BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Chances are, you have such a vivid memory of what it's like to bite on a lemon that your mouth is watering right now. But let me ask you this. Have you received any nourishment from that memory? No! Remembering The WORD of God isn't enough. Feed on what it says again and again. Get it out and read it. Go to church and hear it preached. One day, you'll read a familiar verse—a verse you've read thousands of times before—and suddenly God will give you the greatest revelation you've ever had in your life. A completely fresh revelation from that old familiar verse! And it's likely to be exactly what you needed to know to pray effectively about your current situation. Yes, prayer can be prayed on the spur of the moment. Yes, it can be prayed from memory. Yes, it can be prayed from The WORD that is on deposit in your spirit as you're walking down the street. But I dare say this: You won't get results from the prayer you pray while you're walking down the street if you haven't spent some time on your knees in front of The WORD of God, allowing the Spirit to develop your prayer life. If you haven't taken the time to put any WORD in, none will come out! If I pray over something any length of time and sense in the spirit that I'm not getting any results, I go to The WORD of God and see how I need to change. That sounds logical, doesn't it? But there are a lot of folks who don't do that. Instead of going to The WORD and seeing how they need to change, they try to change God. You've probably heard some of them pray. They'll go on and on trying to convince God just how badly they hurt or how poor they are. They'll beg and plead and wheedle, all the while acting as though they had to somehow change God's mind about the situation. Unfortunately, those folks are in for a long wait. God is never going to change. Hebrews 13:8 says, “[He's] the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." And if you're having problems getting your prayers answered, it's not because He's holding out on you, it's because you've somehow gotten out of line with His WORD. A few years ago, this ministry was over a million dollars behind. I prayed about it, but the situation failed to improve. In fact, it just kept getting worse. I went to God in prayer and said, “LORD, I need a million dollars!" Finally, I went to The WORD. I did my homework and prayed as accurately as I could. That's when The LORD answered me. But He didn't answer me by giving me a million dollars. Instead, He said, 'I told you in My WORD I'd meet all your needs, right?' I said, “Yes, that's what You promised, and I need a million dollars." 'No you don't,' He answered. That shocked me. “I don't?" 'No,' He said. 'You need to make some changes in the way you're operating your ministry because you're out of line with My WORD in an area of your finances and you have been for a number of years.' My mouth fell open when I heard that. I had no idea. But I got into The WORD, found out what He was talking about, and made the changes I needed to make. That's when the money I'd been asking for started to come in. The same thing will happen in your life when you get serious about prayer, get yourself in line with The WORD, and start expecting results. God will begin dealing with the root problems in your life. He doesn't just waste His time fiddling with the leaves like we do, He goes right to the root of the problem. First John 5:14-15 says, “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 pray in line with The WORD, you can be sure you're praying according to God's will. And you're guaranteed—the answer is on the way. Guarantee No. 3: The Holy Spirit The effectiveness of your prayer life depends on the degree of confidence you place in the Holy Spirit. He is God's power arm. He’s the One who’s going to guarantee that the work gets done. If you want to see how the Holy Spirit operates, just look in Genesis 1. Read verses 1-3: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” The Holy Spirit was present, moving on the face of the waters before Creation. But the simple fact of His presence didn't accomplish anything. It was when God spoke and said, “Let there be light!" that the Holy Spirit exploded into action. He brought forth the light with such vigor that it's still radiating through the universe, devouring the darkness at a rate of 186,000 miles per second! The next time you start to pray about a seemingly impossible problem—think about that. If you're born again, the Holy Ghost is present inside you just as He was present on the day of Creation. And He responds to God's WORD today just as powerfully as He did then. The more faith you have in Him, the more confidence you place in Him, the more awesome the results will be. Just think about that! The power that created the universe, the power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, is activated in your life when you speak The WORD of God in prayer. Hallelujah, what a guarantee! I urge you from this day forward to make prayer the bedrock of your life. Build your marriage, your career and your ministry on it. If you don't, you’ll be ensuring your own failure. If you do, God will guarantee your success! V BVOV : 25

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