Tag Archives: Prayer

As necessary to our spiritual life as breathing is to our body: our ongoing dialogue with God through the Holy Spirit.

Christian Life, Prayer and Spiritual Warfare

Prayer Time

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School of Prophesy 25 July 2020.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

We are weak, and we need the Lord’s help
How can we presume to know how to pray, when God has an infinite variety of ways to respond to a situation? We so often rush into prayer, either in conversation with somebody, or in a meeting, without recognising that we are weak and we need the help of the one “who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is.” We need to learn from King Asa, who prayed “Lord, there is no one besides Thee to help in the battle between the powerful and those who have no strength.” (2 Chron 14:11) Every time we pray we are in Asa’s position, as the enemy will be at work to hinder our prayers. We cannot expect to overcome the enemy without the Lord’s help.

Unity of purpose
When the disciples prayed “of one accord” in the Book of Acts, the earth shook. Being of one accord is not just saying “Amen” to another’s prayer, but being committed to seeing the same answer. When we pray together we would often to better to put more time and more openness to the moving of the Holy Spirit into fewer prayer topics. We do not know what we should pray for as we ought – but when the Lord starts to guide us it is an opportunity to strengthen the bond of our unity in the Spirit by standing together in fervent (see below) spirit-led prayer.

Effective prayer comes from a heart that is wholly after God
David’s constant cry was to be pure. The last three verses of psalm 19 encapsulate his attitude:

Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19: 12-14)

Solomon did not have David’s passion for purity of heart, and in the end he fell.

After Asa’s great victory he enjoyed a period of peace, then he faced another attacking army. This time he took the gold from the Temple and paid the King of Aram to come to his aid: instead of turning to the Lord again, he acted on his own. From that time he went into decline.

“The Eyes of the Lord Range Throughout the Earth to Show Himself Strong on Behalf of Them Whose Heart Is Fully Committed to Him” (2 Chron 16:9)

We can see the gold in our temples as an image of our commitment to keeping our hearts pure before God. If we want to be effective prayer warriors this is pivotal to our lives: we must not give away our gold for the sake of expediency.

The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 3:5)
Prayer must be fervent – wholehearted, earnest, desperate (Jonah would have been quite desperate in the whale, for example). How fervently do we seek God’s purposes, for the church, for other people? How desperate is our intercession? Revival tends to start when a small group of people cry out to God in desperation, and push through in prayer until they see the answer, which may be delayed because of God’s timing or because of enemy opposition, as in Daniel 10:12.

Thirst for God
“As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God? (Ps 42:1-2)

John Lake (Healing evangelist, Founder of the Healing Rooms, saw thousands saved and healed) said that our starting point has to be a thirst for God. The 1904 Welsh revival started with three young ministers being driven by an unquenchable thirst for God, and as the revival spread the meetings always began with a prayer for God to send His spirit, and then send more of His Spirit. 90 years later the outpourings at Toronto began with the same prayer: “More, Lord!”

God has so much more – but if we want God’s more, there must be less of our agendas and our assumptions. Holiness requires sacrifice. Do we have time for More – or is it time for dinner? Or bed? Life in the Spirit is not convenient for the flesh.

Fire and Wind combine (A word given to Jake on 22nd July)
“Only once my people’s hearts are on fire, will I send my wind. It’s my breath that will spread the fire, but my people’s hearts have to be set on fire first. Remember, fire isn’t a selective force, so anything that is not of me will be burnt up. What I am doing is dangerous and uncontrollable, unlike any wildfire you have seen or head of.”

Effective, fervent prayer is born out of the fire.

Be prepared; hold on., Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, Prophesy and the prophetic

Brace Yourself! Dana Coverstone’s Prophetic Dreams

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Between December last year and now an American pastor called Dana Coverstone has received three prophetic dreams concerning the state of the USA. What he saw in the Spirit in graphic detail in December was what we watched in the news between March and June: Covid and the current civil unrest around black lives matter. (Note: I published this exactly four years ago today. The details are no longer current, but the thrust of the warning remains true. See the footnote.)

Google and YouTube are now awash with comments about his dreams, which Pastor Coverstone described in a YouTube video towards the end of June. I have had a couple of thoughts myself: here there they are.

In 1983 a man of God called Tom Zimmer, who was a war veteran living in Italy who spent all his time in prayer and worship, interceding especially for the nations, received a prophecy which specified the man called Donald J Trump would lead America back to God. He shared this with an American friend of his, who said that he must be wrong: Donald Trump was a New York playboy, and hardly the man that God would choose to lead America back to Him. However Tom Zimmer was convinced he had heard the Lord. Tom lived in the town of Loreto, where everybody knew him as a holy man, like Simeon and Anna who spent their time in the temple at the time of the birth of Jesus.

Fast forward to 2020 and Dana Coverstone. He is not a well-known pastor leading a big church; his calling is to go into churches who have lost their moral compass and turn them back to the Lord. He is not a known prophet, and in fact repeatedly says “I am not a prophet.” Responses to these dreams vary from scepticism to full belief, but whatever people think about the things he says, his integrity as a man of God appears to be in no doubt.

