A Better Way to Pray 2007 160pg by Andrew Wommack, a famous healer and minister who started a healing college. J. Tofflemire Intro. He searched the scriptures on the word Pray and what the lord revealed to him A Better Way to pray, that may be different than you have been taught before. Chap. 1 Hypocrites Love to Pray. See Matt. 6:5 Don’t pray for show, but be sincere. Still public prayer is OK if done correctly, as we have the Lord’s prayer. The attitude of the heart is important, 1 Cor. 13;1-3. God has already moved to provide salvation, healing and blessings, we need to believe and accept them. What must I do to be saved? Acts 16:30-31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved”. Jesus dealt with sin, salvation and healing by his suffering. Matt. 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, drive out demons.” There is a difference in praying for healing and commanding healing, as he has given believers authority for this. Prayer is not trying to twist God’s arm to make something happen. It is believing and receiving what God has given us. Chap. 2 How long to Pray? God does not require long prayers; Just do sincere prayers guided by love and the holy spirit. Jesus’ prayers were often short. For longer prayers, he usually prays in tongues. He raised his won son from the dead by prayer, after being dead 5 hrs, p. 12. We should be talking to God some all day long; Its also good to have some brief intimate time with God. In ones time reading the bible, it’s good to ask God’s insight to help us. Chap. 3 Misconceptions Matt. 6:8 “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”So don’t pray negatively about your situation. Get a good sleep. Its good to pray God’s solution from His word. Prov. 18:21 “Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Chap. 4 Our Father–Matt. 6:9-13 Technically the Lord’s prayer isn’t a new covenant prayer. New covenant prayers need to be prayed in Jesus’ name. It begins with praise as in Ps. 100:4. We can remind ourselves of his goodness and mercy. Matt. 6:10 “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” God wants his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven and his believers healthy and prospers. We are already forgiven and he wouldn’t lead us into temptation. James 1:13-14. He will deliver us from evil, if we pray. Chap. 5 Make a Prayer Sandwich. Start by praising Him, the slide in your petition and also end with praise. Prayer is worship and worship is prayer. He is above every name and cancer is a name. Prayer is also loving and communing with God. An intimate relationship must be developed over time. He delights in using subtle ways to reveal Himself to you. He loves faith. He didn’t appear bodily, after the resurrection to any who didn’t already know Him. We need to fellowship with Him in the midst of every day life. Chap. 6 Begging from God. In Luke 11: 5-8 he discuses a parable of a late night friend asking for food. Some interpreted as begging is good, but the point is, of course he will give you food; we don’t need to beg. God is not withholding good things from us. Chap 7. Repent. In Gen. 18:23-25 Abraham is barging God to not slay all of Sodom. This was a different time and not proper under the new covenant. Moses also did this in Exo. 32:9-14. Moses was acting as a mediator, but now we have Christ for this. Chap. 8 Jesus the only Mediator. This shown in 1 Tim. 2:1-5. Jesus atoned for all our sins. Jesus gave us Luke 11:9-10 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.” In vs. 11-13 it notes God as a father will give us what we need. Chap. 9 a ploy of the Devil. Luke18:1-8 tells of a widow’s repeated prayer to an unjust judge. Again this does not mean that we need to repeat prayers lot. Vs. 6-7 says therefore God who is just will hear our prayers. He tells of his early ministry where he held all nigh prayer meeting to call for revival. Now he notes that is unnecessary, as God already wants revival. He would love to see the same hunger and passion for the Lord as he has seen in some other countries. It’s not because God hasn’t poured out his spirit on America; its because America is preoccupied with DVD’s, movies, TVs, video games, shopping and beaches. We need to act on truth and sharing the gospel to others. Chap 10. Come out of the Prayer Closet. You can’t get another adult person saved on your faith; they must come to their own belief. Acts 16:31 “They said,“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Jesus and Paul never modeled prayer warriors and intercessors the way it’s modeled today; like praying for a city. The logic behind that says there are demonic forces holding certain cities captive and we must pray to have that broken. There are some demonic forces even in some of our churches. If you are depressed you may have a demon. It’s difficult to cast out a demon in an adult against their with truth. Recently a large church group sent 20,000 intercessors to bind a demon in Ephesus. Paul preached there, but just preached the truth to them with the aid of holy spirit, in a way they could relate to, Acts 19. We need to do more of this. Human beings empower demons by believing their lies and cooperating with their evil desires. If the holy spirit leads us, we need to also go and speak the truth. Chap. 11 Prayers for the Lost. 2 Cor. 4:4 ”In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, to keep them from seeing the light of the glorious gospel of the Messiah, who is the image of God.” We need to pray to bind their blindness and deception, doing it several times. Also ask for laborers to witness to them. God works through people and the Holy Spirit. John 14:26 “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit-the Father will send Him in My name-will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.” Remittance deals with the effects of