The disciples said to the Lord, “Teach us to pray.” This is still our cry because prayer restores power and spiritual strength. Paul said, “Renew my inner man; strengthen my inner man.” But that would only happen through prayer. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. It’s a process, and it is a daily contact with God that renews our strength.
Isaiah 40:28: Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. So those who are strong in the flesh will still collapse. Natural strength will not do the things of God. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and walk and not faint.
When you pray, you will reach that same strength that is in Him. God doesn’t faint, and He doesn’t get weary. They that wait upon the Lord will not faint or be weary. In other words, they will carry the strength of God. Where God is, they will be also.
Where prayerlessness began
Prayerlessness is a disease. Prayerlessness began in the garden when Adam hid from the Lord, instead of hiding in the Lord. Hiding in God is prayer, and hiding from God is prayerlessness. He was hiding from the Lord because he sinned. Sin is the problem. The fall of man brought about prayerlessness, spiritual weakness, and separation. But we can defeat prayerlessness in our lives. We can be healed from this deadly disease if we can just pray.
But it’s our decision to get in there. It’s our decision to talk to the flesh and say, “You’re going to obey me and I’m going to pray.”
1 Corinthians 9:27: “But I keep under my body, and I bring it into subjection, lest after I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
This verse is saying that you have to force your flesh into submission, meaning that the flesh fights back. We are in a war and in a struggle every day, but we win when we pray, and we lose when we don’t.
Keep a daily contact with God
Agreement with God is the highest form of prayer. Daily contact is the key. Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread,” because when you neglect time with God, that’s when your battery begins to go down. Like every day, I charge my cell phone, and I charge it every single day, and it takes about an hour or so. Think about your spiritual battery, and how long it takes for it to charge. I’ll tell you how long: two weeks. I’ve seen this from my own experience.
If you want to be at full capacity again, it’s two weeks of prayer. Daily contact with God for two weeks will recharge you back up again to full capacity. But if you neglect prayer after that, it’ll start to go down. So, you have to stay in daily contact with God to keep it at full capacity. It’s important to understand this principle. They that wait means they that wait in a process of time, not waiting just for one minute, or one hour, or one day. You have to continue waiting. It’s that “prayer without ceasing” that Paul talks about, meaning continual prayer, daily prayer.
The Lord taught us that we have to pray daily. He said don’t faint; don’t give up, because when you give up, that’s when everything goes wrong and the enemy gains strength against you. Remember this: every time you pray, you gain strength against the enemy, and every day you do not pray, he will gain strength against you, and you get weak and you slow down.
Staying Under the Cloud: The Power of Continual Prayer
Isaiah 40:31: “They that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength, mount up with wings as eagles, meaning your discernment is back now in the spirit.”
a) “Mount up with wings as eagles” means you’re up in the high places of the earth, where the winds are strong and where the Spirit of God is strong.
b) “they shall run” So, in the high places of the earth — the places of praise and worship, where prayer can take you — now you’re able to run and catch up with God.
In the Spirit, you always have to run before you walk. In the Spirit, you are running to catch up, because prayerlessness slows you down, prayerlessness takes you back, and prayerlessness puts you in the back row where Amalek can reach you.
In the Old Testament, it talks about Amalek killing the Israelites who were in the back. Those who could not follow the cloud were attacked and killed by Amalek. You and I have to stay under the cloud through prayer. It’s prayer that keeps you under the cloud, in the right place, and in step with God. You will run and catch up with where God is moving.
c) “They shall walk” means that their fellowship is restored. And fellowship with God is powerful, because fellowship with God is that continual prayer and daily communion. And as you are praying daily, you are exhaling the flesh and inhaling the Holy Spirit, growing stronger in Him day by day.
Isaiah 27:5: “Or let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall make peace with me.”
Therefore, only prayer will bring you to a place where you have peace with God. If you want to see victory over Satan, it comes only through prayer.
Psalms 3:1: “how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.”
Do you feel like that? Do you have enemies you did not know about the troubles you and that you did not plan for? Okay. It comes to all of us. It comes to all of us.
Psalms 3: 4-6: “I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.”
He (David) was is afraid, and suddenly He is fine and He’s perfectly whole well and beautiful. Because he has called upon the Lord. When you call upon the Lord, your enemies will run away.
Psalm 56:9: “When I cry out to You, Then my enemies will turn back; This I know, because God is for me.”
So, if you want to see the enemy run away from you. Prayer is the key. Prayer and only prayer will do it.
1) THE ASKING REALM
The Lord said in Matthew that we should ask. This means we begin by asking. This is what we need, what we want, salvation for our loved ones, help, healing, and so on. This is one of the realms of prayer, and we begin with the asking. This is the starting point where we enter in.
Like in the Old Covenant, Moses built the tabernacle that had three sections to it. It had the outer court, the holy place, and the holy of holies. In the outer court was the altar of sacrifice. This is the place where we make our requests that we know about. We make our requests to the Lord and come and say, “Father, here is my prayer list,” and we present our needs. But also, that is the place where the enemy can attack us and harass us. Our minds wander, and we get tired and want to say amen and leave. But we have to stay, because when you stay, you will come into a breakthrough.
2) THE SEEKING REALM
And when you break through into the holy place of prayer, this is the second realm that is called the seeking realm. Jesus said, “Seek.” We ask for answers, but we seek the Lord. We’re not seeking for answers now — we are seeking Jesus Himself. “Ask,” so we’re asking for the things we need. “Let your requests be made known,” the Bible says. But now we seek, and in the seeking realm we are not seeking miracles and answers. We are seeking the person of Christ Jesus.