The first of his dreams accurately prophesied events in America between March and June. The second dream which he received at the end of June, I think it was the 24th, looks forward to the period between September and November, the time of the US presidential election.

He saw America in meltdown, with Washington burning and troops on the streets. It was full-scale Civil War. You need to see the videos yourself: just google “Dana Coverstone Prophetic Dreams.” I won’t get into details here, but they are a warning from the Lord to the church of America to “Brace Yourself!” We might say, “What’s that got to do with me in the UK?” I can’t answer that, other than to say I expect that the ripples will be felt around the world if the predictions come true. Pastor Coverstone says: “Believers, STOP MESSING AROUND if you’re not living for the Lord as you ought to be!” I think we can all hear this, whatever the context.

What we don’t necessarily realise in our peaceful United Kingdom is that the polarisation between the Republicans and Democrats in the USA is practically on a civil war footing already. The fuse is already burning, and it’s helped along by the partisan reporting of the two main TV news channels: Fox (Democrat) and CNN (Republican). There is a battle raging in Heaven over the whole world between the forces of light and the forces of darkness, and I believe that much of it is being played out on the streets of the United States, as the fight for the soul of the nation rages. What pastor Coverstone saw, was, I believe, the time when the burning fuse reached the dynamite at the time of the presidential elections in November.

We don’t know, of course, how the last stages of this battle will be played out; but if we believe that God spoke to Tom Zimmer, as I do, we can trust that the final outcome of this “civil war” will be a re-elected Donald Trump leading America back to God. As you read this, please don’t think that I believe that God endorses Donald Trump’s politics. This is not about politics at all, but about the eternal destiny of millions of people, and about the part that a spiritually restored USA will play on the world stage in the events leading up to the return of Christ. Whatever his failings, and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, it would appear that Trump has a part to play.

A detail that I find particularly interesting, and prophetic, and which as far as I know hasn’t been picked up by anyone else, is this: the 1983 prophecy was about Donald Trump restoring the moral and spiritual compass of a country that has turned away from God’s ways. The Dana Coverstone prophecies were given to a man whose ministry to the church is to do exactly the same thing. I take this unlikely connection as a sign that these things are in fact going to happen.

Footnote: July 24th 2024.

I told a friend in the USA about the landslide victory of the Labour party in the recent UK general election, and she said “It seems to be going the other way over here.” Donald Trump does seem to be on course for the US presidency, which would fulfill those prophesies of a second term. As the Democrats’ attempt to use the courts to remove him from the scene have crumbled one after another, with the Democrat party in disarray as their attempts to prop up the clearly ailing Joe Biden until after the election and replace him with their anti-Life vice president Kamala Harris have failed, and as It really does look like God’s hand was protecting Trump from the sniper’s bullet, believers in the USA and the UK can genuinely for pro-life and pro-family policies to start being rolled out in the USA from November this year. But Satan’s war on Life is not going to stop: trans men are being allowed to compete in women’s events in the Olympics, destroying the hopes and dreams of thousands of female competitors with their heavier bone structure and more powerful musculature; little children are being exposed to sexually explicit drag shows in public libraries; and new legislation will put UK churches under threat if they preach a biblical view on marriage as being a lifelong covenant between one biological man and one biological woman. James 4:4 says

“Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

We are already starting to see this being played out in our society, from the opposite point of view: friendship with God is starting to be seen as enmity with the world. I believe we will see the Trump prophesies being fulfilled, and at least some restoration of biblical values coming through the next US administration, particularly in the area of pro-life legislation. But this will only make the enemy fiercer in his attacks wherever the doors are open for him, and as the Lord continues to purify His bride and call us out of Babylon, the need to brace ourselves will be stronger than ever before.

See also the post “The battle and our part in it” – Click here or follow the link below.

Christian Life, Prayer and Spiritual Warfare

Effective Fervent Prayer

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There are a number if situations at Wildwood that we are praying for at the moment. James 5:16 tells us that “the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”. Whatever and whoever we are praying for, we want our prayers to “avail much,” so if we want to see our prayers answered we can do worse than take on board what the apostle is saying in this verse.

What is effective in us is the Word of God (1 Thess 2:13). God has magnified His word above His name (Psalm 138:2). This can be interpreted on many levels (just look up a few sermons on google!), but a literal understanding is always a good place to start. Without exploring any other possible implications, Psalm 138:2 tells us that praying in the name of Jesus is obviously good, but praying the Word of God in the name of Jesus is even better.

Any word of God? No. Any relevant word of God? Maybe sometimes. The specific word of God that is given to us by the Holy Spirit as we are praying? Yes. We don’t know how to pray, but the Holy Spirit helps us. (Romans 8:26) The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, as we know from Ephesians 6. It’s the sword that belongs to the Spirit, and He is the one who knows best how to wield it. This word is “living and active” (Heb 4:12), so it isn’t going to be the same every time. If we take the word that He gives us, and not just the one that we think fits the occasion, we can expect it to be effective.

