Anita's Christian Oasis
Prayer -- what is it?

Most people, and this means Christians, do not even know
what prayer really is and why it was instituted, so, of course,
they do not know there is a right way and a wrong way to 
pray.  Nor do they know there are many different prayers for
different circumstances.  It is no wonder they never get their
prayers answered!

Prayer is a means of communication and contact with your
heavenly Father.  Combined with faith in God’s Word, prayer
is a channel through which and by which His power can be
released to meet our needs, allowing Him to get involved 
in our circumstances.

Prayer is not a Russian Roulette game that you play whereby
sometimes you ”hit it” (get answers) and sometimes you do not.
You should be getting answers to every prayer you pray if you
are praying correctly.

Although many Christians believe they know how to pray,
there is a real lack of understanding about the operation of
prayer, and therefore God is being falsely accused of things
He had nothing to do with.

If you do not know how to do something, you will certainly
not gain the benefits of having done it.  Sometimes you
can think you are doing something right and end up finding
out you have been doing it in the wrong way.

Now God does not hear your prayer because you cry,
whine, beg, or because you are on your knees, nor because
you are sincere.  He does not even hear you because you
are in a church building.  God hears your prayer because you
pray in line with His Word.

For years I did not think God heard me if I did not get on
my knees and have my hands folded and my eyes closed.
I saw other people do that and I thought that was the proper
way to pray.  But God does not hear you because of your
posture, nor because of how long your prayer is.  You can
prayer standing on one foot and God will hear you!  We 
have been locked into a lot of things because of tradition,
not because we found those things in the Word of God.

There is common consensus that God can do whatever 
He wants to do, but that is not exactly correct.  He can do
anything He good well pleases from the standpoint of
having ability -- because He is God.  However, based 
upon the way He has designed this system to work -- 
the world, man, the planet, the universe -- He has built
into it certain laws that govern and control it.  So, in 
that sense, He cannot do anything that violates that law that 
He has set in motion.  If He does not, He is violating Himself
and it means His law is no good.  If His law is no good, He
is no good.

Now this is the shocker! But God has to be given permission
to work in this earth realm on behalf of man.  And we give 
Him permission through prayer! You may say that is ridiculous,
but it is true.  And the reason why can be found in Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our 
likeness: and let them have domination over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and 
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth
upon the earth.

Let me give you this illustration: Let us say I have this 
beautiful gold watch and I decide to give it to another man. 
If I give it to him, whose watch is it now?  And who no longer
has it?  It is now the man’s watch, and he has a right to do 
whatever he wants to do with it.  Now if I want to borrow it,
I would need permission from that man.  Then and only then
could I wear it - and only because I have his permission.

What does dominion mean?  It means control, rule, reign, 
authority, possession.  Yes! You are in control! So, if
man has control, who no longer has it?  God.

I know that sounds awesome, but it is true.  He did not say,
Let us share dominion with man.   He said,  Let them (man)
have dominion.  Where is the dominion?  Over everything 
that is in the earth.  If man has dominion, then God does
not ; and God cannot come and wear my watch, so to speak, 
unless I let Him by permission - through prayer.

Do you honestly think God has this world messed up the way
it is?  The earth is messed up because of us.  We have been
given control!

When He said give them dominion, and so forth, He did it
through a representative, and the representative was Adam,
and his wife, Eve.  But a con man named Lucifer (commonly
known as Satan or the devil) came along and talked this
woman, Eve into eating the forbidden fruit.  Then the woman
gave some to her stupid, dumb husband.

The woman did not have the authority; Adam did.  He used 
the ploy of getting to the woman to get to Adam.  And
when Adam sinned by disobedience, he gave the watch, so
to speak ( remember my illustration), to the devil.  
So, it is no longer Adam’s.  Adam no longer has dominion,
but the one that he gave it to has dominion- and that is 
the devil.  The Bible says he is the god of this world.  
He is not the God of all the ages, but he is the god of
this world.  He is in control of the world system.  That is
why the world is so messed up.

