Secrets of Empowered Praying
By John L. Fonzer

Natural, but Supernatural

Jas 5:13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

* Prayer is your regardless and defiant activity. It is your personal weapon that you must utilize regardless of your circumstance. It is the stimulant that could well keep you alive when you are in a dying state—even if the prayer is not readily answered. Prayer is therapy for your mind because it keeps your spirit active.

* Never should you expect to place the totality of your recovery or spiritual state on the shoulders of another person—not when you can pray.

* These scriptures prescribe that challenged person be engaged with their own spiritual well-being. No, you can’t just lie there. You have to do something for yourself: pray or at least call for the elders. Do something yourself. Activate yourself call, pray and believe!

* And praying should be a normal activity for a person in physical or emotional distress.

* Faith empowers a prayer. Until faith is applied, prayer is only religious rhetoric.

* Persons who pray must be able to communicate with God and have such influence with Him that God will forgive the sins of the transgressor based on the integrity of the elder who is praying.

* One cannot really qualify their words to Heaven as prayer unless they have enough influence with God to at least get Him to ponder their suggestion.

* A person of prayer is an intercessor. One cannot intercede unless they have influence with God. If one has influence with God, they can get Him to change His plans.

* The person who prays should be authorized and recognized by God to deal with the sin issue of another person.

* They must also be a person who, in terms of protocol, is authorized to anoint with oil as an act of prayer or consecration.

* John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

* 23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

* It seems that the authorized person must be a person that is receptive to the Holy Spirit and recognizes the person of the Lamb of God.

* Faith saves the sick. Please know that it is a challenge to pray in faith if the one who does the praying is not in proper relationship with God.

* Natural men are meant to communicate with the supernatural and do exploits if they will abandon and denounce the sins of their naturalness.

* Not only does praying in faith make healing possible, but perhaps the “that ye may be healed.” Might also suggest that the intention of our praying must be for healing intact BEFORE we pray so that … What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mk 11:24 Powerful praying has a definite intention.

Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

* We must not be indecisive about our focus. (If we are praying for healing, we must not also pray for the family to deal well with the death.)

* An indecisive petitioner is subject to the environment and the conditions. Unless we approach a matter with a decision about how we are going to approach it, or unless we can visualize a recovery, it might be best that we do not pray at all.

* Such a person will have consistent challenges and will be consistently shaken.

* Paul said, I marvel that ye are so soon removed – Ga.1:6

* The person with such an unstable mind should not be permitted to think that God will definitely respond to him.

* The prophet of God dared to approach God on the matter of rain, an act of God.
Yet the prophet knew the purpose for rain AND God’s purpose for mankind. He also knew that God needed to establish His glory in a Godless environment. With all this in mind, he could influence God.

* Remember that the dominion of the earth has been commended to man and the decisions man makes for it—although the earth is God’s.

* Elias approached the matter decisively. Still, empowered praying required earnestness.
For God’s namesake, he turned the heavens on and off.

1Ki 18:41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.

42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

43 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.

44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

* Even before the rain, the prophet had the image and sound of it affixed in him.

* He sensed what no one else sensed.

* Empowered praying people have a sense of things that others do not have. They can prophesy ahead of schedule.

* Prayer gains its power if the person who prays sees themselves successful or imagines—before they begin praying. Visualize the prayer being answered before you pray it. Already Elijah heard rain.

* See and hear before you pray!

* There was no sign of it. Therefore it is important that praying people not be sign oriented.

* Prayer must be first of all focused, then Insistent, consistent and consisting of the proper script.

* Elijah insisted upon rain. Nothing else would do under these circumstances, so he dared to ask for rain. Ahab needed to know that there was a God and that He was king of all kings and sovereign!

* The prophet did not pray a random ‘whatever the will of God is” type prayer. He prayed intelligently and insisted upon a thing. Why not? God said:

* Isa. 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

* God delights in your respectful, inspired aggression.

Empowered praying might require that you repeatedly and consistently pray the same prayer—knowing from the beginning that it will not be immediately answered. Note that, the prophet informed his servant to go again seven times. He did not say after each time “go again.”

Finally, an empowered prayer consists of the right words. You have to pray with God and His glory in mind—not just your own.

 

“Secrets of Empowered Praying” is the personal Bible teaching notes of Apostle (S/Bishop) John L. Fonzer.

This article may not be written by an Apostolic author, but it contains many excellent principles and concepts that can be adapted to most churches. As the old saying goes, “Eat the meat. Throw away the bones.”