Unleashing the Power of Prayer

Leslie Bennett: I’m really overwhelmed to see so many women who are desiring to see the power of prayer unleashed in their lives and in their homes and in their churches. And it’s overwhelming for me to see this room filled with women who are hungry to grow in their prayer lives. 

So, thank you so much. I know that if you chose this session, that tells me a little something about you. I am going to already assume that you are a big-time prayer warrior, is that true? I mean you might not want to raise your hand. I know you want to grow in that, but I am going to assume that you’re already a prayer warrior.

But can we just at the very beginning of this session say to one another, no matter where we are in our journey with the Lord, our prayer lives are not what they could be or should be?

That is true of me. So, is that true of you as well? Then great! We’re all in this together. We are going to sharpen each other today through this session. 

Truth discloser girls: I pray a lot, but I’m not qualified. I’m certainly not an expert on prayer, but I can honestly say this: I love prayer, and I love the Lord so much. He has taught me so much over the years. I hope to share some things with you today that will help you. 

I just really want you to consider this time . . . As I was preparing for this workshop, I could just envision in my mind all of us just sitting around my table with a cup of tea, hot tea, iced tea, like I love that because I’m from the south, or a cup a coffee. So, that’s what I want you to think of this time—just good friends sitting around the table talking about a topic that we absolutely love. 

The story has been told of a man who lived in rural South Carolina. This man was living under the poverty line, and he really didn’t have a lot that he owned. But he owned some land, and he had a little shanty, I guess is what I would call it—a kind of broken-down house on his property where he lived in rural South Carolina. 

Well, one day there was a knock on his door, and it was the South Carolina Department of Transportation coming to let this gentleman know that there was going to be a new interstate built that was coming right through his property, and the state of South Carolina was going to allow him to keep his house. He didn’t have much at all, but he did have that piece of land. They were letting him know that the interstate was going to come right through his property and that he could keep his little house if they could buy out his land from him. 

So they said to him, “Sir, we are offering you $75 million for the land that you are living on so that we can come and build this interstate.

So here is this man living below the poverty line in South Carolina with not hardly anything to his name. He receives a $75 million check, and in an instant he becomes a millionaire. 

Well, the interstate was built, and during this process, it was noticed that the man never moved out of his house. So, one of the engineers went up to his house and just said, “Sir, you’re still living here. Why do you choose to still live here? You’re a millionaire.” And they looked up and saw on the wall where the man had taken the $75 million dollar check and he framed it. It was hanging on the wall. 

Well, that’s how I see prayer for most of us Christians. We’re glad for it; we are thankful for it. We use it when life throws us a curve ball or when tragedy strikes. We pray at meal time. We pray for people with cancer. But for the most part, prayer is an underutilized gift from God.

Prayer is like a $75 million dollar framed check that is worth nothing unless it is cashed. Amen? 

So ladies, take out your pens, really, take out your pens. I have to get mine out. I want to see your pens; hold them up high. What a beautiful picture! We’re going to take out our pens today, and we are going to sign the back of that check, and we’re taking it to the bank. 

Well, in the Bible we see miracles in response to prayer. We read about mountains being moved if we have faith. And then we wonder why we don’t see that same spectacular result in our personal prayer lives. 

I want you to sign the back of the check, because God, even though He’s the sovereign God of the universe, He cannot answer our prayers that are not being prayed. Can He? Now, He can do anything He wants without lifting a finger, but God doesn’t answer wishful thinking or worries that haunt our minds, but never voice themselves as a plea to the Lord God Almighty for His help. 

It often feels like in our prayer lives that God is either silent or that our prayers are either hitting the ceiling and bouncing back down. It’s easy to get discouraged in our prayer lives. God doesn’t wear the same watch that we do. His Word tells us that a day with the Lord is like a thousand years. And a thousand years with the Lord is like a day. 

Scripture is also clear about what hinders our prayer lives, and that is what this session is going to cover. I am going to save a little bit of time and give you some tools to lead to corporate prayer gatherings that will fuel spiritual momentum and revival. How does that sound? It that why you are here?

Yay! Let’s go! 

I want to share with you six big obstacles to powerful prayer. Six big obstacles to powerful prayer and I’m going to go ahead and give them to you now. Then we will walk through them together. 

• It’s the me-centered prayer. 
• It’s the earthly-centered prayer.
• It’s the dirty hands prayer.
• It is the zippy prayer.
• It is the kitty cat prayer.
• It is the lazy prayer. 

Have I got your attention with that crazy list? But these are the kinds of prayers, the six kinds of prayers that will according to Scripture dilute our prayer lives, and that’s not what we want. 

So, ladies, I am going to throw a lot at you today, but as you listen and take notes, just ask the Holy Spirit, “Show me the one or two of these things that I need to focus on.” Because you may have five of these, and there may be only one that you’re realizing, “Okay Lord, this is something that You’re wanting me to change.” 

This workshop could also be called “What You Have Forgotten About Prayer.” What I’ve forgotten about prayer, so these will be good reminders for you as well. 

#1: The Me-Centered Prayer: If God answered every single prayer that you prayed, would the world look different? Would our churches be changed? Would there be revival in your community, or would just your family be safe, healthy, and happy?

Good place to start, right? 

Often, the bulk of our prayers consist of cul-de-sac prayers. So, what in the world do I mean by that? 

A cul-de-sac prayer is a prayer that never exits the front door of your house and into the street. This type of prayer is limited to what makes me and my family comfortable. That fixes people who bother me. It keeps my friends from getting sick or running out of money. That’s the cul-de-sac prayer. 

Now, contrast a cul-de-sac prayer with how Jesus prayed. His prayers were God-centered. As you look into the Word and you see how Jesus prayed, you know what He prayed for more than anything else? He prayed for God’s glory. 

And the ultimate goal of prayer is to see and experience the glory of God, and for God Himself to be glorified in and through our lives. 