sin; you can pray for this for a lost person needing help. John 20:23 “whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.” Paul also said try not to leave an unbelieving mate; but pray for and love them in 1 Cor. 7:16. Chap. 12 the main purpose of Prayer. It’s to praise and thank and love Him. We are not anxious or stress when praising Him. After praise we inset our requests. Matt. 6:33 ”But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”; 6:25. When God is the center of your life, everything works out for good! p.91 But for many, God is only part of their life. Prayer with praise changes our perspective, also singing and worship. Chap. 13 Intimacy Eternal Life is more than salvation, its knowing good personally,; John 17:3 ”And this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent-Jesus the Messiah.” He wants to be your best friend. Salvation is also blessings and healings. Prayer is more than asking for things, is also communion and fellowship with God. He desires your fellowship more than your service; he created Adam and Eve for fellowship.. When you are intimate with God, he will bless you!, p.108 Chap. 14 Ps. 103:1 ”Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.” The Lord likes you blessing and thanking him, you were created for this purpose. Paul and Silas praised the Lord in chains in prison and the chains fell off. Ps. 8:2 “Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold(praise) from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger.” Andrew got a call their son was dead. They did not accept it and He and his wife commanded their son back to life and drove to the hospital, praising the Lord. He had been dead for 5 hrs. But was awakened when they got there, p.114. Sometime Andrew prays in tongues for a hour when there is a decision he needs wisdom on. After doing a healing he always gives thanks to God. 2 Tim. 1:12 ”I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” It often takes some time before what God has done in the spiritual world manifests in the physical world. If one commits,to God He will honor it in your prayers. Chap, 15 The fig tree. He cites Mark 11 for this story. When Jesus spoke at the fig tree it took time for it to die. God is a spirit and it make take time for prayers to manifest in the physical. In Daniel 9,10 It took time for the angel to appear to Daniel and answer his prayers. Faith and prayers will follow spiritual laws. Thus be patient. Ps. 89:34 “My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.” We need to exercise our authority and speak to the problem. Prov. 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.” Chap. 16 Speak to your Problem Ps.100:4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving. Then speak to your mountain and command it to change. Wife Jamie healed her injured and swelled foot, when they commanded it to heal. Mark 11:24 ”Therefore I tell you, all the things you pray and ask for—believe that you have received them, and you will have them.” Chap. 17 Repeat the Prayer of Faith. Prayer is using the spiritual realm. Heb. 11;1,3 ”Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” ”By faith we understand that the universe was created by God’s command, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible.” Faith is discernible, wait until you have it and then pray repeating until you have results. You will build confidence as you pray with success more. You will overcome your unbelief. Chap. 18 Ask and Receive. Luke 11:9 “So I say to you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.” Much of the church makes excuses why God’s promises don’t work. On tongues, they say its not for everyone; What did Luke just say? Ungodly requests may not be answered. James 4:3 “You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.” Chap.19 The variable At times the manifestation is delayed as in Daniel 9. Things in the spirit realm are unseen. There can be demonic interference or unbelief of relatives or Drs. Chap. 20 Hindrances Removed. Bad influences can hinder a house sale. Even tooth pain can have some demonic component. We must also pray against any hindrances,p.171 He noted in Mark 8:22 that Jesus took a blind man out of town for a healing and had to pray twice for his healing, as his sight was blurry after the first. The 2nd removed the remaining hindrances of unbelief. Thus it’s good to ask the patient status after the first. Chap. 21 Receiving. When you hear teaching of God’s word your faith is strengthened. and as your knowledge of this increases you can receive and do healings. Even Jesus was unable to override someones unbelief, Mark 6:5-6. He has ministered down prayer lines in services and healed one, but not the next and then another one and not the next. Andrew’s faith remained strong, so it was their unbelief that blocked the healing of some. He has prayed for an entire row of people where 9 were healed and one wasn’t. Again unbelief. Here is a story of healing blind 17 yr. old boy in 1976. He had advertised a healing service: bring the blind, deaf and lame! When the boy came up he commanded the eye to see. He couldn’t. Some of the audience reacted negatively. He then asked those who don’t believe in this to leave, and they did; now only about 20 remained. He tried the healing command again and still no sight. Then he asked the Lord for guidance and got a thought- you need a miracle not a healing. He kept meditating and praying in tongues; A friend also said he got a word- you need a miracle not a healing!. With this confirmation he asked the boy the nature of his eye. The boy said- as child, he had an eye infection and the Dr. removed his lens and retina. Then Andrew prayed and commanded the lens and cornea to come into his eye and it did and he could see! The lesson from this is- if you are led to persist, do so and ask for guidance.