Jemima Alara - Keys to Answered Prayers

Copyright 2014 Jemima Alara .

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-0862-1 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4907-0861-4 (e)

Trafford rev. 08/13/2014

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Contents

Conclusion

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I am not worthy, but God through his endless mercies found me worthy, to write this book that would bring revival to all who read it and also edify the body of Christ.

Introduction

P rayer is a means of communication, between man and God. Prayer is not optional. It is compulsory. Prayer establishes and builds our relationship with God. There is power in prayer. Prayer unlocks the windows of heaven. Prayer gives access to the throne room of God. Jesus while here on earth was a man of prayer. Prayer signifies our absolute dependence on God. Prayer establishes our relationship with God. As Christians we are here on earth as heavens ambassadors, so prayer is our link of communicating with Heaven.

Now prayer is a two way communication. You pray, God listens and answers you. You have your part to play and God has his own part to play. Your part is to set the stage right, create the right platform for an effective communication. The word of God in Hebrew 4 v 16 says Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We are to come boldly before the presence of God. God is a great king and he has asked us to come boldly before his throne. Beloved they are steps to take before coming boldly before his throne. These are the steps we are going to be looking at in the following chapters of this book. And God has assured us that we would receive mercy and help. God is a good father and he is the father of all fathers, he is all the more eager to give us what we want, when we ask him in prayer.

In Matthew 7 v 9-11 Jesus speaking says which of you, if his son asks for bread will give him stone, or if he ask for a fish, will give him a snake. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him.

Also very importantly, we should understand that prayer is not only a channel for us to bombard heaven with our request, desires and needs, there are various reasons why we should pray and these are.

1. EVERY CHRISTIAN HAS BEEN ENROLLED INTO A PRIESTLY MINISTRY.

The moment you accept Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and saviour, you automatically qualify as a priest and become enrolled into the priestly ministry to serve God.

This truth is seen from the following scriptures,

To him who loved us and has freed us by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and father. Rev 1 v 6.

You also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1st Peter 2 v 5.

Prior to the coming of Christ, only the Levites were called into the priestly ministry and they ministered as priest before the Lord in the temple. The priestly ministry was strictly reserved for Aaron and his descendants. However after the coming of Christ this order has now changed and we now operate under a new order. Under this new order, every true child of God is a priest. And as priest our main duty is to function in the role of priesthood. The major role of the priest under the old order was to minister daily before God in the temple. Therefore under the new order the priest has to do likewise. Hence as Christians we have to minister daily to God by spending quality time with him in prayers.

Also in the old testament, the priest had to serve alongside with the high priest and he faced some limitation, he could not go into the most holy place, right into the presence of God. But when Jesus died, this barrier was taken off and now Jesus is calling us all (every priest) to come boldly into the most holy place, before the very presence of the most high God. Jesus is now our high priest and he lives forever more to make intercession for us daily, before the throne of God.

Also note under the old testament, the priest had to minister in a physical temple, but under the new testament our body is now the temple of God, and Christ dwells in us, so at any time we can lift up holy hands and worship God. Amen. This truth can be seen from the following scriptures.

For we are the temple of the living God, even as God has said I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them. 2nd Corinthians 6 v 16.

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives within you. 1 Corinthians 6 v 19.

1. TO BUILD OUR INTIMACY / FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD.

Right from the creation of man, God had always had fellowship with man, until sin crept in. In the book of Genesis, God always came down to the garden of Eden to have a chat with Adam. Also Adam had an intimate relationship with God. He named every living thing. Adam could hear God, see God, chat with God. This signifies that the main reason why God created Adam was to have a relationship with him. Adam lost this sweet fellowship through sin. However Jesus came to restore this sweet fellowship. Hence once you become born again, you are mandated to have fellowship with God. Get intimate with God. This can be achieved by spending quality time with God in prayer, fasting and reading your bible. Apostle Paul never saw the physical Jesus, he was never a disciple of Jesus, however by spending quality time in prayers with God, he was able to build an intimacy with God and as a result of that intimacy/fellowship divine secrets were revealed to him and he wrote two third of the new testament. Also in Acts 10 Cornelius with a devoted lifestyle of prayer, became the first gentile to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

1. PRAYER BRINGS DOWN GODS GLORY.

When we pray we bring down Gods glory. On Mt Carmel, Elijah prayed and brought down Gods glory. Hitherto the people were faltering between two opinions, God and an idol called baal. However when the glory of God fell down mightily, the people had no choice than to bow down and worship God.

1. FLESH IS BROUGHT TO SUBJECTION.

At the well of water in the town of Samaria, Jesus had a discussion with a Samaritan woman. The topic of their discussion was centered on worship.

WOMAN Our forefathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary and proper to worship. John 4 v 20.