Is it God’s Will to Heal Every Time?, Part 3 (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #174)

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #174

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is James 5:16 which reads: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Our prayer motivator quote today is from Andrew A. Bonar. He said: “Oh brother, pray; in spite of Satan, pray; spend hours in prayer; rather neglect friends than not pray; rather fast, and lose breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper–and sleep too–than not pray. And we must not talk about prayer, we must pray in right earnest. The Lord is near. He comes softly while the virgins slumber.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is the third and final part of our series titled Is It God’s Will to Heal Every Time? from Dr. John R. Rice. Dr. Rice said…

My mother died when she was about 28 years old. On her deathbed she made us promise to meet her in Heaven; had us sing “How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord,” and looking up, declared that she saw Jesus and her baby. And so, literally filled with the Spirit and rejoicing, she went home to Heaven. Was her sickness God’s will? I, who have missed her so much for over 70 years, feel certain that it was.

And every divine healer who teaches that it is God’s will that every Christian should have perfect health, sooner or later finds that sickness comes upon him, and sometimes with it the breakdown of all his faith, and even insanity. And the sickness eventually results in death even for the most spiritually-minded, the best Christians, those who claim sinless perfection and those who claim perfect health from God alike. “It is appointed unto man once to die,” and death proves that no man has yet lived (save Enoch and Elijah, who never died) who has attained either perfect health or perfect righteousness this side of the grave.

So, although Christ “Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses,” and though Christ’s death on the cross did surely guarantee for all who are born again by faith that one day our bodies as well as our natures will have perfect redemption, we do not yet possess all that is bought for us. Healing of the body may not instantly be claimed in every case, as forgiveness of sins may be instantly received always by penitent faith. We are told in Romans 8:18-23 that perfect healing, along with the resurrection of our glorified bodies, is in the atonement made by Christ. But that “adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body,” certainly is now wholly ours until Jesus comes.

+ Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray?”

Prayer for the Sick is Appropriate for Today as it Was In Biblical Times, Part 1 (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #163)

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #163

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is Psalm 4:1 which reads: “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.”

Our prayer motivator quote today is from Robert Murray M’Cheyne. He said, “I ought to pray before seeing anyone…Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: ‘Early will I seek thee’…I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 1 of our series titled “PRAYER FOR THE SICK IS APPROPRIATE FOR TODAY AS IT WAS IN BIBLICAL TIMES” from Dr. John R. Rice.

+ Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray”

If You’re Praying in the Will of God and it Seems as though He is Saying “NO”, He Really Wants You to Keep On Praying and Seeking Him – Pray Through, Part 1

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #153

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is Mark 11:24 which reads: “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

Our prayer motivator quote today is from A.T. Pierson. He said: “Closet communion needs time for the revelation of God’s presence. It is vain to say, ‘I have too much work to do to find time to pray.’ You must find time to pray or forfeit blessing. God knows how to save for you the time you sacredly keep for communion with Him.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is the first part of a two-part series entitled If You’re Praying In the Will of God and It Seems as though He Is Saying “NO”, He Really Wants You to Keep On Praying and Seeking Him – Pray Through from Dr. John R. Rice. Dr. Rice said…

Here is encouragement for every child of God who has longed to win souls but never has. God has sent someone your way for you to win to Christ. A friend in his journey has come to you and you have had nothing to set before him. And when you asked God, He seemed to say “No.” He seemed to disregard your prayer. You never received the power you requested and you never bore fruit as you longed to do. But you can! God did not mean “no” when He said “no.” He simply meant for you to keep on asking and praying for you to refuse to be denied.

How eagerly God waits for His people to pray! Importunate praying, insistent praying can change even the plan of God. How gladly He will give bread to those who wait before Him with importunity, just as the man pictured in Luke 11:5-8 rose and gave his neighbor as many loaves as he needed, not because he was his friend but because of his importunity.

In Matthew 15:21-28 we have a blessed example of the fact that God does not always mean “no” when He seems to say “no.” A Canaanite woman came to Jesus crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David: my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” But Jesus “answered her not a word.” Finally Jesus “answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Was she discouraged? Did she quit praying? No.

“Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.” Again Jesus discouraged her, saying, “It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and cast it to dogs.”

But see this woman’s faith as she says,” Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” If she was a dog, then she insisted she was Jesus’ dog.

How Jesus exulted! “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt!” And she went home and found her daughter well from that very hour!

Preachers have a way of sometimes getting the letter and not the spirit. No doubt the disciples hung about greatly bored. It seemed Jesus had insulted the woman to deliberately send her away. If they believed simply the outward indication of His language, they had a right to think that Jesus cared nothing for Gentiles, that to Him they were only dogs and that He would do nothing at all for this heathen woman who cried after Him.