When God gave Adam dominion, that meant God no longer had
dominion.  So God cannot do anything in this earth unless 
we let Him.  And the way we let Him or give him permission
is through prayer.

How does God have permission?  Because Adam represented
all mankind.  But Adam did it in a negative way.  Then God 
sent the last Adam - Jesus Christ.  Why is Jesus called the
last Adam?  Because He is a representative person and He acted
on behalf of mankind.  Now every man who accepts Jesus, 
accepts what Jesus did, and accepts God’s plan and accepts
God’s Fathership; then he becomes a son of God and has a right
to everything that God has created, because He originally 
created it for Adam.  How do we get God present in the
circumstances of our life?  Through prayer and faith working
in conjunction with each other.  When we invite Him into our
situation through prayer and faith, we give him the 
opportunity and the permission once again to get involved in
this earth realm on our behalf.

I went through four different denominations over a 17-year
period, and I never heard any such thing as I have just told
you! Nor did I hear anything about how to pray, Nor the fact
that there are different kinds of prayer.  They just said
pray.  In  fact, what they would say is pray harder.  I did
not even really  know how to pray, let alone pray harder. 
How do you pray harder when you do not know how to pray?

I thought you just beg God, and if you do it long enough,
maybe He will give you what you ask for.  But He does not
work that way.

I do not care how sincere you are or how big your need is,
God does not respond to your need; He responds to His word
through prayer and faith.  Your need will get His attention,
but He does not move on the basis of your need.

There are certain Biblical rules and principles regarding
prayer, but some people act like they have spiritual 
infantile paralysis!  They cannot comprehend spiritual things,
yet they operate in rules and principles in their daily lives.
We are precise when it comes to anything we call worldly, but
when it comes to spiritual things dealing with God, we want
to argue, fuss and fight!

I used to think praying was praying.  But I found out
there are different kinds of prayer for different kinds of
circumstances, and each kind of prayer has its own spiritual
rules that govern it.  You have to know the rule that governs 
the kind of prayer you are using or it will not work!

Illustration: Football, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, 
field and track are all classified as sports.  But you cannot
play baseball with track and field rules.  And you cannot 
play tennis with basketball rules.  Different rules govern
the games.  In tennis, you do not shoot baskets, you hit a
ball back and forth across the net.

Think now of prayer under one classification: sports prayer:
there is football prayer, baseball prayer, basketball prayer,
tennis prayer, golf prayer, and field and track prayer.  
Just as there are different rules that govern golf and 
tennis, there are spiritual rules that govern different
kinds of praying.  Let me present them to you:  

1. Prayer of Agreement.  
This involves more than one person getting into agreement 
in prayer about one particular thing they are believing
God for.  Matthew 18:19 gives the rule that governs the 
kind of prayer.  It says, ... If two of you shall agree on
earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall
be done for them of my father which is in heaven.

According to the scripture, it is a prayer for people who
live on earth! And it says they have to ask.  And they 
have to be in agreement in asking it.  She cannot ask 
for a Lincoln Town car when he is asking for a Corvette.
They must agree or it will not work!

This is one of the greatest ways for a husband and wife
to pray.  Because if anybody ought to be in agreement, 
it ought to be the husband and wife.

2. Prayer of Faith petition Prayer.  Mark 11:24 is the 
scripture that governs this prayer.  This is a petition
to God for you.  Therefore I say unto you, what things
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye, receive
them, and ye shall have them.

Notice that in this prayer, it is all about you. 
Some people want to pray this on somebody else - like 
their husband or wife.  I am believing my husband gets
filled with the Holy Ghost and will speak with other
tongues.  Now the husband is totally opposed to this and
he has told her so.  He does not want anything to do with
those tongue-talkers, but his wife is very zealous. 
She wants him filled and speaking according to the Bible. 
You cannot do that! Not and use this scripture, because
the rule to this basketball prayer game- not tennis prayer-
says Therefore I say unto you!