Lately, the Lord has been leading me to pray to behold as much of God’s glory as I possibly can. And for His glory to be what shapes me as a woman and as a child of God.

My pastor likes to say, “Gaze at the glory of God until you are consumed by it.” Ladies, if you do that, that will change you, according to 2 Corinthians 3:18. We will become like glory lanterns, shining the light of God’s Son wherever we live, work, and play—in our schools, in our neighborhoods, and in our workplaces. 

Moses prayed in Exodus 33:13, “Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.”

Now, let’s talk about the context of that prayer, because it’s actually surprising in some ways. You see, God had just agreed not to abandon the stiff-necked Israelites because of Moses’ intercession. But even that wasn’t enough for Moses. He said, “I’m not going unless You go with me,” and God agreed to that. But that wasn’t enough for Moses. 

In verse 18, Moses pressed into the Lord and he said, “Show me your glory.” Well, hadn’t Moses already seen God’s glory? Didn’t He see God’s glory in the burning bush, when God said I AM the great I AM? Hadn’t Moses communed with God on Mt. Sinai for forty days and forty nights? Hadn’t Moses seen the shekinah glory of God repeatedly?

Well, in this moment before Moses prayed, now show me Your glory, he could have prayed for 100 different things. In the previous chapter, you’ll remember in Exodus chapter 32, the Israelites had just persuaded Aaron to fashion a golden calf from their jewelry because they were tired of waiting on God. 

Well, if I had been Moses, at the top of my prayer list in that situation I would have said, “Lord, deliver me from these stiff-necked people, and send my brother Aaron to a different ministry. I’m going on without him.” 

And yet, Moses knew something that we need to know: in every trial, in every crisis, what we need most is a fresh vision of the glory of God. 

The prophet Habakkuk was given a promise from the Lord in 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” 

Ladies, what if we began to pray that every day? How would our lives and our churches be different if we prayed for a fresh vision of the glory of the Lord? We must do whatever it takes to regain all God’s glory. Praying God’s Word will restore the wonder of God’s glory. 

Well, God-centered prayer blazes the highway of holiness for God to come in revival. God-centered prayer begs to see and experience the glory of God, and for God Himself to be glorified in and through our lives. 

Let’s go to number two: earthly-minded prayer. C.S. Lewis said, “It’s only when we’re heavenly minded that we can be earthly good.”

Often our priorities in prayer are not the same priorities for God’s children and His beloved bride of Christ. Prayer is intended to be an echo of the heart of God, of the desires of God. Our prayers are simply an echo. They shouldn’t even originate from us; they are to originate from Him. 

But see, not unlike Moses, too often we want answers, but we don’t want God Himself. Let’s call that exactly what it is, cheap prayer. We must ask ourselves if we want God’s blessings without knowing Him. Do we beg for God’s favor as long as He doesn’t mettle or interfere or discipline us?

Prayer isn’t a method to get what we want, it’s a method to get what God wants. It’s not us reaching up, it’s God coming down to be with His people. 

So, ladies, until you believe to the depths of your soul, that God is good and that the cross of Christ proves that He is 100% . . . Can I say 1,000%? Is it okay to say that? 1,000% for you and not against you, and that His plan for our lives is far superior than anything we could imagine and that when we get to heaven, we will rejoice that He did all things well, that there were no mistakes, that there were no mishaps. Until we truly believe that Heaven rules, our prayers will be short-sighted and anemic. 

Then and only then can we say with peace and expectation, “Have Your way, Lord.” Are you at the point where you can pray that yet and really mean it? Have Your way, Lord. To truly pray, “Thine will be done,” as Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer, requires unconditional surrender. We heard Nancy talk about that last night. 

You may be wrestling with the Lord right now. Ladies, let me just tell you, it is time to stop fighting and start surrendering. We don’t have to be the fight back girls. God knows how He wants to shape us. He knows precisely which tool and which person He will use to accomplish His purposes. It’s exhausting to hold back certain parts of our lives from the Lord. 

I really like the way Nancy said it so much better than I did just now. She said, “Your arm is not long enough to wrestle with God.” 

I’ve written five personal prayers in the front of my Bible, and the first one is: Have all of me, Lord. 

Henrietta Mears once said, “The greatness of man’s power is the measure of His surrender.” It’s not a question of who are, or what you are, but whether God controls you. You see, when God owns all of us, we won’t pray predominately me-centered prayers, or earthly-minded prayers. We won’t try to pray away the very things that God wants to use to shape us like Christ. Anybody been guilty of that besides myself?

We won’t pray away those things. You won’t find one instance of Christ praying His troubles away. It is simply not there. 

Number three, the third obstacle to powerful prayer is “the dirty hands” prayer. Now, if you love digging in the garden, like my friend Patsy, then there’s no better feeling than to get dirt under your fingernails, while making things grow. 

Even if you don’t like gardening, imagine planting and weeding in your garden and in your yard all day long, having the best time, and then walking into your kitchen to prepare dinner without washing your hands. 

What’s a little dirt in this soup, and in the bread, or in the rice and beans? It doesn’t really matter, does it? Really? Really? Not a big deal? Well, the Lord takes sin seriously and we should too, but the big problem is thatI don’t see my sin as a big problem.

That’s the big problem, I don’t see my sin as a big problem. And at the heart of it, sin is a rejection of God. It's choosing sin’s allure over the true lover of our souls. Sin is not neutral. Sin is not simply not a bad habit, it’s destructive, it’s progressive, and willful. Sin that is not confessed and repented of and cleansed never ends well. 

Psalm 24:3–4 asks this question: 

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
   And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has [what?] clean hands and a pure heart,
   who does not lift up his soul to what is false
and does not swear deceitfully.

See, Jesus is that perfect man who prayed with sterile hands and 100% heart. Jesus shed His blood on the cross so that we could pray the same way He did, through His name. And do you know this truth?

