleeping, visiting, working, vacationing, lawn work, hobbies, etc. Believe God for ideas. If you want to pray, He’ll help you find time.
Most People Are Too Busy to Pray…Until a Crisis Makes Time for Them. Don’t Let This Be You!
Or perhaps your best course of action is to simply pray now rather than later. Can you pray as you drive to and from work? Driving to work is better than driving from work because now is always better than later. Can you go to the restroom and pray? I’ve had many, many, many awesome prayer sessions in the restroom. If you did this two or three times a day, you’d have significant breakthroughs in prayer. Can you get up earlier so you can pray? Next time you’re running an errand, can you pull over somewhere safe and cry out to God in prayer? You get the picture. Be aggressive and use your imagination. You won’t regret it!
Don’t Let Yesterday’s Prayer Failure Stop You From Today’s Prayer Success
If we define prayer failure as praying for something specific and spectacularly not getting it, then there’s nothing like a prayer failure to discourage you from praying like that again. It’s at this point that we cut back on praying. Or we may do the downward adjustment thing and only pray in safe, general terms. Nothing too specific. Nothing that will by its failure to come or refusal to go can embarrass us or damage our faith any more than it’s already damaged.
But in what field or industry do we find successful people who haven’t had to deal with setbacks, disappointments, and failures? As part of your quest toward regular answered prayers, and even spectacular prayer answers, you must learn to get off the mat and stand on your feet again. Okay, so you prayed for something and things didn’t turn out the way you hoped they would. Join the club. We’ve all been there. This changes nothing about the power, influence, and creativity of God to answer your next prayer.
The story in our opening Scriptures tell of a church crisis that was conquered through prayer. The apostle James was unjustly put in prison for his faith in Christ. I have to believe the church prayed for him. We’re talking eleven other apostles and thousands of converts in an on fire church. It would be a real stretch to assume they didn’t pray. And if they didn’t, James probably did. Wouldn’t you? Nonetheless, James was executed! This is big time prayer failure.
Next, King Herod put Peter in prison for the same purpose. “But constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.” God sent His angel and delivered Peter. That’s way beyond awesome. But here’s what’s also awesome. The church had just experienced a spectacular prayer failure. They had every reason in the world to throw in the prayer towel and say, “We prayed for James and his head is rolling down the street like a bowling ball. This stuff doesn’t work. I’m going back to praying for empty parking spaces at the mall.”
Instead, they refused to focus on their shock, grief, and unanswered questions. They focused instead on the unchanging character of God, and on His power, influence, and creativity to answer prayers. Son or daughter of God, you may have suffered devastating prayer failures, but God is still on the throne and Satan is still defeated. You don’t need to have every question answered before you get back in the win column.
What you do need is what the early church had. They trusted in God’s faithfulness and radically rearranged their schedules to offer prayer sufficient to meet the newest crisis. Let yesterday’s failure drive you to even greater levels of prayer!
Lessons Learned
Lesson One. I can ask God to help me examine my daily activities for areas I can start, stop, or modify things that will give me more time to pray. Even ten more minutes a day is sixty hours a year in the presence of God!
Lesson Two. Yesterday’s spectacular prayer failure doesn’t mean there aren’t many spectacular prayer answers in my future!
Practical Exercise
Pray, “Lord, what can I start, stop, or modify that will give me more time to pray.” Now with your eyes closed, wait before the Lord for a little while. Write down the thoughts that come.
If you found this post helpful, please use the buttons below to share it with others. Also, try one of my other articles on prayer by clicking here
If you want to grow in spiritual warfare and supernatural ministry, read about Eric’s School of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Ministry at ericmhillauthor.com. The school’s main forum is Facebook.com/groups/ericmhillauthor.
You may be asking yourself that painful and puzzling question. Well, let’s take a look at five known prayer assassins and see if any of them are killing your prayers.
Prayer Killer Number One: Sin
There are thousands of promises in the Bible. It’s easy to grab one and believe God to fulfill it for us without considering that every promise of God is given within the context of our assumed obedience. Or in other words, the promises of God are for those who obey God.