Fervent is passionate, burning with God’s love. We can’t be passionate if we just repeat a formula. We can’t be passionate if we pray just because we feel we ought to. When the Israelites cried out to God in the Old Testament, He often said, usually through one of His prophets, “I have seen your tears,” or “I have seen how you have humbled yourself.” I believe God wants to see us emotionally engaged with Him over the people we are praying for, and above all to seek His love for them. The Shunammite woman had to make a journey to seek the man of God (Elisha) for her son, and sometimes we have to make a journey as well before we have truly taken hold of Jesus and cried out to Him to see a need met.

So if want our prayers to avail much, they have to be guided by the Holy Spirit, rich in the word of God, and inflamed with His passion. Jesus prayed differently for every situation he was in: He put mud on eyes, stuck His fingers in ears, told people to get up on their feet and told demons to leave. He was the living active Word Himself, He was guided supernaturally by the Holy Spirit, and was always demonstrating the love of the Father. If we can learn to do this too,  I think we will start to see some significant results.

Bob Hext

Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, Walking in the Spirit

Let not your heart be troubled…

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“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” (John 14:1)

Judas had just slunk out of the room to betray Jesus; their lord and master had just washed their feet; the disciples had just received the new commandment to love one another as He had loved them; having followed Him for three years they were told that they could now not go where He was going; and faithful, passionate Peter had just found out that he was about to deny knowing Jesus three times. Against this tumultuous setting Jesus tells them: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.”

If our hearts are troubled our faith is hindered. If we focus on Jesus we can find a path through our troubles, but if we focus on our troubles Jesus becomes remote. In 2 Kings 4: 19-37 we find the story of Elisha and the Shunammite woman. The son that had been born to her according to Elisha’s word had died. This was her only son, the vessel of all her hopes for the continuation of her family. Her heart had every cause to be troubled. But this is what we read is vs 21:

“And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out.”

She shut the door on him. Do we shut the door on our troubles, or do we let them invade our hearts? The Shunammite woman had one thing on her mind now, which was to run to the man of God:

“Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

Shut the door on your troubles; run to the man of God. Let not your heart be troubled; believe in Jesus. Keeping that door closed is an act of the will, because troubles can come knocking very loudly. The woman’s husband said: “”Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.” And she said, “It is well.” Do we open the door by lamenting our difficulties, or do we saddle the donkey and run to Jesus, declaring with the hymn writer that “it is well, it is well, with my soul?”

“Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.” (Psalm 46 2-5)

Elisha saw her coming from where he was on Mount Carmel, and sent Gehazi, his assistant, to her. “Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ” And she answered, “It is well.” She still refused to let her heart be troubled. Only when she had physically taken hold of Elisha’s feet did she speak of the death of her son. If we would only speak of our troubles when we are safely in the presence of the One who can either take them away or help us bear them, how much stronger our faith would be!

Elisha sent Gehazi ahead to lay his staff on the boy’s face, but the woman was adamant:  “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” (vs. 30) Her trust was in the Man of God: not in his staff, not in his assistant. We need the presence of the Lord in our own lives, not just in the life of someone with a staff of ministry. She shut the door on her troubles, ran to Jesus (Elisha), took hold of him and stayed with Him until her child was restored to life. Not only did she believe, but she persevered in her faith. The writer to the Hebrews says:

”And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (Heb 6: 11-12)

I think many of us are quick enough to run to Jesus, but instead of shutting the door on our problems we put them on the donkey and take them with us, telling everyone about them on the way. Instead of persevering in our faith and seeking Jesus, we persevere in our problems and He stays remote. Of course we pray. We are exhorted to pray at all times. (Eph. 6:18). When David was in the cave hiding from Saul, he wrote:

“I cry out to the LORD with my voice;
With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.
I pour out my complaint before Him;
I declare before Him my trouble.
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,
Then You knew my path.” (Psalm 142: 1-3)

God knew David’s path, and David knew that. But David always trusted God for His divine plan; he didn’t ask God to bless his own agenda. He didn’t carry it around on a donkey and ask God to bring it to life. When the Shunammite woman shut the door on her son she shut the door on the hopes and aspirations she had for his life. What she didn’t know was that a 7-year famine was coming to Israel; that God, through Elisha, was going to send her and her son away to live among the Philistines for that time so that they wouldn’t suffer; that Gehazi was going to tell her story to the King; and that when she came back she was going to have all her fortunes restored, including the value of any crops that were harvested during her absence. (2 Kings 8). God can always “do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine. ” (Eh 3:20) Believing in Jesus means not letting our hearts be troubled by anxiety over our own agendas, but trusting Him to know our paths and fulfil His purposes, His way.

Many of us have “dead sons:” words that have been spoken into our lives that seem light years from being fulfilled. Many times we may have put them on the donkey and carried them to the Man of God, or gone for prayer and had the staff of someone’s ministry laid on their face, but life has not come. But Jesus says: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” He doesn’t want us just to believe that God is able to answer our prayers:  He wants us to shut the door on what has died and run after His presence, so that He can personally come and revive them Himself.