The writer of Psalm 66 did. 

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
   the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
   he has attended to the voice of my prayer.” (vv. 18–19)

That’s the prayer of a repenter who knows God is listening to his prayer.

The cross has broken the power of sin, but still, our human flesh makes it impossible not to sin. You know Paul, “I do the things I don’t want to do. I don’t do the things I want to do” (see Rom. 7:15).And the beloved disciple John said we’re actually calling God a liar if we say we are without sin (see 1 John 5:10). “Confess your sins to one another,” James the brother of Jesus said (James 5:16). 

Be honest with God, be specific, He already knows it anyway. And yet, sometimes I’m really surprised when I pray with a group of women that some ladies still don’t know how to confess their sins. 

We have to be specific, not generic, not general, not “we” but “me,” Lord. It’s me, Lord. I need to be forgiven. John Bunyan put it this way, and it’s very succinct about what we’re talking about about, “Prayer will make a man cease from sin, or sin will make a man cease prayer.” 

Just remember repentance adds fuel to the flames of prayer. You will pray powerfully when you pray with clean hands and a pure heart. 

Number four: “zippy prayers.” Now, I found out that there are Zippy restaurants in Hawaii. I’ve never heard of that before, but it sounds interesting. Anybody ever heard of that? Anybody from Hawaii in here? We have Zippy car washes. We have Zippy storage units. There’s a Zippy technology company.

Modern culture is infatuated with anything “zippy.” And add to it our smart phones and social media. Algorithms are rewiring our brains for shorter attention spans. Do you ever feel numb from the massive amount of information that your brain is constantly trying to process? Is it just me? I mean, I know I am getting older, but is it too much? It’s too much. 

If we could listen in on each others’ prayer times, I wonder if we could peak into in our hearts. I wonder if you might see this, not spoken, but in our heart, “Lord, let’s make this quick. Because in five minutes I’m off and running, and you know my brain is going to be gone if we don’t make this quick in about five minutes.” 

We have forgotten what Jesus taught in John 15:7: “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish and it will be done for you.”

This exposes a hidden issue that drains power from our prayers. We aren’t abiding. We aren’t sitting in the Lord’s presence and in His Word, long enough for our hearts and minds to be transformed into His image. 

So, as a practical point, when my mind goes off the tracks, because believe you me, it is going to . . . Every time I sit down to pray and I am in the Word of the Lord, I just ask the Lord to help me focus. If a person is brought to my mind, then I believe, “Okay Lord, that’s from You, I’m going to pray for this person, and I might not even know what’s going on in their life, but I am just going to pray for that person.” Then I am going to quickly go back and return to prayer. 

Or if I’m distracted by something, I’m going to get rid of whatever it is that’s distracting me. What distracts you in prayer? Your children? Your to-do lists? Your phone? Your brain spinning? Sometimes at my house it’s the barking dog that won’t be quiet. Whatever it is, we have to get rid of that, move that out of the way, and return to prayer. 

And ladies, I am going to say this, unless you are a young momma in the room, and I’m not speaking to you, but the rest of us, we need to get a good night’s sleep. 

Now, you young mommas are in a season of life where that’s not really always possible, but the rest of us don’t have an excuse. We’re guilty of pushing our bodies beyond the finite limits that God has put in place. 

I might be stepping on your toes right now. I’ve had to learn this the hard way. We’ve got to learn to rest, and that will fuel our prayer life. 

As I travel and connect with many women in churches, what I find missing is women with a lifestyle of prayer. Pastor Bill Elliff translates 1 Thessalonians 5:17, which is “pray without ceasing,” or pray continually, or pray constantly, depending on the translation. He translates that as prayer without intermission. Don’t you love that? Prayer without intermission. 

So, to harness the potency of prayer means your prayer life does not come equipped with a power on and off switch. Think of prayer as a living prayer journal. Your prayer life is a living prayer journal with blurred edges. And what I mean by that is, instead of a prayer life or prayer time that is starting and stopping over the course of our lifetime, we will learn to walk with Jesus moment by moment . . . and that grows very slowly.

Some of you older prayer warriors in the room, you have learned that over the years. And if you are a younger woman, I want to point you to some of those older women, who have learned to walk with Jesus, moment, by moment. 

A lifestyle of prayer is believing the Lord is my helper. Believe you me, I need help. You need help. So, it’s believing the Lord is my helper, and it’s knowing that the Spirit of the Living God resides within me. I can talk with Him, and I desire to talk with Him constantly. 

In fact, I am absolutely shocked sometimes that the God of the universe wants to talk to me. That’s mind blowing, ladies. That’s absolutely mind blowing. 

A lifestyle of prayer is turning to Him to give thanks when things go right, or when challenges are resolved. It’s turning to Him first when problems arise, and it’s praying with others in this moment. 

For me, here’s what this looks like, and I don’t do it perfectly. I don’t do it 100% of the time, but it’s like let’s pray about this right now. We’re talking about a challenge, we’re facing a challenge, let’s just pray about this right now. Or someone starts sharing about maybe their child is going through something difficult and they’re asking for prayer, then it’s like let’s pray about this right now. Let’s go to the Lord right now. 

At my age, I talk to myself a lot. What I have found is as I’ve gotten older, and I’ve began to talk to myself a lot, I just have kind of made a switch to that, instead of talking to myself, I just talk to God. And so, in my household, my husband is hard of hearing. I’m talking to God, and you can image what it’s like at my house. He’s like, “Huh? Huh? Are you talking to me?”

“No, I’m talking to God.” 

You can just make that little switch, and begin to talk to the Lord instead of just talking out loud and talking to yourself. 

You see, those quick zippy prayers are puny and cultivating a lifestyle of abiding with God in prayer. It is like a booster to the rocket. Our prayers are forcefully propelled into the throne room of Heaven. “Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done.” How is that possible? Can that really be true?

