"...The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
—James 5:16
People who walk in obedience to God's Word have something else going for them: a strong prayer life. Successful Christians have consistent lives of prayer. Prayer is vitally important for our spiritual strength. Jude 20 and 21 says that prayer builds our faith, keeping us in the love of God.
People succeed with prayer. It does avail much. Prayer changes things: It changes bad things to better and better things and then to the best!
When your prayer life starts declining, you start declining. Many of the great men and women of the Bible were mighty prayer warriors. We know that David prayed at least three times a day. The Word of God also instructs us to pray "without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
Today it's difficult for most believers to set aside five minutes a day to pray. There's something wrong with a believer who doesn't enjoy the power of prayer and the opportunity to talk to his Creator.
Prayer is the only way you'll get to know the Father the way you should in order to succeed in this life. Prayer is the only way you'll get the power of heaven into your life.
There were men and women throughout history who were successful until they quit praying. Then they lost their power and ended up someplace they shouldn't have been. Samson is a good example of this. When he quit praying, he fell.
We all need God's power in our daily lives and ministries. There's a price to pay to get that power, however. It's spending time with God in prayer.
The only way we can hook up with God's power is to spend long hours of prayer on our knees in unbroken communion with our Heavenly Father. Then we will move in God's power.
I used to tell people to pray at least 15 minutes a day. One time when I was preaching that, the Spirit of God corrected me. He told me to tell them that wasn't enough. I began to preach, "Pray 30 minutes." Then I upped it to an hour. When I said that, people choked and said, "Are you crazy? I can't pray an hour a day. I'm much too busy."
If you're too busy to pray and talk with your Father, there's something wrong. You are cheating yourself. You won't have as much power in your life as you are entitled to. Get up earlier, if necessary, to pray. Some people say, "But I need my sleep." You need God more than you need your sleep! Besides, when you get God's power generating in your body, you'll need less sleep, not more!
God's calling us to a supernatural realm of prayer and power. Sometime ago I was asking the Lord about this, and He said, "The only way you're going to find out about power is to get on your knees and come away with Me."
There's another world out there that many men and women never have experienced. It's the glory world of God's power.
In times gone by, there have been a few people who have tapped into this power, but very few. Not many will pay the price to pray.
Today God is calling the whole Church—every believer —into this realm of power. He wants us to walk in that power to manifest His glory fully on earth. He said His glory would fill all the earth. He wants to do it through us.
God wants us to walk in the fullness of His power so that when we see a sick person, we can walk up to him and say, "Be thou made whole," and instantly the sick person is healed. When Jesus walked on the scene, devils screamed and departed. Diseases left people's bodies. The sick and demon possessed were instantly made whole. We often wonder why we don't see such things today in the Church.
You cannot confess the power of God into your life. You can't walk around saying, "I have power. I have power." All you'll get is a tired mouth!
You can't plug into God's power just by quoting scriptures, either. There is a higher realm than that. And the only way we can get into that supernatural realm is by praying on our faces before Almighty God.
Long seasons of prayer are necessary. Five minutes isn't long enough. If you spent only five minutes a day with your child, he wouldn't know you too well, would he? (You wouldn't know him too well, either.) Your influence on that child would be minimal. It's the same with knowing God. You've got to spend lots of time with Him.
These long seasons of prayer are necessary so you can get out of your natural mind and into the spiritual realm. I call it "traveling with God in the realm of the glory world." It's possible, but it's done in the Spirit, not the flesh.
Today there's a lot of grunting and groaning—so-called "travail"—going on because that's the popular thing to do. However, if that's not the Holy Spirit moving on you to do it, then it's the flesh.
God is sick and tired of fleshly prayers. You get into the realm of true prayer—true intercession—by falling down on your face before God and seeking Him.
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