Six Steps to Prayer

(Transcribed from a message preached by Pastor Joel N. Holmes to First Pentecostal Church on
March 23, 1993.)

This I have learned about prayer: if, as you are going along, you hear someone preach about it
or pick up a book and read about it, the Holy Ghost will stir something up within you. I know
that prayer is our source of strength and power. As I was meditating upon this message and
my purpose for preaching it, I couldn’t help but think and don’t hesitate to say that prayer is
the spiritual foundation of this church. It has brought us to where we are in the Lord today.
Not too long ago I met with the pastor of First Baptist Church, who asked how we had
achieved such success. I told him that our success was totally the results of prayer and of
getting people to pray.

If you are going to lead people, they have to be willing to follow. You can’t lead someone who
doesn’t want to follow. People who don’t follow are not being led; they are just doing their
own thing! But people who are willing to be led and willing to follow will hear when you
preach to them, and they will begin to pray. And that is when you will move forward.
I have found this out — if you can lead people to pray, you can lead them in every other walk.
If you can’t lead them to pray, you can’t lead them anywhere. That is the truth! If I’m not
leading you in prayer, I’m not leading you anywhere: because first of all in your walk with God,
you must learn to pray. If you will learn to pray, I can lead you in faith, and your faith will go
high! I can lead you in doctrine and in holiness. Nothing makes any sense unless people pray.
People who do not pray will be very carnal, very cold, and very indifferent to spiritual things—
to the things of God.

We attended Bro. Burr’s fortieth anniversary services the other night. While Sister Burr was
testifying, everyone really got a laugh when she said, “I have heard Bro. Burr preach many,
many times, and I’ve heard him preach some of the same sermons many, many times, but I’ve
enjoyed them every time.” I don’t know how many times I have preached this message, but I
don’t apologize for the repetition. Let it put emphasis on the importance of the message!
I believe that this one single message has made a tremendous difference in this church in
bringing us to where we are. I don't believe we would have seen the victories we have seen in
people's lives had not God given me this message, had I not preached it to you people, and
had you not opened your hearts and received it. The results have been tremendous! It’s a
miracle when you see a hard heart come to God and bow down, when you see that heart melt
and that person change! There’s no greater miracle you will see in your life. I don’t care if you
see someone jump out of a wheelchair, if you see someone who is totally blind and his or her
eyes are opened. I don’t care what you see, you’ll never see anything greater than the
loosening of a man or woman who is bound by sin. Although cigarettes or drugs may not bind
them, they are bound by sin. You can be a goody-goody person and still be bound by sin!
Bound by this world! Qften times, I have heard Bro. Morris give his testimony of how he
wasn't really too bad. But whatever depths of sin you are in, it takes the power of the Holy
Ghost to break the bondage of a man or woman’s soul. Only the power of God can do that;
without that power, a soul can never be set free.

That’s why it is so important to have a spiritual church, one that is prayed up. When people
walk into it, they feel the impact of the spirit of the Holy Ghost. My friend, if you are in this
building today and your lifestyle has been drastically changed through the power of the Holy
Ghost, you have some prayer warriors to thank! Not only do you have God to thank, you have
some prayer warriors to thank! If they hadn’t prayed, there wouldn’t have been the
atmosphere to bring you to God and break the bondage of sin from you. Thank God for prayer
warriors! They are who have brought this church to where it is tonight. I believe a foundation
stone has been set in this church in the last number of years and I thank God for it!
Some have not heard me preach this message concerning the six steps in achieving a prayer
life. The frst step is the attitude of prayer; second, gleaning prayer; third, praise and
fellowship. The fourth step is earnest prayer, the fifth is praying in the spirit and the last step is
memorial prayer. We were commissioned in I Thessalonians 5:16-17:“Rejoice evermore. Pray
without ceasing.” After praying and seeking the Lord, God gave me this message and these
thoughts which I want to share with you tonight, leading you into a prayer life.