Well, that is because, God’s desires when we are sitting with Him and we are abiding with Him and we are living a lifestyle of prayers, His desires become our desires. That’s how we can ask for anything that we wish, because we wish God’s will to be done. 

Number five: “kitty cat prayers.” Some of us tend to approach the Lord rather timidly, “God if You have time, I know You’re busy,” so many people are praying. And, “Here I am, and it’s me again. I know I’ve already talked to You about this, but I am back. And if You think You can help me Lord . . .” What? 

That reminds me of the father of the mute son that was having convulsions in Mark 9. He had asked the disciples if they could cast out this demon that was causing him to be mute and to have these convulsions, and the disciples had no success with that. But when the dad saw Jesus, he went to Jesus. His prayer request started out like this, “If You can, have compassion and help us.” To which Jesus’ reply to the man probably looking at the man like I’m looking at you right now. You’ve got to be kidding me.” If I can help? If I have compassion? Can I help you?

He replied, “If you can, all things are possible for the one who believes.” 

And so, the dad begged Jesus. You remember the next thing he did? He said, “I believe, help my unbelief.” And Jesus did. That’s what we need to do, “Father I believe, help my unbelief.” And be bold in our prayers. 

During His earthly ministry, Jesus called the people a faithless generation. I wonder what He would call our generation? I wonder if He would call us faithless?

Ladies, we pray in the name of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who does not purr like a soft kitty cat. He roars! Amen? Let’s start to pray like it. 

Nothing is too hard for Him. Believe what He said in His Word. Come into His presence with boldness and confidence in His power. What impossible prayers are you praying that only God can answer?

Well, in the fall of 2019, my daughter Makenzie and her husband had been married for several years, and they deeply desired a child. They were infertile. They had been to fertility counseling, she had gone through a lot of treatment. She was not having a menstrual period. 

And not having a menstrual period, you can’t get pregnant. Nothing that they had tried was working. 

And so, they decided that they were done. It was just too emotional; it was just too hard. You know, Heaven rules, right? Heaven rules. So they said, “We’re not seeking any more treatment. We’re just going to sit back, and we’re just going pray. That’s all we’re going to do; we’re going to pray.” 

And so, in her time with the Lord, because she is a woman who abides . . . I’m so proud of her, she abides. And in her time with the Lord, this was in like fall, it might have even been November, I can’t remember exactly. 

But she was praying with the Lord, and the Lord impressed upon her heart to pray for a miracle baby. 

Well, that’s kind of terrifying in a way. Pray for a miracle baby? You want me to pray for a miracle baby? She heard Him because she listens and she abides. 

And so, she took some time, and she kept coming back to the Lord. Because you need to discern that, is that from the Lord or is that just my wishful thinking, or where is that coming from? 

So, she kept going back to the Lord. Lord, is this what You’re asking me? She spoke with her husband about it. They prayed about it, and they believed that that was truly from the Lord, to pray for a Christmas miracle. 

Well, I want you to know my daughter was still not having a menstrual period. She’s physically unable to get pregnant and to give birth to a child. But on Christmas morning, in faith, she had bought a pregnancy test and had it in the cabinet. 

She thought on Christmas morning, “Honey, let’s just see. He’s the God of the impossible. So, together they huddled in the bathroom. They took the pregnancy test, and they were pregnant . . . . on Christmas morning. 

God is the God of the impossible. Ladies, I want you to pray impossible prayers in your life, because if God can do that for my daughter, who physically could not bear a child, He can do that for whatever it is that your heart is yearning to see Him do. 

Let’s believe Him and ask Him for the impossible. 

Well, we’ve considered the me-centered prayers, the earthly-centered prayers, the dirty hands prayers, the zippy prayers, and the kitty cat prayers. Now, the last one is kind of the most lengthy of them all. The sixth obstacle of powerful praying is your lazy prayer.

You see, prayer is hard work, we have to put our hands to the plow and not give up. In Colossians 4:12, Paul tells us about his friend Epaphras, who was as Scripture says, “ . . . struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.”

Other translations of that is “always struggles,” or “always striving earnestly,” or “laboring fervently.” That phrase comes from a Greek word which is a picture of how the early Olympic athletes competed to win. They competed with one goal in mind, and the only goal that they had was to win. 

So, they wrestled, they struggled, they labored fervently to win. 

The first century Christians were taught by Paul for God’s kingdom to advance, they must labor through prayer in the presence of a powerful and holy God. And Epaphras is held up as that model for fervent prayer and fervent intercession. 

If anything, the past two years has taught me personally . . . I believe in the twenty-first century church that we have become a people who give a lot of lip service to the importance of prayer but our lifestyle doesn’t match up. We haven’t gotten this right, ladies. But there is time to get it right, because the Bible says we have not because we ask not. What could be more clear than that?

E.M. Bounds wrote this, “The Church upon its knees would bring heaven upon earth.” The Church upon its knees would bring heaven upon earth. E.M. Bounds also said, “If the Devil can get the Church to withdraw from prayer by believing reasonable excuses, the Church is under his dominion.” 

Wow that strikes me right through the heart. So, when we’re not disturbed when a few days or weeks pass without time in the Word or prayer, it’s because we’ve forgotten that it absolutely matters. We have fallen for the lie that prayer isn’t as important as other stuff. 

The Enemy wants us to believe that prayer accomplishes little, and that it’s an add-on to our faith. Just think, what if we had stopped praying for the overturning of Roe v. Wade and quit praying against abortion? Praise God for that answer to prayer! 

So, listen, let’s not be too hard on ourselves though. One reason we lack powerful prayer is because we don’t have a plan. So, would you be willing to take one small step to get with other believers to pray? Here is how God has shown me to do this, and I hope it will be helpful to some of you. 

