Prayer That Gets Results
In 2008 the same message of encouragement and exhortation to prayer will be available in Spanish as an attachment called Oración 8##.
When I need encouragement to pray I re-read a section of a book by E.M.Bounds which is a collection of all his writings on prayer from the 1800’s. E. M. Bounds on Prayer was published in 1997 by Whitaker House, 30 Hunt Valley Circle, New Kensington, PA 15068. This American author was a contemporary of John Wesley.
In Chapter 1, “The Force that Shapes the World” of Book One, Purpose in Prayer, E.M. Bounds states, “The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which Christ carries on His great work upon the earth… The earth is changed, revolutionized; angels move on more powerful, more rapid wings: and God’s policy is shaped when the prayers of His people are more numerous and more efficient.”
The first lesson we should learn as a believer is how to pray. Immediately after that, we need to be exhorted to pray whether it be by an e-mail or through a book. The devil knows that by keeping believers from praying specific prayers, he can stop the move of God in those believers’ lives or in the “land” over which God has given us authority. What an honor it is to think that God uses our specific prayers as “the capital stock” of heaven to bring about God’s perfect will on earth. I believe that God places us in strategic geographical regions so that, through prayer, we can take back the land from the devil. When Adam sinned he gave the devil dominion over the land that Adam was supposed to subdue.
In the late 1970’s at a regional convention of the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International in St. Louis, MO, the speaker who was a lawyer taught us about the importance of praying for our land. He exhorted us to ask God to show us a territory for which we were each responsible, especially for spreading the gospel. As I drove 600 miles home, I asked God to show me the land which I was claim for Him. He showed me to claim 150 mile radius surrounding my home. I started praying specifically for that area and casting the devil out of that land which God had assigned me. In seven years through prayer, we started 13 FGBMFI chapters in 13 different towns and saw hundreds of men and women come to Jesus.
Ask God today to show you the land which He wants you to claim. Then pray in the Spirit and follow the scripture of II Chronicles 7:14 so that the Lord will heal your land. God wants to use your prayers and He wants you to witness the miracle of His restoration of a healed land.
Terry H Peters, DC
01082008