This may come as a shock to many people. Especially since today’s popular presentation of God is depicted in such a way that it leaves us believing that we can do nothing to offend God. And then even if there is such a thing as offending God, we’re told His great love for us compels Him to overlook our behavior and give us what we desire.
This may attract large crowds and increase our popularity (with people, not with God), but it’s one hundred percent wrong! The biblical record of God from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation, is that God is inherently, uncompromisingly holy, righteous, and pure, and that He demands obedience.
Yes, our holiness, righteousness, and purity comes from the accomplishments of Christ in His sinless life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection. However, we must be careful that we don’t convince ourselves, or allow false teachers to convince us, that Jesus lived right so we don’t have to. Or that because of Jesus obedience is now an option.
Let’s conclude this section with just a few Scriptures that prove my point.
Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.
Isaiah 59:1-2
“But that’s the Old Testament,” you say. “I’m under grace.”
Ooo…kaaay, so the first thirty-nine books of the Bible don’t apply to you? I disagree, but I’ll use a Scripture that we both hopefully agree applies to you.
And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
1 John 3:22
This is a crystal clear New Testament declaration that obedience to God is required of anyone who approaches God with a request.
Living in sin can kill your prayers.
God Had Mercy On You, But You’re Not Going to Have Mercy on Others? Really? Good Luck with Those Prayers!
Prayer Killer Number Two: Unmerciful
Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
The obvious opposite of this statement is that those who are not merciful shall not receive mercy. Of course, many of our prayers require mercy to be answered. But if our behavior has cut off our mercy, then we have killed our prayer.
This is a difficult concept for some Christians to accept. Especially those who are victims of the false grace message. Nonetheless, it is true.
Jesus told a parable about a slave who owed his master a huge debt. This slave asked his master for mercy, and the master graciously forgave him the debt. Yet this same slave was owed a much smaller amount of money by another slave. Instead of having mercy and forgiving the debt, as his master had done for him, he had the slave thrown into prison.
Look at the sobering progression of this story in Matthew 18:31-34:
So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him,
‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’
And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
“Wow,” you say, “glad I’m under grace, and my heavenly Father would never do that to me!
Oh, really? Let’s look at the last verse:
So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.
Being unmerciful can kill your prayers.
Prayer Killer Number Three: Unforgiveness
Unforgiveness and lack of mercy are similar, but not the same. For one can be unmerciful to someone without being unforgiving toward them. There simply may not have been an offense to not forgive.
For instance, Jesus told a story about a man who had been beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the side of the road. A couple of groups of religious people passed by, saw the man, and did nothing to help (Luke 10:25-37).
They were unmerciful, but not necessarily unforgiving. They didn’t know the guy. (And didn’t want to know him!)
Unforgiveness, however, has the element of offense, either real or imagined. The offended person refuses to forgive. What does Jesus specifically say about such a person’s chances of getting their prayers answered?
And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.
Mark 10:25-26
Living in unforgiveness will kill your prayers.
PrayerKiller Number Four: Strife
The strife that kills prayer is the kind that either originates or ends in sin. It is more than disagreement. It is more than heated disagreement. It’s disagreement without the character of Christ. It’s disagreement without humility and love and self-control.
Strife Kills Prayers. Don’t Let It Kill Yours!
James talks about the futility of offering prayers in an atmosphere of strife:
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members [body]? You lust and do not have. You murder [God calls hatred murder] and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
James 4:1-3
A few verses later, He tells these striving Christians that “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (v. 6). Now if God is the one resisting you, who is left to answer your prayers?
Strife kills prayers.
Prayer Killer Number Five: Impatience
Impatience is a great killer of prayers. Perhaps that’s’ why there is so much teaching in the Bible about being patient in prayer, and so many graphic examples of people in the Bible receiving spectacular answers to prayer—once they paid the price of waiting.
The writer of Hebrews captured this critical thought with only two verses:
Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance [patience], so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
Hebrews 10:35-36
Abraham was called the friend of God because he believed God (James 2:23). Read the narrative of Abraham’s life (Genesis 12-22) and you’ll see that this refers to more than him being declared righteous because he believed God one day.