Listen, a year ago I had a real burden for my church. We were going through a challenging time. I just felt like I knew that I was not praying for my church the way I should be. Like many churches, our church was having a very difficult time with COVID. It had taken its toll on us. I wasn’t seeing that the church members were living up to their responsibility to be bathing the church in prayer.

Our leaders, our pastors, and our staff, and frankly as a congregation I wasn’t aware of anyone that was praying for the fire of God to fall on us. 

So, I got together with a couple of friends and shared my burden with them, and they quickly agreed. And my one friend, Shannon, who is super action oriented . . . I just love her. She went straight to the pastor and said, “Pastor, the women want to get together and pray on Sunday morning, what do you think?”

He was thrilled. He was overjoyed. He gave his blessing. None of had any extra time to add one more thing to our schedule, right? So, we had to come up with a simple plan. What that ended up being for us is that we would meet for thirty minutes in-between the two worship services at our church. That’s all. Thirty minutes. We don’t share any prayer requests, because we’re all reading the church e-news and the worship bulletin. We know what’s going on. We know what’s happening. We can sense how the Spirit is directing our pastor through the way that he is preaching. And so what we do is we take the sermon text, and we pray from the sermon text, and we boldly go before the throne of grace and we intercede fervently and boldly for our church. 

We pray big kingdom prayers, the kind of prayers that bathe our church in God’s priorities. We cry out for Him to revive His Church and to send a spiritual awakening in our lifetime. 

Now, most Sundays, five or six women show up. Some mommas even bring their daughters and I absolutely love that. Even some young ones as well as some teens. But here’s what I know, it doesn’t have to be a big group to yield big results. 

Another friend of mine, Holly, and her family happened to be away from church about the time we started this prayer group. They were gone for a long time, like nine months or so. And when they came back, she said something to me very interesting. She said, “I can’t explain it, but our church is different. What’s been going on? It has changed dramatically while our family has been away.”

And what had happened when we started this prayer time, not only were we suffering from COVID, but had several (and this is not a huge church) key staff members left all about the same time. And when she came back, we had rehired all of the staff members and pastors we needed and some new positions. Now, that ladies, can be attributed to many different things, but one of them is the power of prayer! Amen? Amen!

The power of prayer; it’s dramatic what God has been doing. So, I could have the mindset of why bother five or six women for only thirty minutes, but friends, God, by His Spirit, what He can do in thirty minutes is not what His followers can do in thirty years!

Have a plan, pursue intimacy with Jesus alone and with other believers. Prayer is costly. It requires sacrifice; it’s inconvenient; it’s hard work. Prayer is strapping on combat boots and going out the door into battle when you would rather stay home because you’re tired. Prayer is admitting we’re helpless without God. Prayer is asking God to do only what He can. 

The times are urgent. I was reading in Joel recently about the Day of the Lord and the return of Jesus to judge the world, when the lost will be perished, and I came under a spirit of conviction. Would I live differently if I knew that Jesus was coming tomorrow? Would I pray differently if I knew that Jesus was coming back next week or next month? Would I pray with more urgency and fervency? Would you?

In Luke 11:5–8, after Jesus gave the pattern for prayer, which we call the Lord’s Prayer, He went on to teach a modern-day parable that illustrates how we are to pray. I’m going to put the modern-day spin on it. He called it a parable, and I’m going to put the modern-day spin on it for you. 

So, this comes from Luke 11 verses 5–8. So, imagine with me girls, it’s just been one of those days. The kids, or it could be the grandkids, spill blue Kool-Aid all over the white rug, and then they were playing on your white couch after eating strawberries and accidently threw up all of this red gunk. You lost the car keys so you were late to your doctor’s appointment, so they canceled you. Your husband woke up sick. The toilet overflowed. You threw out your back picking up the wailing two-year-old. Do I need to go on further with this, or are you getting the picture? It’s just a normal day for a woman, right?

By 8 p.m. everyone in the household is like, “We’re putting this day to bed. No more of this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. It’s over, we’re all going to bed, 8 o’clock, lights out.” 

And at midnight there’s a knock at the door. Well, you barely hear it, because you’re pretty much in the deep sleep mode—comatose would be the right word to use here. You’re comatose at this point, but the knock keeps getting louder. No matter how many times you turn over, the knock keeps getting louder, and you can’t ignore it. 

So, finally you shout out, “Go away! We’re asleep” (knocking) “Go away! We’ve got COVID!” But instead of going away, your neighbor just hollers and pounds on the door even more. “You must give me three loaves of bread for my visitor who just showed up, and I haven’t been to the grocery store in a week.” 

Ugh! Oh my word, this neighbor really has got a lot of nerve. No matter what you do, you put the pillow over your head, and you still can’t block it out. So, you get up out of bed, just to get rid of her. You stumble in the dark, and you go the pantry and just get whatever you can, just whatever you can sweep up in your hands. You go to the back door, you open the door, you throw it at her, and then you slam the door, and you go back to bed. 

Well, Jesus explains this parable. He says that even though the grumpy person wouldn’t wake up for a friend, she will eventually get up because of her neighbor’s shameless, boldness, persistence, and audacity. She will give her whatever she asks. 

So, how much more? How much more will our loving Father respond to our audacious prayers when we use the Lord’s Prayer as our pattern? And then Jesus goes on further to teach that we can be absolutely confident when we pray. And I am going to read that to you from Luke 11:9–13. This is what comes right after that. 

And I tell 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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Praise the Lord!

So, did you catch that? It goes on to say (and I am going to skip over verse 11), “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

So, don’t miss that verse, because that verse is saying that we are expanding our capacity for the Holy Spirit when we are in prayer. 

Jesus is calling us to passionate, confident prayer. Like when Jacob wrestled with the angel, and Hannah mumbled her longing, her pleas for a child, and when Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death. 

There will be times when we are discouraged about prayer. And that’s why it’s essential that we’re not always praying alone on our own. Find a partner or a group to pray with. 

