40 Days of Spiritual RebootSample

As we continue today in our theme on intercessory prayer let me begin by encouraging you. You are doing great and there is hope in every area of your spiritual life. You may probably have been hit with unexplained illness or oppression, discouragement or temptation more than usual. All this is spiritual opposition to what God is doing in your life. No effort "to get right with God" or "get on mission for God" is going to be met unopposed. So don’t be surprised and also don’t be disheartened because the war has already been won. God has promised a win at the end.

Today I want us to reflect on integrity in our intercession. Being honest and truthful is important, even more however when dealing with prayer and God. You are familiar with the phrases, “I’ll pray for you” or “I’ll keep you in my prayers”. I don’t know how we hope to get away with it when God himself knows that we are lying a lot of the time… involving Him… like there is no accountability for those words. We want to sound spiritual and come across as benevolent. We want people to feel we have a dedicated private line to God. When in actuality we barely have a prayer life worth writing home about. Evidence? You didn’t write down anything they said, you don’t even know their name, or ask any further details to care about the situation. You don’t have any intention of keeping in touch with them to know if the prayer even got answered. They asked you to pray… you said you’d pray… and thats it! Now we are waiting for Jesus to come.

That’s not all. They meet you after a while and thank you for praying for them. And then it comes… that sheepish grin like Eddie Murphy and the head nod like you’re about to pass out.

Come On!!!! Have you experienced answered prayer? It's a huge high. It's a buzz. It calls for celebration. It's the result of long days and hours of perseverance in prayer. When those answers come you can’t be quiet… you can’t be still. It effects your relationship - it becomes stronger. It effects your worship - It becomes louder. It effects your prayer life - it becomes more intense.

DON’T PRAY LATER

Lets stop telling people we will pray for them! And let's stop and pray for them!

When someone asks you to pray for them… respond by saying… ok! let's pray! What would you like me to pray for? Take sixty seconds and pray for them. Put your hand on their arm or shoulder. This ensures a few things. Firstly, you’ve done it. You prayed. You are not guilty of making false promises. You’re not stressed about remembering details. Secondly, they will never forget the love and care you showed by praying for them. When they later say, “oh thank you for praying for me… I got the answer”, you can genuinely rejoice with them. By this method, you also weed out the fake ones that go around asking people to pray for them because they themselves don’t have any confidence in their own prayers. They’re hoping to ride on your ticket. Again, God is not fooled.

JOT IT DOWN

Have one of those small spiral notepads or you could use your smart phone app. Take down all the basic details you would need to pray intelligibly and sincerely for them. Mark deadlines by which answers are needed. Take down their phone number to follow up on them. Then slot them under which ever day of the week you normally pray for that category of people.

OPEN YOUR BIBLE

How is your quiet time going? Have you begun to draw more out of the Word using the suggestions I’ve given earlier this month? How is the reading plan going? Are you keep up with it or have you aimed too high?

If you’ve given up, what caused you to give up? Is it old mindsets or the absence of immediate gratification. Remember… vitamins!!!

COME CLEAN

Lying to the Holy Spirit is a serious offence. It was corrected in the early church within New Testament contexts. So when we are untruthful on matters of the Word and prayer and things that actually involve God, we make him part of that lie. And the bible says that God abhors false hood. In Psalms 12:2 the psalmist says… “Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips And from a deceitful tongue”.