It includes that. But it refers primarily to him patiently waiting on God for at least twenty-five years to keep His promise to give him a son when his body couldn’t produce a child.
It also included his willingness to give that son back to God twelve years later, and if necessary, to believe God to physically raise that child from the dead if that’s what it took for Him to keep His promise to give him a son. That’s thirty-seven years of believing God for a promise. No wonder he’s called the father of our faith!
Unfortunately, most Christians pray and don’t have the stamina to wait on God for the prayer to be answered.
Impatience kills prayers.
Now the Good News!
Let’s not end this thinking of the many ways we can mess up in prayer. Instead let’s end it thinking not of our many weaknesses, but of God’s great desire to give us more than we can imagine, and of His infinite ability to perfect us and get us to the place where our prayers are unhindered:
You Are Not Alone in Your Journey Toward Answered Prayer. God Will Help You!
Do not fear little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Luke 12:32
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
Jude 24-25
Lord, I ask You to help everyone who has read this article to humbly consider any area of their lives that need correcting. I include myself in this prayer, Lord. Help us to repent of any known sin. If there are areas of darkness in our lives that we don’t know of yet, open our eyes to the truth. And once our eyes are open, help us to immediately turn from darkness to light.
Lord, if we are unmerciful or unforgiving, we repent this very moment. For You have so graciously shown us Your great mercy in offering us forgiveness. And if we are in strife with anyone, we offer that situation up to You. We will not press for our rights in an ungodly way.
Finally, help us to have patience as we wait for our prayers to be answered. In faith we believe that “the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry” (Psalm 3414-15).
Be encouraged! The Holy Spirit is your Helper! It’s going to be alright!
***
If you found this post helpful, please use the buttons below to share it with others. Also, try one of my other articles on prayer by clicking here
If you want to grow in spiritual warfare and supernatural ministry, read about Eric’s School of Spiritual Warfare and Supernatural Ministry at ericmhillauthor.com. The school’s main forum is Facebook.com/groups/ericmhillauthor.
Glory to God, I’m not in trouble! Glory to God, I’m not in trouble! Glory to God…uhh, Lord, help! I’m in trouble!
Honestly Recognize the Mountain, But Compare It to God’s Ability to Move It
“But He [Jesus] said, ‘The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
Luke 18:27
The Scripture above shows that Jesus recognizes the impossibilities of men. If you are going to get regular and spectacular answers to prayer, you must be based in reality. Ignoring a problem or pretending it isn’t as big or as serious as it is, isn’t faith. It’s foolishness.
A few decades ago the Word of Faith movement gained popularity in the church, mainly the portion that considers itself charismatic. After a few years of retrospect, it can be safely said that like other genuine moves of God (e.g., the Reformation; see Persecutions of the Reformation on the internet), much good and much bad resulted.
The good was that the power of faith in God and His word were taught in detail with great consistency. Millions of people found that the God of the Bible hadn’t changed one bit. He still answered prayer, and He still worked miracles. Subsequently, the Holy Spirit responded to this new atmosphere of faith in marvelous power—He is still responding!
2 Chronicles 16:9 was realized: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him…” Think of it. God actively searches for people to bless. The Word of Faith folks crammed this truth into our faces. I for one am grateful.
Nonetheless, the bad that came from this movement was very bad. Ambitious and enterprising preachers polluted the movement with their greed, covetousness, dishonesty, and astounding biblical ignorance. The point that fits in with our march toward spectacular answers to prayer is ignorance.
One of the extreme doctrines that came from this movement encourages people directly or indirectly not to speak anything negative. Well, I’m all for not being a negative person, but this doctrine goes light-years beyond addressing a negative disposition. It actually condemns an honest assessment of the mountain. It’s considered doubt, fear, or unbelief to acknowledge that the situation is horrible and getting more horrible by the moment.