But the woman did not listen to the letter of the words of Jesus. If He seemed not to care, her faith cried out that she knew He did care, that He did love her, that He did love her daughter!. If He seemed to send her away, yet she believed that He came to save, and to save Gentiles as well as Jews. By faith she trusted in the goodness of His heart and was not discouraged by His words.

+ Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray?”

True Confession Must Take Place Before Importunate Prayer, Part 3 (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #148)

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #148

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is Psalm 65:2 which reads: “O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.”

Our prayer motivator quote today is a short story about George Mueller. It goes like this: “One day George Mueller began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part two of our current series entitled True Confession Must Take Place Before Importunate Prayer from Dr. John R. Rice. Dr. Rice said…

One of you who is listening right now is a wife, and God gave you a husband. He is dearer to you than life itself, dearer than any earthly friend could be. God sent him your way. God depends upon you to give him the bread of life. If you do not do your part, if you have not the power to win him, then surely his case may be well-nigh hopeless.

I know wives who have lived with husbands for 30 years and never won them to Christ. I know brothers who have grown up with brothers; they have worked together and played together. Oftentimes, they have been nearly inseparable. Yet the Christian brother has not been able to win his unsaved brother to Christ. I know fathers into whose hands and homes and hearts God has put little children. They love Daddy, follow after Daddy, imitate Daddy, almost worship Daddy. Yet I have seen such children grow up around their father and he never once had the bread of life for them.

I tell you, we cannot escape the responsibility of blood relationship, and the responsibility of intimate friendship and association.

If there is someone who is near and dear to you and is unsaved, then God expects you to take to them the bread of life. Even the rich man in Hell acknowledged his obligation to his five unsaved brothers. He knew that, following his example, they too would go to Hell unless they were warned, so he pled that one should be sent, even from Heaven to warn his five brothers that they should repent lest they come to the place of torment where he was already!

You cannot escape your responsibility, I say, to the friend, or wife, or husband, or son, or daughter, or mother, or neighbor, whom God has sent your way.

Many of you who are listening long to win souls but never do. You pray for souls to be saved, and sometimes timidly invite them to church, or tell them that you pray for them. Yet you do not get them saved. Why? Why? WHY?

This simple prayer which Jesus taught His disciples to pray gives us the answer. You dear Christians simply do not have what it takes. You do not have upon you the power of the Holy Ghost. You do not have the holy boldness, the deep concern, the travail of soul, the burning words, it may be, or the tears, or the example that God will use to win that soul to Himself!

You, if you are honest, must pray this prayer of confession, “A friend of mine in his journey is come to me AND I HAVE NOTHING TO SET BEFORE HIM!” You do not have the bread of life to set before sinners. You do not have what it takes. God meant for you to have, you could have had, and you may yet have the bread of life for sinners.

Let me suggest, then, that you drop very quietly before God and bow your head. Pray this simple prayer of confession. Mean it from your very soul. Acknowledge in these words your failure, your barrenness, your shallowness as a Christian, your lack of fruit-bearing. Pray it now in your heart. Perhaps it will help you if you bow your head, close your eyes, and earnestly and contritely, with a confession of your failure, pray these words: “O God, a friend of mine (husband, brother, neighbor, son, daughter, or sweetheart) has come to me and I have nothing to set before him. I ought to be able to win him to Christ, but I haven’t done it.”

Alibis and excuses here will do no good. If you are to learn to pray as Jesus is trying to teach you in these verses, then you will pray the prayer that is directed.

+ Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Say A Prayer”

How to Pray in the Will of God for a “Yes” Answer, Part 3 (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #136)

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is 1 Thessalonians 5:25 which reads: “Brethren, pray for us.”

Our prayer motivator quote today is from R.A. Torrey. He said, “Out of a very intimate acquaintance with D. L.Moody, I wish to testify that he was a far greater prayer than he was preacher. Time and time again, he was confronted by obstacles that seemed insurmountable, but he always knew the way to overcome all difficulties. He knew the way to bring to pass anything that needed to be brought to pass. He knew and believed in the deepest depths of his soul that nothing was too hard for the Lord, and that prayer could do anything that God could do.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 3 of our last broadcast titled HOW TO PRAY IN THE WILL OF GOD FOR A “YES” ANSWER from Dr. John R. Rice. Dr. Rice said…

We must have a heart-understanding of God’s Word, so we may know the will of God. How can we ask with any assurance that God will be pleased to give us what we ask, unless we know something of His will? For this reason Jesus said in John 15:7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”

Here, asking just what we want and getting it is said to depend upon our abiding in Christ and His Word abiding in us. We cannot know the will of God without familiarity with the Word. In Psalm 1:1-3 and in Joshua 1:7-9 the prosperity of a Christian in everything is conditioned upon his meditating day and night in the Word of God and walking therein. It is not enough just to read the Word of God. It should abide in us. We should love it, should meditate in it, should absorb it until it colors all our lives and thoughts. Then when we come to ask something from God and can say honestly, “My dear heavenly Father, I have found in Your Word that You want me to have thus and so and that it would honor Thy name. You have said for me to ask for it, so I claim Thy promise and believe Thy Word and take what Thou hast promised me” — we can certainly expect the answer and get exactly what we prayed for.