And I am absolutely convinced of this that there are some works of God that He reserves until His people seek Him fervently together in prayer. Anybody else would agree with me on that? The Church has weakened its power because it has forfeited it’s power to pray together. 

If you only take one thing away from this session, I hope it will be the necessity of gathering with believers to seek the Lord fervently and on a regular basis. 

Pray together, whatever it takes, do it. Maybe it’s even online, we have that capability now. But let the prayer meeting arise from the dust. There is no substitute. If you don’t have someone like that in your life, just pray and ask God. He will answer that prayer, and He will connect you with someone else who has that same burden, and then wait on Him to act. 

Well in Acts 1:14, note the “one accord” prayer. It says, “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer.” Could it be that we are having so much division and disunity in the Church that we have stopped praying together? Bowing shoulder to shoulder in prayer, there’s something about that.

When we do that with our brothers and sisters, that goes a long way to mending the hurt in our hearts and our disagreement. 

The early Church modeled and assumed Christians would unite in prayer. If you read Acts 1 and 2, you’ll see the spiritual momentum that results for united prayer. United prayer is appealing to God and united prayer harnesses the potency of prayer. 

So, if you’re ready to take the next step with that, I am just going to give you a couple little tools, for meeting with other people to pray. You can trust me girls, if I can do it, I promise you, you can. You just need a little advanced planning and a few tools and you too can lead prayer gatherings. 

Tonight we’re having a Cry Out! global prayer gathering, there will be a recording of that. You could use that afterwards and plan something like that in your church or in your home. I have a detailed article on ReviveOurHearts.com called “How to Lead a Dynamic Prayer Meeting” search that article out and read it. It is packed with information on exactly how to do that. 

Come and experience my corporate prayer time in the morning at 8–8:45. I’m taking your names right now. I know who’s here, and I am expecting to see you at 8 a.m. in rooms 135–137. And in having an intimate prayer time, if you’re struggling abiding with Christ, then I recommend that you get Nancy’s book A Place of Quiet Rest. 

At this point I want to invite four women up. These are my go-to women. When I need prayer, they’re prayer giants. And while they are coming up, I just want to share how God has done an amazing work in my own personal life through prayer. 

Since late 2020, I’ve struggled a lot with my health. And this time a year ago, I had to step away from full-time ministry. I didn’t really know what God was doing in my life. I had been in the hospital for a long time. I had a very serious blood infection and sepsis. I healed from that, but then it triggered a chronic illness. I was doing pretty well, doing a lot better, until February of this year. I was hospitalized again with the exact same thing. 

But I want to back up to January of 2022. It was a cold night, even in South Carolina, it was a little bit of a chilly night. I had just gotten under my covers and was nice and cozy. I was laying there and the Holy Spirit called me to get up and spend some time with the Lord.

I was like, “I’m fine, Lord. I’m here. I am warm. I’ll talk to You laying down. I’m listening. I’m listening. I’m listening.” See, y’all thought I was a lot more spiritual than that, didn’t you? You thought I prayed through the night and stuff, no that’s not me.

I resisted the Lord, but then I had an incredible time with Him. But what He showed me about myself . . . Remember when Jesus said, how often, and He was saying this about the Israelites in Luke 13. How often I would have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing. 

Now, the God was wanting to show me something about my own prayer life, but how often He wanted to call me, but I was unwilling. 

So, I confessed that to the Lord. I was in tears. I was in a puddle on the ground. And then I sensed Him asking me to give Him a blank check. I feel pretty sure I’ve done that before in my prayer journal, but this was something new and different.

And so, I said, “Okay Lord, I’m going to give You that blank check.” You see, we started talking about a check that had been uncashed right? Well, I gave the Lord a blank check and then I immediately held my breath, because all I could think of was, “Lord, I’m either going to get sick again, or You’re going to give me a new ministry opportunity. And both of those things happened within about three weeks.” 

I went back to the hospital, and I was called to go on staff at my church as the interim women’s ministry director. I am standing up here, a woman who thought she may never get to serve the Lord again, by the grace and the mercy of God, I am here to tell you that I’ve never been weaker in my life, and I have never known God to be stronger. 

So, let’s clap for Him and say thank You, Lord. 

I have gone too long, and I want these ladies to share with you. They each have a really important tip for you, so if you could hang with us a little bit longer. They have something to share out of their own prayer lives. 

This is Nicole Furno. Nicole, introduce yourself real quick. This woman is a busy mom. I talked about a lifestyle of prayer is strapping on those boots and going into battle. She is such a busy mom, so I want to know from Nicole what do you do when you don’t feel like praying?

Nicole Furno: Hi ladies. I’m Nicole Furno. I’m a wife. I have three children. I love teaching God’s Word at my local church, and it’s a joy to be here today. And thank you, Leslie, for everything that you share. 

And ladies, the first thing that I want to share with you is, when you don’t feel like praying—this is profound—pray anyway. 

Pray anyway. 

Because ladies, I think about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He asked the disciples to pray for Him. What did they do? They fell asleep multiple times; they feel asleep. They were in the presence of Jesus Christ, and yet they fell asleep three different times. And Jesus said that the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.

And so, ladies, our flesh is weak. I have to talk to my flesh. I have to say, “Nicole, you will get out of this bed. Nicole, you will strap on those boots. It doesn’t matter how you’re feeling.” Sometimes you have to talk to those feelings and say, “Flesh, I’m not listening to you today, I’m listening to my Spirit today. And the Spirit is saying come away with Me.”

So, when you don’t feel like praying, pray anyway. 

And then, the other thing that I wanted to encourage you ladies with, is find a prayer partner. Because that’s what Jesus did, right? When He went to the garden to pray, twelve disciples came with Him. And so, if the Savior of the world needed prayer partners, how much more do you? Just about five minutes ago, my prayer partner Kelly, texted me and said, “Nicole, I know you’re about to talk at that conference in Indianapolis. I just want you to know that I’m hitting my knees at 2:30 today to pray for you.”

