A Prelude to Effective Praying
One of the ladies participating in a corporate fast wrote me that God showed her a thick layer of spiritual pride that made her see herself as “good enough and definitely better than some...”
The week of fasting began with God stripping off her blind fold in regards to her relationship with her husband (who was at the top of her list of “pray for this during fasting…”). God would not let her remain blind to her self-righteousness while she fasted for others.
“This morning in the pre-dawn moments as I spent time with Him,” she wrote, “He came and showed me many things in my heart that have gotten ‘off-center’ -- even though I hungered for Him. He showed me that I was seeking Him according to my own desires, selfish and self-assured that I was doing ‘right.’ He so graciously, yet firmly, brought conviction and understanding about dying to self in ways I had not seen before.”
God is preparing her to be a powerful intercessor. He told Jeremiah to “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem…If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city” (Jeremiah 5:1). Just one person who repented of any pretense, hidden pride, or covered sin would have been able to save Jerusalem.
Abraham attempted to learn the least number of righteous people needed to preserve the whole city of Sodom from judgement. He began with fifty. He worked his way down to ten, and God assured him he would spare the entire city for the sake of those ten.
What was the population of Sodom? Judging from information available from other cities in that day, Derek Prince believed we could safely say the population of Sodom in Abraham’s day was at least 10,000. This gives a ratio of one to a thousand.
God begins that verse that promises, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” with the words “Confess your sins” (James 5:16). When we repent, we are increasing our effectiveness in prevailing prayer.
Dear Jesus, You are welcome to reveal my heart to me as You see it. I want no covered sin to hinder my prayers.
“Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working]” (James 5:16 Amplified).