For example, notice the sweet promise of 1 John 1:9 that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Knowing that verse, any Christian in the world can get instant forgiveness for any sin he is willing to confess with his whole heart; and he can get cleansing too. He has the Word of God for it! It would be a sin for a Christian to doubt that God is ready instantly to forgive and cleanse any Christian who honestly confesses that sin. Or take the implied promise in the Lord’s Prayer when the Saviour taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Any Christian familiar with the Word of God can pray for daily bread and get it, knowing already it is God’s will. It would be a mistake to pray, “if it be Thy will,” about a thing which God has already clearly told us is His will.

On the other hand, if a Christian be thoroughly endued with the Word of the Lord, he could not honestly ask for the great wealth of the world, to the ignoring of spiritual values. If he knew and loved and believed the words of the Saviour in Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you”; he would certainly know that spiritual blessings are far more important than great wealth, that to seek first the kingdom of God would bring the greatest happiness, the greatest peace and the greatest prosperity. He would know that one who really seeks first the kingdom of God will have food to eat and garments to wear, beside the peace of God which passeth understanding.

I am saying that one cannot pray in the will of God without knowing the Word of God. The Bible is the revelation of the heart of God. It is the revelation of all that is good and right and true and pure. When you understand from the heart the teachings of God’s Word and when you meditate therein day and night, then you can pray knowing that what you ask for is in the will of God and that it will both please and honor Him to hear and answer your prayer and give you what you ask for. And prayer that is not based on the Bible is likely not to be pleasing to God. And groups of Christians who put great emphasis on prayer and little emphasis on the Word, are usually fanatical extremists, who may enjoy emotional ecstacy but who do not always pray in the will of God and do not get, many times, the things for which they ask.

+ Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Say A Prayer”

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #136

Even Though Prayer May Involve Other Things, True Prayer is Asking God for the Things You Need and the Good Things You Desire (Part 3) (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #131)

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is Micah 7:7 which reads: “Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.”

Our prayer motivator quote today is from Dave Earley. He said, “Spiritual work depends upon spiritual tools. No spiritual tool is as significant or powerful as prayer.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 3 of our last broadcast titled EVEN THOUGH PRAYER MAY INVOLVE OTHER THINGS, TRUE PRAYER IS ASKING GOD FOR THE THINGS THAT YOU NEED AND THE GOOD THINGS THAT YOU DESIRE from Dr. John R. Rice. Dr. Rice said…

Prayer is asking. The Lord Jesus said that “every one that asketh receiveth.” James said by divine inspiration, “Ye have not, because ye ask not.”

Under any other definition of prayer, there might be some place for form and ceremony, but not since prayer is asking. Since prayer is really asking something from God, then it must come from the heart.

No wonder that in Isaiah 44:3 the Lord says, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty.” Real asking comes from a thirst of the heart. Mark 11:24 says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

Heart’s desire is back of honest prayer. It is all right to pray aloud. It is all right to pray in a whisper. But since prayer really comes from the desire of the heart, it may overleap the incidental matters of words and sentences. The heart-cry may be manifested in tears or in groans or in quiet, expectant faith. But real prayer, prayer that asks something from God, must come from the heart. Oh, what an abomination is this fake kind of “praying” that is not the honest petition of the heart.

Long ago my father was a country preacher. Once when he held services in a certain church, a dear brother prayed long and eloquently. He said, “Lord, come down and meet with us today in this church house. Lord, come right down through the roof right now; I’ll pay for the shingles!” Either that was a very figurative way of expressing what his heart desired, or it was not prayer at all.

Too much of our praying is like the incantation of a witch doctor or the rites of some modern cult; that is, they may have rhythm or eloquence or beauty and aesthetic form, but they are not genuine prayers when they do not ask for things. The modern tendency to have pipe organ music during prayer is because we are not really praying at all. We say we seek reverance, but actually we are seeking some form of aesthetic beauty, some appeal to the senses.

When a lady orders groceries, she does not quote poetry. When the dispatcher gives orders to a trainman, they are not written on engraved stationary. He does not use classic illustrations or ponderous words. When a beggar asks for a dime for a cup of coffee and a hot dog, he does not talk about the glowing sunset. Brother, come to
God, asking for what you want, and go home with it! Let us really learn to pray by asking things from God.