When you are seeking Him, you can tell the difference, because suddenly your words become few. Like Job says, let your words be few. Now, suddenly everything you say, you mean, and it’s not repetitious. It’s now right to the point, and you mean everything you say. Then tears enter into that realm. Suddenly you’re crying, you’re worshiping, and you’re praising. You’re not even able to stop praying in the Spirit. You’re not able to stop praising Jesus and loving Him and telling Him how precious He is to you. That’s the seeking realm. But the seeking realm is not even all of it.
3) THE KNOCKING REALM
Next, you enter into the knocking realm. We’re knocking, but what are we knocking on? We’re knocking on a door. Who is the door? It’s the Lord. So, when Jesus said knock, He was saying, knock on My heart. He was not saying knock on some door of some room. He is the door. He said, “I am the door.”
When you knock, you’re in the realm of the Spirit and you’re walking in the Spirit. The minute you begin to walk in the Spirit, the flesh is quieted. It says, “Walk in the Spirit, and you’ll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” It’ll take you probably an hour, an hour and a half. I’ve never known it to come quicker than that. So, you’ve got to spend time. This is the key, and this is the price. This is the price you will have to pay. This is the price we all have to pay. Nobody can walk into the presence of the Lord in five minutes. That’s impossible, because there’s a plan. There’s a roadmap, as I call it, because God will not allow you to walk into His presence without first passing the altar of sacrifice.
That’s where the blood is applied, and the Word of God begins to affect you deeply. And all that happens in the outer court. All that happens in the asking realm of prayer. That’s why it’s not right to just make requests without the promises of God with you, because you have to pray the Scripture. You have to pray the promises and remind your heart of what God has already said.
When I pray, I’m not just saying, “Lord, save my family. Help me. Bless me.” I’m saying, “Lord, You said. Lord, You said in Your Word.” I am still in the asking realm, because that’s where the labor is and where the foundation is laid. You cannot truly pray unless you come to the altar of sacrifice and apply the blood. It’s impossible to walk into God’s presence without the blood. That’s the first and most important thing you do.
Then you come to the level where the Word of God begins to wash you and cleanse your mind. And in prayer you say to the Lord, “Lord, Your Word says, Your Word says,” but you’re still in the asking realm, standing on His promises. Then you move forward and go into the seeking realm.
What’s in the seeking realm?
In the seeking realm is the lampstand to your left, and the bread to your right, and the incense in front of you. That’s where you seek in the light of God’s presence. You’re seeking Him as the only bread for your life, your true source of strength. And then you enter into praise and worship. You’re seeking Jesus Himself. And the minute you do, you begin to break through into the Spirit and leave the weight of the flesh behind.
And when you are in the holy of holies, silence prevails. “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46). You enter into that sacred place, and now God is talking to you rather than you talking to Him. And this is where your strength is restored with power and beauty from His presence. Suddenly everything is right, your burdens are lighter, and your soul is at rest in Him.
And in that place, something holy begins to happen inside you. Not many Christians get in there, because so many of us say amen way before God is ready for us to leave. They say amen and leave too early. Some say amen and leave in the outer court. Some say amen and leave in the holy place. At least they accomplished something, because now they’re seeking Jesus. But God wants you to come all the way in, into partnership with Him, to affect the nations, your family, and the world through prayer.
Ezekiel 22:30-31: I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. So, I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.
When you enter the holy of holies, you become an intercessor. It is God, the Holy Ghost, who takes your vessel, and you become literally a vessel of intercession in prayer. God begins to use you and, through you, affect the nations of the world.
It took only 120 to shake the world. It took three men to help bring great revival when they entered into that realm. It doesn’t take many to shake the world. It takes a few who will stay long enough until God enters in and takes over. Because it says, “I sought for a man,” meaning God is looking for someone who will pay the price and take the time to wait on Him. Because it says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” You’ll get into those higher places like the eagle. You run and catch up with God, and you’ll walk, and your fellowship is restored.
As you wait, peace comes into your life. Isaiah 27:5 shows that you will have oneness and peace with God Almighty, and you become one with the Lord in sweet fellowship. This is what that means, because it says they shall walk, and your fellowship is slowly restored step by step. When your fellowship is restored, God says, “Okay, now I can use you.”
The Bible says in Ezekiel that God poured out His indignation because He could not find anyone to stand in the gap. He said He consumed them because of His wrath. Think about how much judgment has fallen upon people and the nations of the world because people have not entered into that holy of holies place to pray and truly seek God. Think about what God can do through you if you will go all the way in.
Ezekiel 36 tells us that when we enter into that place, movements in heaven are restricted or loosed according to what happens in that prayer closet of yours. But remember, I’m talking about those who enter in fully. You cannot affect heavenly decisions if you’re only in the outer court. You cannot bring it about if you’re only in the holy place. You only bring it about when you’re in the holy of holies. When you’re in the holy of holies, that’s when God says, “Okay, everything you say, and I agree, we will do it together.” This is the place of agreement—this is a powerful truth.
Ezekiel 36:37: “Thus saith the Lord God, I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.”
God has already decided to increase Israel like a flock. But He is looking for somebody to ask, to agree with Him, to partner with Him so He can do it. God has already decided to increase you. God has already decided to bless you. God has already decided to heal you and make you whole from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. He’s just looking for someone to agree with Him in prayer.
