A Balanced and Effective Prayer Life
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Every living thing is involved in and sustained by three functions: input, process and output. Likewise, the spiritual growth and maturity of a Christian revolves around these three processes redefined as: relationship, transformation, and dominion. Relationship involves God and man sharing a mutual interaction of love, communication, and trust as: Father/child, Groom/bride, Master/servant, Friend/friend. Transformation denotes continuous change: less of my will and more of God’s will, less of my mind and more of God’s mind, less of my limited human love and more of God’s perfect agape love. It involves transformation of self (the soul: will, mind and emotions) -- “He must increase and I must decrease.” Dominion concerns God sharing His authority and power with man to fulfill His will and work on earth as we are directed and driven by His perfect love. This includes dominion over Satan and sickness in the harvest field and battlefield -- meeting people’s needs of healing, deliverance and salvation. Every concept in the Bible that pertains to Christian living and service relates to one or more of these three key themes or concepts. These should be repeated in a continuous cycle to bring spiritual maturity and fulfillment of God’s purpose and will for our lives. A balanced and effective prayer life will include relationship prayer, transformation prayer and dominion prayer. Although there are other types of prayer, however, they will fit into one of these three categories" (1) Relationship prayer (upward focus): thanking, praising, worshipping and making petitions to our Heavenly Father – the King of kings and Lord of lords. (2) Transformation prayer (inward focus): confession, repentance and asking God to change us to be more like Him (less of me and more of Him).
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About the Book
The purpose of this book is to describe prayer in its three basic components to do the following: —Help children and new Christians more to easily learn how to pray using their own words. —Help others struggling with prayer to develop a more effective prayer life. —Provide a resource for teaching the simple basics of prayer. Some of the topics discussed in this book include the following: I. A balanced and effective prayer life 1. Three basic parts of prayer 1.1 Relationship prayer (upward focus) 1.2 Transformation prayer (inward focus) 1.3 Dominion prayer (outward focus) 2. Praying in the spirit and praying with the understanding II. Focused prayer 1. Prayer agendas 2. Prayer teams 3. Burdens—the driving force for fervent and effective prayer III. The vital importance of prayer 1. Prayer tunes our spiritual ear to hear and understand God's voice 2. God works through man to perform his will on earth 3. When the answer to prayer is no or wait 3.1 The implications of God's foreknowledge 3.2 Why prayers are denied or delayed 4. Prayer—the last frontier of a mature Christian
About the Author
The author’s background includes two primary areas of experience: • Working 50 years in various ministries in three home churches, serving at the individual and leadership levels: Home Bible Study and Discipleship Ministry (30 years), Sunday School Bus Ministry (10 years), Sunday School Ministry, Compassion and Care Ministry, Home Fellowship Ministry, Youth Ministry, Visitor Follow-up Ministry, Nursing Home Ministry, Singles Ministry, Alcohol / Drug Abuse Mentoring Ministry and Prison Ministry. • Preaching, teaching and training in many churches in the U.S., foreign missions churches and Bible schools (primarily as a revivalist vs. an evangelist). The author's ministry emphasis includes revival and spiritual growth of the saint for the purpose of more effective evangelism of a lost world. Some of the key ministry themes include: • Relationship with God (impartation from the Father). • Spiritual Growth (continuous transformation). • Dominion (engagement in the Father’s business). • God’s perfect love growing and flowing in our lives. • Urgency of the Father’s business (managing our priorities consistent with our knowledge of the times.