STEP ONE: AN ATTITUDE OF PRAYER

The very first step of a prayer life is adopting an attitude of prayer. If you are going to pray
without ceasing, you must have an attitude of prayer. In Acts 10:2, Cornelius prayed to God
always. He practiced constant prayer, an attitude of prayer. The spiritual mind is versus the
carnal mind. Our attitude is changed when we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost and allow
an attitude of prayer to re-program our mind. When you come to God, you’ve got to have your
mind re-programmed. You cursed without realizing you were cursing; words came out before
you even realized what you were saying. Why? You did this because it was deep within your
subconscious mind to curse, to swear, to take God's name in vain. Then, when you came to
God, your heart was changed, your mind was re-programmed, and an attitude of prayer began
working.

An attitude of prayer is:

(1) Praying through the subconscious mind.
(2) Always being in a frame of mind to pray.
(3) Being constantly concerned — What does God think about me? Is He pleased with what I'm
wearing, how I’m talking, how I’m living? Is He pleased with the way I'm thinking?
(4) Meditating upon the good things. Meditation is the fertilization of any seed, whether it be
good or bad. What you think on is what you really are as a person. What you allow to stay in
your mind and meditate on and dwell on is fertilizing a seed that is going to come forth. That is
the reason that a person with a filthy mind will fall into filthy sins. A person with a mind
toward adultery who does not keep his mind in check will fall into adultery. It's like a remote
control leading you down the path of adultery, crossing paths with people who have your
same spirit and plunging you into that pitfall of sin.
Having an attitude of prayer, having that constant prayer in your soul will weed out
temptation. The spirit of the Holy Ghost cannot be in your mind at the same time that
adulterous thoughts are there. Sinful thoughts cannot stay in your mind when your mind is on
God. A thought may come, but it will pass right on when your mind is stayed on God. When
you catch your mind off the things of God, bring it back in line, keeping it in check and focused
on the things of the Lord. Cultivate an attitude of prayer.

I like what David said in Psalms that meditation would do. “But his delight is in the Law of the
Lord, and in his Law doth he meditate day and night” (Psalm 1:2). Get your mind so
programmed that hearing the truth preached doesn’t make you feel your spirit drawing up.
Meditate on the Lord and let your delight be in His Law. Then, here’s the promise (remember
God does not ask you to do anything except there be a reward right behind it)! “And he shall
be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf
also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Psalm 1:3).

Thank God for the Word of God, for the promises that are ours if we have a spiritual mind, our
minds remaining upon the Lord constantly. “Q God, give us an attitude of prayer.” When
people have an attitude of prayer, they become spiritual people and turn into spiritual giants.
But it starts at a very small place, at a very small point — a right attitude. Before you ever learn
to pray and have a spirit of prayer and a prayer life, you have to develop this right attitude.
You have to get your thoughts going right and your mind stayed upon the Lord, praying and
walking carefully before Him. There is never a time when prayer would be out of place in your
life, never a situation when prayer would be out of place. An attitude of prayer makes you
constantly concerned about what God thinks about what you are doing.

STEP TWO: GLEANING PRAYERS/SHORT PRAYERS

An attitude of prayer leads to the second step in prayer — gleaning prayers or short prayers. I
believe that this has been one of the most powerful things in my walk with God. One day I
learned to have an attitude of prayer and to pray gleaning prayers or short prayers. Every
time the thought of God comes to your mind, pray. Every time, it makes no difference where
you are or who is around you. If thoughts of God or things connected with church come to
your mind, you just simply say, “I love you ]esus. You've been good to me, God. I want to walk
with you. I want to please you. I want to be what you want me to be.” You learn how to pray
these little short prayers as you go along.

I learned gleaning prayers from several people, watching it in their lives. Qne was my mother,
another my dad, and yet another was a great prayer warrior, Brother Verbal Bean. They were
all great prayer warriors; I watched them and listened to them. Whether on a trip or just
driving a car, every once in a while something would just come up in their soul and they would
say, “]esus, I love you. Lord, I praise you.

O Hallelujah!” You'd be surprised what the devil is doing when this is happening; he’s backing
up, he’s trembling, and he’s shaking in his boots.

Gleaning prayers can be prayed aloud. If you are around believers, you should speak aloud; if
you are around unbelievers, you should not pray aloud. The Bible teaches very plainly that you
should not cast your pearls before swine. Some people want to be a witness; they are stirred
up about witnessing. The best witness you can be is to let you light shine through doing right,
treating your fellowman right, paying your bills, being honest and fair, and doing what’s right.
You don’t need to confuse unbelievers; they don’t understand spirituality. They don’t
understand an attitude of prayer; they don’t understand gleaning prayers. They don’t
understand short prayers; so you don't need to confuse them. Pray to yourself. I’ve been so
blessed many times standing shoulder to shoulder on elevators going up. People would be
right in my face, but I would be standing there speaking silently in tongues as God gives the
utterance. Oh, it’s beautiful.