Listen to me…please! No amount of ignoring a cancer will stop it from growing or spreading. No amount of ignoring bills will keep your utilities from being cut off or you from being put out on the street.
I’m not confessing I need a ride. All my needs are met. Whew! I’m not confessing how how it is either!
I have a friend, an absolutely incredible woman of God who is so far ahead of me in some Christian graces that I can’t even see her in the horizon. Nonetheless, it’s hard to talk to her when she’s facing a mountain. She’s so afraid of undoing her faith by an errant word that it’s hard to get a straight answer from her about what’s going on in her life.
It’s like, “Mary, I see you standing there in the hot sun. Do you need a ride?”
“Glory to God, all my needs are met,” she answers.
The disconnect here is I’m asking her about her practical need, and she’s responding by telling me what spiritual truth she believes. So I smile and drive off. Guess what? She just missed the ride God sent her. Do not think this is a hypothetical extreme. Unfortunately, it’s all too familiar. But not in the next story.
Recognizing the Problem as a Mountain Won’t Damage Your Faith If You Compare the Mountain to God’s Power
Part One
“Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘A great multitude is coming against you…And Jehoshaphat feared,
and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast…
So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord… they [the nation] came to seek the Lord.
Part Two
Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly…and said,
‘O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven,
and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations,
and in Your hand is there not power and might,
so that none is able to withstand You?
O our God, will You not judge them?
For we have no power against this great multitude
that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do,
but our eyes are upon You.”
2 Chronicles 20:12
This story shows how to properly look at a mountain. This is crucial because your perspective of the mountain will determine your prayer and your behavior after prayer. Often post-prayer behavior slows down, complicates, or totally stops the answer. So it’s absolutely critical that we understand this lesson.
Part one of the story shows the mountain in all its power: Judah was vastly outnumbered by the huge armies that were coming against it. The king could’ve said, “Bless God, don’t worry about the bad report. We don’t want to glorify the devil by talking about what he’s doing. Doesn’t the 91st Psalm say, ‘A thousand shall fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand; but it shall not come near us’?
Notice in part one that the king does something that ordinarily is considered negative in the Christian context.
And Jehoshaphat feared.
Now how many times have we been blasted by faith preachers for having fear? Uh, a lot! I’ll go a reverent step farther. How many times did Jesus rebuke the disciples for their fear? A lot. So, isn’t fear bad? Isn’t it the automatic kiss of death for getting prayers answered?
I think not. I think faith preachers have missed it terribly here. In baseball parlance, they’ve hit the ball and run directly to third base. And as far as Jesus’s admonitions against fear are concerned, we’ve simply struck out. We didn’t understand the context of His words.
Fear certainly can derail prayer answers if we let it, but this isn’t inevitable. Jehoshaphat feared and received a spectacular answer to prayer. How can you imitate Jehoshaphat and get your prayers answered even though you feel fear? Start by understanding two things.
The presence of fear is not necessarily proof of lack of faith. It may be proof that you’re not presumptuous or delusional!
First, the absence or presence of fear doesn’t mean you are either in or out of faith. It is simply an involuntary emotion that the brain produces when it perceives a dangerous threat. You don’t turn off fear by declaring it’s gone, pretending it’s gone, or quoting a Scripture. And since you don’t need to get rid of fear to get your prayers answered, I suggest you spend very little time trying in the flesh to get rid of fear.
Second, Jesus’s commands to “fear not” doesn’t mean don’t feel fear; it means don’t obey fear. Isn’t He the one who said, “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell” (Luke 12:5). Was the object of the Lord’s words simply to get us to feel an emotion? Was it not to get us to obey?
Absolutely. God knows that behavior follows what we fear. For instance, when He says in Revelation 21:8 that the fearful will suffer eternal doom, was He saying those who feel fear are doomed? No. In this context, and indeed whenever the Lord rebukes fear (you can check this by examining such references in the Gospels), He is talking about allowing fear to keep us from obeying Him.