+ Plus, listen to Cece Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray”

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #131

Prayer is Getting Down to the Business of Asking (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #123)

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God for today is Luke 9:28 which reads: “And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he [Jesus] took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.”

Our prayer motivator quote for today is from Leonard Ravenhill. He said, “Prayer is as vast as God because He is behind it. Prayer is as mighty as God, because He has committed Himself to answer it.”

Our prayer motivator devotional for today is titled PRAYER IS ASKING from Dr. John R. Rice. Dr. Rice said…

Matthew 7:7 reads, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” Verse 8 states, “For every one that asketh receiveth.”

John 16:24 states, “Ask, and ye shall receive. James 4:2 says, “Ye have not, because ye ask not,”

Matthew 7:11 states, “How much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Matthew 21:22 reads, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Luke 11:13 states, “How much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

John 14:14 says, “If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

Although surrounded much of the time by a wife, six daughters and a number of secretaries, I am continually astonished at the ways of women. When I was first married, my wife and a young lady friend insisted on going “window-shopping”. Since I was broke, I felt a great deal of unease about the proposal, until I learned that they did not plan to buy anything: they were merely going to “shop”. And gradually I learned that a woman can shop half of a day without really expecting to bring anything home!

And so it is that people often “pray”. They “pray” and “pray” but do not get anything; indeed, they do not expect to get anything. That is not the reason they “pray”. But though they call it praying, really it is not real prayer if it does not come with a definite petition, asking something from God.

My wife and daughters do not see how I get any fun out of buying shoes. I walk into a certain chain shoe store and order a conservative-style, low-quarter shoe in black calf, size ten, like others I have worn before, have my old shoes wrapped up, and walk out. The whole transaction takes about ten minutes. I go after shoes of a certain kind and get them and go home. I do not “shop”, in the woman’s understanding of the term. Rather, I buy. And that is what prayer is. Prayer is asking something definitely from God.

Notice again the Scriptures in Matthew 7:7-8, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Prayer, then, is asking. Or in other words, it is seeking and knocking. One who prays is expecting to receive. One who knocks is expecting something opened. One who seeks is expecting to find something. That is what the Bible says prayer is, really: asking, seeking, knocking. Real prayer is asking for something.

In James 4:2-3, the Scripture says, “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”

Christians have not because they ask not, and they have not because they ask amiss. That Scripture says that it is not fighting or warring or desiring or worrying, but it is asking that gets things from God. Praying is asking.

+Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray?”

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #123

Why it is Important to Pray for the President (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #99)

Our prayer motivator verse for today is Acts 9:11 which reads: “And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.”

Our thought for today is that prayer is the greatest work a Christian can do.

Our prayer motivator quote for today is from Oswald Chambers. He said, “Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.”

Our prayer motivator devotional for today is titled WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO PRAY FOR THE PRESIDENT from J. Gordon Henry:

What should we pray? The “Prayer for the President” written by Peter Marshall which I am going to share with you will give some ideas: “We pray, Lord Jesus, for our President. We are deeply concerned that he may know the will of God, and that he may have the spiritual courage and grace to follow it. Deliver him, we pray, from all selfish considerations. Lift him above the claims of politics. Fill him with the Spirit of God that shall make him fearless to seek, to know, and to do what is right. Save him from the friends who, in the name of politics or even friendship, would persuade him from that holy path. Strengthen and empower his advisors. Bring them, too, to their knees in prayer. May their example and their influence spread, that we, in these United States, may yet have a government of men who know Thee, the Almighty God, as their Friend, and who place Thy will first in their lives as well as in their prayers. Hear and answer, we pray Thee, forgiving us of all our unworthiness, cleansing us from every ignoble thought and unworthy ambition that we may be renewed in spirit and mind and heart, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

I like that as an example! Pray that God will anoint President Obama—who has testified that he is a born-again Christian. Pray for the members of his cabinet, our leaders in Congress and in other governmental positions—from the highest to the lowest.

One day set aside annually for prayer is only a starting point. Why not encourage people to join with you in small groups for prayer according to 2 Chronicles 7:14? When you are in prayer meetings and requests are made, focus on praying for our government, calling out specific needs. Let us unite in prayer that God will send a spiritual awakening to the United States of America beginning in our hearts and spreading through the nation and the world.

+ Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray?”

Click the play button below to listen now.

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #99

Prayer is Work! (The Prayer Motivator Devotional #65)

Our prayer motivator verse for today is Luke 21:36 which says: “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

Our prayer motivator quote for today is from E.M. Bounds, the great Christian writer on the subject of prayer. He said: “The little estimate we put on prayer is evident from the little time we give to it.”

+ Plus, Listen to CeCe Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray”

Click the play button below to listen now.

MP3 Download Link: The Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #65

CeCe Winans: “Pray”