I have several years ago, heard from the mouths of fathers and elders in the faith time without number saying “prayer is the key, prayer is the master key”. Some have sung it like a song, which we too sing passionately with tears in our eyes. However, being hungry for such a life that wins, I began to consider more closely the subject of prayer. Brethren, with all amount of submission, I discovered that prayer is beyond a key and just a master key, but that prayer is “LIFE”.
Let us understand what the bible says about keys: see Isa. 22:22, Luke 11:52, Rev.3:7, Matt.16:19. It was clear that both the HEBREW and GREEK literal meaning in the bible includes authority and power. These also were the major interest of the LORD JESUS when He introduced and taught the concept of prayer to His disciples. It is obvious that power and authority are indeed the products of such a life.
Let us consider the encounter between the Lord Jesus and a Samaritan woman in St. John chapter four. The events of that day were basically on the issue of worship, and Jesus opened our eyes to see that God is a “Spirit” and the natural man, irrespective of the formula he may adopt to commune with God is but void. Though he climbs up a mountain and cut himself with an object, or yet made a leader in the church, he can never touch the living God. Jesus pointed out to her that the problem was not the mountain, but the flesh. He also made it clear that to touch God; we must first be like Him. We must be rebirth by God’s Spirit. “Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit, and that which is born of the flesh is flesh”, St. Jn 3:5-6. I pray the Lord to give you understanding. Whatever that comes out of the womb of the Holy Spirit is a spirit. The small letter is used here because it refers to the human spirit. Until you are brought to an encounter with the Word, and the Holy Spirit through the word creates a new spirit which is the new you, you cannot touch God nor experience Him. No matter how old you may be or how long you may have been bornagain, except you are born of the water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Until you are first a spirit, you cannot worship a ‘Spirit’ GOD. It is only the Spirit that can commune with the spirit. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. No man can therefore have victory or win in prayer except he is a recreated spirit. The Lord thus speaks so to you in same manner: those that will worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is thus evident that except we have a common spirit and nature with the Father we cannot reach or touch Him. It is therefore only through our spirit we can have business with the Father of the whole universe.
Here again, Jesus told her “those that will worship God must worship in truth…” what is this truth? In Jn 14:5-6, “Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life”. In John chapter 8:32, he declares, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Also the bible says the law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. There has been series of ritualistic activities in the church today, several gymnastics which most people call prayer or warfare prayers which on the other hand has left us with little or no result. This is so because many of the so called prayers are made without a real experience and a definite encounter with reality (TRUTH). The same were the activities of the Samaritan brethren. But Jesus in order to give them the right way to the Father, said: “…must worship Him in truth…”, in other words, if you have no experience with the truth, you cannot have any experience with the Father. You must understand that God the Father is the TRUTH. But for our human minds to contain this, the Lord Jesus became ‘the Truth’ made flesh, hallelujah! God is indeed real and not some scientific fiction. He is not an object but a person. Have mercy on us oh dear Lord for belittling you oft. He is not a force or any imaginary conclusion. He is REAL more than you think. That we might know this, He came in the person of Jesus. He is exactly what the bible says He is. For you therefore to come to this great God, then you must be what the bible says you should be. Jesus is truth personified “I AM THE TRUTH” and until you have Him, you cannot have dealings with the Father in prayer. In Jn 14:17, the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of truth showing that when He births you, He exposes you to the Truth (Jesus). In Jn 15:26, bible says the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth. This therefore means that as we receive the Spirit, He will lead and direct you unto greater intimacy with Jesus ‘the Truth’. In John chapter 16:13, the Holy Spirit will teach, reveal and testify to us all about the TRUTH (JESUS). And I am sure that you do remember that the more of this Truth you know the more free you become. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” here anchors the victory, and on this hinges every prayer that wins. That rather than breaking yourself praying for deliverance from demon spirits, poverty or whatsoever, your prayer should be to know more of Him. The more of Him you know, the more free you become. To know Him means to encounter or experience Him. It therefore means that the prayer that wins is the prayer that begins in, with and through Jesus. I know Him, I pray Him, I see Him, and in answer to my prayer, God gives me that which I need in Him.
The bible says Jesus is our high Priest. lets read from the amplified version, “So too the Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groaning too deep for utterance. And He who searches the heart knows the thought of the Spirit (what His intent is), because the Spirit intercedes and pleads (before God) in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will’’, Rom 8:26-27. From this passage you see the Spirit of God taking up our prayers and praying them for us. He takes those issues in our lives that are beyond the spheres of the senses and human articulation to God. He takes from Jesus and gives to us. Also He takes from us, reshape and pattern them according to the divine plan and purpose of God. What He takes from us is so deep that we cannot express them in words. But Jesus who knows what the Spirit carries in mind receives the prayers and answers them. This is what the bible meant when it says deep calls unto deep.
Prayer in Greek is proseuche, meaning communion with God. Communion on the other hand implies the sharing of thought and feelings. This therefore means that prayer is the medium through which we share the thoughts and feelings of God with Him. We share His thought with Him. We share His ideas, His plans and purpose with Him. You remember when He told Moses His intention to destroy the children of Israel and was billed to raise a new race through him following his many struggles with those people. But Moses replied God by asking Him if He had considered what the neighbouring nations will say about such an action. And that brought about a change of mind in God. So prayer is communion. It is an atmosphere, a platform, a ground in which we meet with, see, experience, touch, hear and speak with God about His desire, purpose or will concerning the world, as well as experience His overwhelming love in our day to day walk with Him. However that is why Jesus said “except a man be born again he cannot enter (see) the kingdom of God. This means that until we experience the new creation, we cannot enjoy communion with God. It therefore means that the prayer that wins is the prayer that is born out of fellowship. You would agree with me that communion springs out of love. Thus the reason why we come to God in prayer is not primarily because of our needs, but because we want to share love with the Father of Love. We so pray because we want to know and experience the author of true love and life. That is why in the new creation, there is no hatred, unforgiveness, and bitterness. That we may see Jesus hangs the reason for prayer. He is my victory. He became poor that I might be rich. He is my health. He is my righteousness. He is the power at work in me. He is the seed in me that cannot sin. He is the portion of my inheritance. All I need is Jesus and all I should become Is Jesus. “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” lays the secret of power. It is in this consistent communion that we see the power of the kingdom made manifest in and through us. The reality of who we are, and our place in Christ Jesus is revealed to us more and more during such sweet fellowship/communion with the Father.
Beloved, it breaks my heart to say that the church has not come to know the truth about the prayer that wins. Most believers have thought the prayer that wins to be the so called spiritual warfare where some also make for themselves swords of wood, dress in military uniforms, make guns of woods and spend weeks upon weeks fighting the devil and his agents in a bid to destroy them. Others undergo series of deliverance sessions in a bid to win. Some are occupied with prayer rituals, all thinking to have won. Not so brethren, I have realized that the prayer that wins is the prayer in pursuit of Jesus – that I may know Him. It is only when you win the Lord Jesus you could then prevail as a winner.