And so, I want you to ask God to bring prayer partners into your life. Women who will intercede on your behalf. Women who will answer the door at midnight, and who will battle in prayer for you. Because, ladies, we are in a battle. We need to put that armor on. God calls us to put this armor on; it’s not a bathing suit that He says to put on. This isn’t a life of leisure, no we’re in a battle until we hit heaven. 

So, part of the way you can battle is battle together and know that you’re not alone. And if you’ve been around Revive Our Hearts girls, you’ll probably be familiar with this story. But Nancy sometimes at the beginning of the conferences, she’ll hold up a prayer card. She’ll encourage women to fill out the prayer card. She tells this story about a woman who struggled with infertility for years and filled out the prayer card, and then the next year she came to the conference with her baby. Well ladies, that was me. 

Years ago I was struggling with infertility. I had prayed and prayed. We had been to the doctors. My faith was strong. I knew that what was impossible with man was possible with God. And so, I filled out that prayer card, and about two weeks after this conference ladies, I was pregnant. 

And what a joy it was to come back the next year with that baby in my arms. My daughter is a constant reminder that our God is the God of the impossible. He did the impossible for me. He did the impossible with your daughter, Leslie. He will do the impossible in your lives.

So, ladies, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Pray even when you don’t feel like it. Get yourself a prayer partner, and we will see our God of wonders continue to work wonders here on earth. 

Leslie: Amen. Thank you, Nicole. 

Alright, Becky Ellerman is on staff at Revive Our Hearts. She is my friend that knows how to abide. But she has shared something with me about attentive prayer, and I think you’re going to be blessed by this. 

Becky Ellerman: Hi everyone. I believe with all of my heart, what has changed my life about prayer is my attentiveness about it. Before I pray, I ask the Lord, because I can’t understand His Word. I say, “Lord open my eyes, open my ears, and open my heart.” And then I go to His Word and then He reveals. 

And so, I just want to talk about what it means to be attuned and attentive to God’s Word, because my focus is not necessarily on the answer and the specificity but it’s in the abiding and resting in the Lord. 

Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that . . .” So that is a great thing in the Bible, it’s God’s wise “. . . so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.” Then it says “. . . will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

And we love that part. We love people who are strong and courageous, but let me say, that’s not the thing. Then you will make your way prosperous, then you will have good success. 

I have failed. I have had lots of failures in my life. I have had lots of things that I have had to come to the Lord and say, “I have failed. I have forsaken You. I have disobeyed You.” 

But taking this to heart, this one Scripture can profoundly change your life, because the word “meditate” in Hebrew means to mutter. It means to verbally talk aloud. Deuteronomy 6 talks about when you walk, talk about it when you work. I took this to heart. It says then you will be prosperous and have good success. 

Good success means to act wisely. It doesn’t mean you’re going get everything you want. It means to act with wisdom, and that is the beginning of the fear of the Lord—the beginning of wisdom.

And to abide just means we’re walking along with God. We’re walking with Him in every season of our lives. I have a son with special needs. I went through a divorce, and I have four kids who walked that with me, and it has been a journey. 

But applying the Word of God slowly is what has been the game changer in my life. I really believe when I read God’s Word, I’m speaking it back to Him, and He’s speaking to me. 

I’ll just say this one other verse. I pray Psalm 119 through again and again. It’s in eight little verses. And it’s something you can pray every day. But just this one thing, and I’ll be quiet. I just want you to think about this as talking with the Lord, and having Him talk to you by the Spirit. It’s 119:57, “The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.”

That is not just words on this page. This is my covenant promise to God by His grace. “I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. When I think on my ways . . .” which cannot always be wise, “. . . I turn my feet to your testimonies; I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments” (vv. 59–60).

You can ask the Holy Spirit if this is true. Are you in “cords” with that prayer?

Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
   I do not forget your law.
At midnight I rise to praise you,
   because of your righteous rules.
I am a companion of all who fear you,
   of those who keep your precepts.
The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love;
   teach me your statutes! (vv. 61–64)

When you are sincere and earnest about wanting to draw near to God and to learn these things and to put them into practice, He is attentive to your prayer. It just is a two-way street. If you are serious, I mean He’s the God of the impossible, as we have said. If I am serious and He knows I’m serious, then He will attend to my prayers, and I will attend to what He says to me. 

So, it’s just as I’m reading God’s Word. I read it aloud, and I read it slowly. I take time; there’s no other agenda. I want that word to be a living between the Lord and myself. 

Leslie: Amen. Amen. Well, this is Joy McClain, and she is a huge prayer warrior. Her family has gone through a recent situation where the Lord did not answer her prayers in the way that she had hoped. So, I know that God has been teaching her a lot. 

So, I asked Joy if she would share about that. 

Joy McClain: So, last night you watched the video, remember the story of Samuel from the Bollingers. If you’ve been here before, you’ve seen them with their cameras, dear friends of mine. I remembered getting that text in the early morning hours and Katie was in the hospital in labor. I remember the funeral and how horrific it was and just, “Oh God, where are You, merciful and compassionate Father? 

I never ever, ever forget what it looked like when I saw Nathan carrying that tiny little casket out of the church. 

My friends, as difficult as that was, just three months ago, almost to the day, my daughter, who I had prayed for who was expecting identical twin boys. I thought I had the best prayer warriors on the face of the earth. These women were praying, we were crying out, there was fasting—just like Katie and Nathan had prayed. Who doesn’t pray for a healthy baby? Let alone two boys?

One had a zero percent chance, but our God’s a big God, Heaven rules. My daughter had to have a violent emergency c-section. Little Logan spent two months in the NICU and just came home a few weeks ago. He’s thriving, so adorable.