Matthew 21:21 and 22 actually parallels Mark 11:24 in regard
to the prayer of faith/ petition prayer.  Verse 22 says,
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing,
ye shall receive. Jesus did not say that you would receive
something that resembled what you prayed for.  No! He said
whatever you ask, you get that.  He did not say see that 
you receive them.  He did not say understand that you 
receive them.  And He certainly did not say, feel like you
receive them.  He said, believe it.

You say, How can I believe that I am healed when my body 
still feels like it is sick?  Simple.  Are you gainfully
employed?  I dare say that 95 percent of all jobs do not
give you any money until after you have worked 40 hours.

And when a relative asks, you are not ashamed to say,
I got a job and I am going to get paid on Friday.  How 
can you say you are going to get paid $250 per week when
you have not seen the money?  Yes, but Brother Price, the
man told me that he was going to pay me.  Well, I am here
to tell you that the Man said if you believe, you receive
it; you will have it.  It is the same principle.

You do not really know if your employer has the money in
the bank to pay you at the end of 40 hours, but you are 
trusting in his word.  Why can not you give God equal time?

When you operate in the prayer of faith, there is no sight-
meaning no physical senses involved.  And that is where
many people miss it because they are bound by their 
senses....  I do not feel like it.  Or I do not understand
it, etc.

But Hebrews 11:1 says, Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  If you see it,
you do not need any faith, because faith is the evidence 
of things not seen.

What is evidence or proof? Evidence or proof takes the place
of the thing that it is the evidence or proof of until the 
thing gets there.  Once that thing arrives, you do not need 
any more evidence of it, because you now have it.  If faith 
is my evidence of things not seen, that means that I cannot
look to anything in the sense realm to validate my faith.  
I have to look to a higher source, which is the word of God.
My faith is based on the word of God, which changes not, but
your feelings, your experiences, and emotions change.  
Everything changes, but the Word of God remains the same.

You cannot pray effectively or intelligently without knowing
the will of God.  And we know the will of God by knowing the
Word of God- because God’s will is revealed in God’s word.

First John 5:14 and 15: And this is the confidence that we
have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will,
he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we 
ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

If you do not know God’s will, then you have not been reading 
the Bible, because that is how He makes his will available to
you.

Now if you have confidence that you have prayed according 
to God’s will, you should be confident that He heard you, 
and therefore, you should not pray for the same thing a 
second time, because that is like saying you did not get it 
the first time.

Here is a good example of how you can pray the prayer of 
faith petition prayer, using Mark 11:24 as your rule:

Monday morning: you get up and say, Heavenly Father, you
said in your word what things soever I desire I can have.
I desire a new pair of shoes.  In the name of Jesus, I
now pray and I believe that I receive a  pair of shoes.
You said when I pray to believe I  receive.  I now believe
that I receive a pair of brand new shoes, and now you said
I shall have it.  I want to thank you.  I believe that
I now receive it.

Tuesday morning: The shoes have not come, so in your prayer
you say, Father, I just want to remind you and thank you
that I  believe that I received my shoes on Monday.  
I believe that I have them and I thank you for them.

Wednesday morning: Father, I thank you and praise you. 
I believe I received my shoes on Monday.  I want to thank you.
I believe that I have them.  I am not going to get them. 
I believe that I have them by faith.

Thursday-Sunday: pray the same prayer: Father, I want to 
thank you.  I praise and glorify your name, and I want
to remind you that I believe that I received my shoes 
last Monday.  I believe that I have them now and I thank 
you for them.

Monday morning: There is a knock on the door and the 
delivery man says, Mr. Price, I have a pair of shoes for
you - no charge, sign here. I sign for the package and I go
before the Father and say, Father I want to thank you.
I now have my shoes as a physical fact.  That is the end 
of that prayer transaction.  That is the way it works, 
no matter what it is-  healing, a new job, a new car.

Start using your faith on the little things and build 
yourself up to the point where you can believe for the 
bigger things.  It is a process; it is progressive growth, 
and as you continue to grow, it will work.