Back to Jehoshaphat. Can you imagine being told you’re being surrounded by ISIS, and then trying to not have fear? Are—you—kidding—me? Jehoshaphat did what I encourage you to do. He honestly and realistically looked at the threat…and subsequently felt fear. But! But! But! He didn’t stay focused on the fear. And I couldn’t hardly wait to say this: Instead of letting his fear stop his answer to prayer, he used the power of fear to increase a sense of urgency and to push him into the presence of God.
A sense of urgency in prayer is often needed to get certain prayers answered. And getting into the presence of God is always needed. This is why I am laboring on this point of Jehoshaphat’s fear. If you don’t admit how big and dangerous the threat is, you may not find the focus and intensity you need to hold on in prayer until its power is broken and the prayer is answered.
Follow Jehoshaphat’s example. Be honest about what you’re facing, and if this admission causes a so-called negative emotion, whether it’s fear, grief, worry, or whatever, let that thing drive you to your knees. Trust me. If you do this, you won’t have to try to spend more time in prayer. You won’t have to try to be more focused in prayer. You won’t have to try to be more fervent in prayer. The mountain will make sure you have all of these things in abundance!
I am surrounded by destruction, oh Lord, but my eyes are upon You!
Jehoshaphat Took His Mountain To God, And So Can You!
Part two of Jehoshaphat’s prayer is the good part. He did two things that are part of successful prayer results, especially spectacular results. First, he acknowledged and spoke out loud the general greatness of God. That’s always good, but he went a step farther. Second, he transitioned from speaking in general terms of God’s mighty power to specifically asking God to use His mighty power in the nation’s behalf.
Remember this: It’s not enough to acknowledge that God is great and powerful. At some point, you have to transition to asking God to use that mighty power and influence for your specific situation.
Let these words of Jehoshaphat roll around in your heart. Say them out loud a few times. “For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
Jehoshaphat didn’t minimize the threat, did he? He felt overwhelmed, didn’t he? He had fear, didn’t he? Yep, yep, and yep. Didn’t stop him one bit! Why? For the same reasons you won’t be stopped. He acknowledged this horrible threat. It produced fear. He let the fear drive him to prayer. In the presence of fear, while praying, he reminded himself of God’s power and spoke this out loud. He then admitted that he didn’t know what to do. Finally, he said out loud, “But my eyes are on You.”
You won’t be stopped because your eyes are on God!
Lessons Learned
Lesson One. It is not a lack of faith to honestly assess my need, the presence of a mountain, or the power and danger of the threat, if there is one.
Lesson Two. The presence of fear before or during prayer is not an automatic faith or prayer killer. I should use fear and other negative emotions generated by the mountain to drive me to my knees. I should continue this process until I know in my heart or I see with my eyes that the prayer is answered.
Lesson Three. I must remember that the things that are impossible for people are possible for God. He has unlimited power, influence, and creativity. I should believe God well beyond my ability to figure out how He will answer my prayers.
Lesson Four. As I take my issue to God, I should orally speak of His power. And at some point, I must transition to asking God to use that mighty power and influence for my specific situation.
Practical Exercise
Do you have a mountain in your life? If so, write it down.
Think of what happens if that prayer were to never be answered. Scary thought? Good.
Be honest with God about the bigness of the mountain. Tell Him with your mouth how big the mountain is. Don’t be afraid. This isn’t unbelief; it’s actually faith!
Now imitate Jehoshaphat. Say, “Lord, I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are upon You!” Say this out loud several times. Feel the spirit of faith come over you. Now with your eyes closed and hands raised, let the Holy Spirit feed faith thoughts to your mind about God’s ability to fix this situation. You don’t have to know how, just that He is able.
If you liked this excerpt of Eric’s book, You Can Get Answers to Your Prayers, please share it with someone on social media. And if you like spiritual warfare novels, click on the graphic below for a wild ride!
This was article three of a 14-part series on prayer. The next article in the series is Make Sure You Pray According to God’s Will When Dealing with a Mountain. You may read the previous article in this series here.
If you are interested in Eric’s School of Spiritual Warfare & Supernatural Ministry, read more about it here and visit the school’s Facebook group here.