And our sweet Benjamin, who we had cried out so specifically, prayed Scripture over, all these things you’re going to hear, went from the beauty and safety and warmth from my daughter’s womb straight into his earthly father’s arms and after a couple of minutes into the presence of Jesus. 

Was Heaven cruel? Did Heaven stop ruling? Where was God? Just like Katie and Nathan faced. I’ll tell you where Heaven was. Heaven stepped down into our grief, into our sorrow, into . . . I cannot do this; I can’t even make sense of this. He swallowed us up with His mercy and His compassion. 

I have been a praying woman. I was a praying wife. I prayed for twenty-two years for my husband, who praise God, came to bow down in surrender. But I have known times in my life, and I know you have too, when God said, “That’s not what I have this time. But I still rule. I still rule, with love and compassion.” 

And if we remember Jesus, wasn’t He called Man of Sorrows? Doesn’t He identify with my sorrows? Wasn’t He in that garden alone, essentially? “God, I don’t want to do this, this is hard, take it from Me. Not My will but Yours.” 

And then when He was obedient to go to the cross, what does He say to the Father? “This hard, I can’t do this, oh God oh God, why have You forsaken Me?” 

Did Heaven stop ruling at the cross? No!

The cross was necessary because a loving, compassionate God loves you, loves me. I held the stiff body of my beautiful Benjamin. How does a woman get through that? How do I watch my daughter hold her infant and weep over that?

Because Heaven rules. 

With grace and mercy and tenderness so much so, He gave you His Son—His only Son. My friends, whatever you’re praying for, there is nothing that is out of the reach of the compassionate arm of the Savior. Nothing. He is with you; He is for you. Heaven doesn’t just rule, Heaven rules with compassion and complete and utter love. 

Leslie: Thank you, Joy. We will continue praying for you, because I know your family is still grieving. Thank you so much for that encouraging word. I know that was helpful to so many of you. 

And now Vicki Rose. Vicki is the woman that has really taught me so much about praying the Word of God. Vicki, tell us what that is all about, and how is the Word of God powerful for your prayer life?

Vicki Rose: Oh, the Word of God is everything for my prayer life. But first of all, I’m Vicki Rose. I am a wife of forty-five years, by God’s miracle and grace. I am a mother of two adult children. Both married. I am a grandmother of six, which is my great joy. 

But in Romans 10:17 it says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God.” And basically, it takes faith to pray. We have to believe that God is hearing, or listening, or is going to answer. 

So, faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. 

And then in James 5:17, it says, “Elijah was a man just like us.” Elijah had this whole prayer thing going up on Mount Carmel. He called down fire. He prayed for God to rain down fire and burn up the offering on the altar. 

And God answered that prayer. 

Elijah prayed that it wouldn’t rain for three years, and then he prayed that it would, and God answered those prayers. 

And it says Elijah is a man just like us. Like you and like me. So that gives us permission and understanding that God is hearing and answering our prayers. 

In 1 John 5:14 it says this is the confidence we have in approaching God, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of Him. 

So, the more you know of the Word of God, the more you can pray according to His will. Because honestly, in this book, it’s His will. This book is His will. So, the more you know Scripture, the more you can pray according to His will. 

For me, a big crisis hit in 2017, just five years ago, my husband I separated, again. Many of you know my story. In 1986, my husband and I separated due to addiction. We did know Jesus yet. 

In our separation, a year and a half in, I came to know the Lord through an outreach dinner party that Nancy’s mother hosted in New York City, where I’m from. I prayed to receive Christ. Praying for my husband and three years later, he also prayed to receive Christ, and we reconciled. 

So, fast-forward to 2017, addiction had caught up with him again, and I was kind of done. I was like, “Lord, again?” I had written the book about marriage, right? So, there I was. 

Well, the Lord led me to a prayer that was prayed by King Hezekiah, in Isaiah 37. Which happened to just be on Wednesday this week, today is Friday. Two days ago, in a one-year daily Bible reading. This is my one-year Bible. 

I’m going to read it to you, what Hezekiah did. It says that after Hezekiah received a letter from the messenger. So, King Sennacherib of Assyria was attacking Judah where King Hezekiah was king of. And he wrote this very nasty letter demeaning God. The letter said, “You know your God can’t do anything. I’m going to come and take out Judah.” 

And so, he sent Hezekiah a letter and this is what it says, 

After Hezekiah received the letter and read it, he went up to the LORD's Temple and spread it out before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the LORD: "O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim! You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth.” 

In other words, You rule, Heaven rules. 

You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down O LORD and listen! Open your eyes, O LORD, and see! Listen to Sennacherib's words of defiance against the living God.

Then a few verses later it says, 

Now, oh God, rescue us from his power, then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You alone oh LORD are God. 

So, giving God all the glory, and then several verses later. Well, the next verse it says, 

Then Isaiah, son of Amos, sent this message to Hezekiah. This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says, “Because you prayed, about King Sennacherib of Assyria. The LORD has spoken this word against him.”

And then fast-forward several verses, 

For My own honor, and for the sake of My servant, David, God says, I will defend this city and protect it.

Prayer answered. Hezekiah had taken the letter that Sennacherib had sent him and laid it on the alter before God. Before he prayed. 

So, that’s what I did. I took my very tear-stained journal, set it down before the Lord, and cried out, “God, You are for marriage. I’m at the end of my ability. I’ve done everything I could. I’m done, it’s up to You. Do whatever You want. I know You are for marriage, and I believe that you can do anything.” 

And so, that’s how I prayed. I got out of the way. I stopped obsessing about what to do. I lived my life and continually reminded myself God is at work, doing thousands of things we know nothing about, and He is able. 

Leslie: And ladies, if you want to talk with these women. We’ll hang around for just a little bit. We kept you late, so you’re going to need to run to your next breakout. We’ve got to exit, but we’re going to be praying for you, that God will show you the next steps and that He will bring a spiritual movement of prayer from this session. 

Scripture is taken from the ESV.