3.  Prayer of Intercession. (Rom. 8:26.) 
This is when you pray for somebody else totally and
completely: and when you pray for someone else (or some
other things) without knowing what the circumstances and 
situations are.

There are two sides of intercession- one where we get in 
agreement about somebody or something and pray for them in
English, telling God what we want.  The other- the very
high end of intercession- is where you may not even know
who you are praying for.  The Holy Spirit will place a 
strong urge in your spirit to pray for something or someone.
Sometimes the lord may even place someone before you and
you will have a mini-vision and see someone, but you do 
not know what you are supposed to pray about or you do not
know their problem or what they need.  This is where you get
into true intercession, you will not do this in your native 
language, because you will not know what to pray for.
This is what Romans 8:26 is referring to.

4.  The prayer of praise and worship it is a prayer between
you and the lord, and all you are doing is telling Him how
much you love him, just like you do your sweetheart.  You
are not asking Him for anything.  You are sending up a
sweet savor unto Him or adoration, appreciation and 
thanksgiving.

5.  Prayer of Consecration and/or Dedication.  
This is a prayer whereby you place yourself in a position 
to be used of God.  You have to use  If it be Thy will in
this type of prayer, because you cannot find God’s will 
in the Bible.

Example: When the Lord called me to preach the Gospel, 
there was no scripture in the Bible that I could go to and
find my name, designating the exact place I would go to 
minister. So I had to pray a prayer of consecration and
dedication and say, Lord, you have called me and I accept
and acknowledge your call upon my life.  I am prepared
to do whatever you want me to do.  If it be Thy will that
I go to Long Beach, California, to establish a ministry,
I am willing to go- not my will, but thy will be done.
What your are doing is placing yourself in a position to
be used of god and giving Him license and acknowledging his
claim over your life.

This was the type of prayer that Jesus prayed before He went
to the cross. In Jesus case, it was going to cost Him His 
life- not only physically, but it was going to cost him by
being separated from the father of God, and He had never 
known separation.

But you never use a dedication and consecration prayer 
when you are trying to pay your bills.  If you tack an 
if it be thy will onto a petition prayer, you are praying
in doubt.  To do so would be cancel out the prayer.

Now that I have shared with you what prayer is and how to
do it, you need to know what to do with what you know how 
to do.  In other words, you can know how to start up an 
automobile, but that does not mean you know what to do with
it once it gets started!

If you will learn to apply the following ingredients, I can
guarantee you on the authority of the word of God that every
prayer you pray will be answered. (I am dealing here with
petition prayer, which is the prayer that has to do with you
and the father just the two of you):

Ingredient #1: Decide what you want from God; then find the
scripture that promises you that.

If you do not know what you want, that is exactly what you
are going to get-nothing.  And that is why some of you have
not received anything- because you have never been specific.

Your foundation for prayer is the clearly revealed word of 
God.  If you are praying outside the will of God, the 
prayer is doomed before it leaves your mouth. you find 
out whether it is outside God’s will by finding out what
the word of God says.  Do not pray for something if you
cannot find the scripture that promises you that.  You 
will have to use wisdom in searching the scripture, 
because you are not going to find in there a cadillac
or a new Rolls-Royce or a new house on the hill specifically
stated.

When you have decided what you want from God and the 
scripture that promises you that, and you are standing on
that scripture, be prepared for a fight. If you are not
prepared for a fight, you are not prepared to pray, because
Satan is going to contest every inch of ground that you
try to reclaim.

Ingredient #2 Ask God for the things that you want, then
believe that you have them.  I did not say believe that 
you are going to get them...but believe that you have them.
That is present tense.  It might not make sense, but we
are not dealing with the senses, we are dealing with God’s
word and with faith in his word.

You must ask! There is no such thing as a silent or 
unspoken request.  There is such thing as silent in the
sense that I might say something so softly and inaudibly 
as far as you are concerned that you will not verbally 
hear me say it, but I am still saying it.  Even if I whisper
- I am speaking.

Whether you hear me does not make any difference, as long 
as the main man hears, and that is who I am talking to.
A whisper is not thinking, a whisper is talking it is 
just not loud talking.

How did God create this world?  The Bible says that God said,
let there be, and behold there was.  It did not say God 
thought.  Nothing came into existence until after God said 
it.  And nothing is coming to you until after you say it.

Ingredient #3 let every thought and desire affirm that 
you have what you ask.  Guard against and resist the
negative thoughts Satan will try to intimidate you with. 
Do not accept anything other than what you have asked for.

Some people do not have much patients, but you have to be 
prepared to stand for 10,000 years, if it takes that long,
for the manifestation of your answer.

Ingredient #4 Thoughts are governed by or controlled by
observation, association and teaching.  You need to stay
away from all places and things that do not support your
affirmation that God has answered your prayer.  That means
you might have to stay away from some churches, and from
some Christian television radio.  I appreciate the
wonderful things some men are doing, but you cannot
listen to everything - not unless it affirms the fact
that you have what you asked God for.

What affects your thinking will affect your talking, and
what affects your talking will affect your faith, and
what affects your faith will affect your life.  Be 
careful what you read, and be careful who you associate
with.  You cannot afford to be around negative people.
Love and pray for them afar, but do not let them drag
you down.

Never bring Gods word down to the level of human experience.
Every experience must come up to Gods word.  If the
experience does not measure up to the level of God’s 
word, cast it out.  Bring every thought into obedience
to the word of god.  if you want to stay stable and 
consistent, you have to stay with the winner, the word
of God.  

Ingredient #5: Think constantly on the promises on which
you have based the answer to your prayer. (Prov. 4:20.)

If you take a steady diet of God’s word, it will keep you
healthy.  Do not think on the problem, think about the 
solution.  Do not talk about the problem, talk about
the solution.  See yourself out of the problem.  Base
the solution of God’s word.

Ingredient #6: In your waking moments, think on the love,
mercy, goodness and blessings of God, and it will boost
your faith.  You talk about a shot of heavenly adrenaline,
it will shoot your faith right up to the top.  Think
about how good he is.  constantly praise him for what 
He is doing in your life.  The word says, Let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord (ps. 150:6). 
It will keep your faith vibrant.

Ingredient #7: make every word relative to what you have
asked a statement of faith, (Rom. 10:17.) make your word 
a statement of faith, rather than a statement of doubt 
and unbelief. God says you have enough faith, so you say 
you have enough faith.  Learn what God says about you in
his word.

In Christ by the power of his spirit, you can finally 
find out who you are from the one who created you.  Come
before God expecting to talk to the father God and 
expecting that he will hear you and grant you the request 
that you ask him when you make that request based on His 
word.  Make every statement a confession of faith, not
a confession of doubt.

Titus 1:2: That scripture is telling us something very 
important.  God cannot lie.  If He cannot lie, then that
means He can only tell the truth.  If He can only
tell the truth, when he tells me to pray and believe I 
receive and I shall have, bless God, it is on its way.
I have it; it is mine!

You ought to know his will before you pray.  If you do not,
you do not have any business praying.

Remember, never put an if it be thy will in a petition
prayer or a prayer of agreement.  You will be praying 
in doubt if you do.  First find out his will, and what
the covenant says about it, and pray the word.

You can have a strong confidence in the fact that when 
God tells you to do something, you can count on it.

One reason many people have a difficult time believing 
in the word of God and standing on it with confidence,
without any doubt, is because they are so used to not 
telling the truth, they do not believe anybody else can
tell the truth, and that includes the father God!

The reason I get all my prayers answered is because I 
pray the word.  I find out what  He says about the need 
or desire I have which is consistent with a godly life
and I just pray the word.  And the Bible says He 
confirms His word with signs following (Mark 16:20.)

Since God is no respecter of persons, and only confirms
His word; you, too, by praying correctly and living a
Godly life can receive an answer to every prayer you
pray.