What is so wonderful about walking with God and serving Him are the beautiful experiences
the Lord gives you as you go along. Your beginning prayer in the morning never has to end.
You may have to go on the job, laying brick or whatever, but in your heart the Holy Ghost can
still be moving in your soul and the spirit of prayer continue all through the day. “Thank you,
Jesus. You’ve been good to me, God. You've blessed me; You’ve kept me. You’ve kept Your
hand on my children. God, I’m pleading with You to save my children.” just learn the power
there is in these short prayers. When you pray them, you never know exactly what you are
going to feel. There have been times that I’ve felt very dry and very awkward, but the thought
of God or of church came to my mind. I started praying, “Thank you, ]esus”, and as I said it felt
the charge of the Holy Ghost shoot through my soul as tears ran down my face. A wonderful
blessing would have been missed if I had not allowed that little short prayer to come out of my
soul and out of my heart. I didn’t even know it was there.

The Bible said the Spirit of the Lord is like the wind. You can’t see where it’s coming from; you
can’t see where it’s going, and you don’t know how it works; but when it comes, you can feel it
blow across your soul! You will have many wonderful experiences with God if you will practice
little short prayers. They will bring the anointing of God on your life.

Let me give you the purpose for short prayers: they are to keep you in contact with God.
People who cultivate short prayers and come to church or start to pray do not feel awkward.
Short prayers have brought me to this point in my prayer life. I prayed, but in between prayer
times, I would feel that God was a long way from me. I knew that I had touched Him
yesterday, and I had touched Him that morning; but as I would prepare to pray, it would seem
awkward for me to even start. I found that starting short prayers did away with this feeling of
awkwardness. God’s just as close to us as our hand or our very breath. That’s where He wants
to be.

Another thing that short prayers will do is serve as an appetizer! They'll work on your spiritual
taste buds. When you have short prayers, something will get hold of you and make you want
to pray! When can I get alone with God? When can I have a place and time to really open up
and let what’s in my heart out? They help condition the mind for spiritual things. The Bible said
that to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life. It's talking about the life
we have in the Holy Ghost, the more abundant life. This is what short prayers will do for you.
They will keep your mind conditioned.

Short prayers will also keep foolishness in check. You can get carried away, be with someone
and become caught up with carnality or foolishness. But if you have short prayers going in
your life, you will think about God. Pray that short prayer and feel yourself touching eternity
again, touching the other world again.

Short prayers honor God. They are a blessing and will make you more spiritual. When you sit
down to eat your meal, if you will offer a short, sincere prayer out of your heart you will honor
God. I love to join with people in prayer. I love praying short prayers. A couple of ministers
were in the office the other night. Just before we walked out to start the service, we joined
hands to ask for a move of God in the service. Don’t tell me that God doesn’t honor people
who honor Him! Short prayers are powerful! God hears them. I remember that my dad, when
traveling, would have a word of prayer just as he drove out of town. “Lord, keep Your hand on
this car. Let’s all pray,” he'd say. It’s honoring God. This is foolishness to the world, and the
world doesn’t think this way, but we are supposed to be thinking differently than the world
thinks. You’re honoring God through these short prayers. You are asking for His plan, His
blessings, His approval, and His help upon your life.

Another wonderful thing about short prayers is that they are a spiritual radar — a scanner. If
you will pray short prayers, you will be in a position that whenever something is about to
happen — perhaps you are in danger — you’ll feel a burden come over you. You can begin to
pray and rebuke danger away from you. It’s a radar and it will work.

Several years ago, we chartered a Greyhound bus for a youth trip to Galveston, Texas. Around
5 o’clock that evening as we headed to a place for the young people to ride rides, a heavy
burden began sweeping over my soul, so I started praying and talking to God. I'm sure the
driver didn’t know what to think when all of the young people joined with me, crying and
seeking God. When we arrived at the little park, Gay (Fraley at that time) got on a fast little
speedboat in water about six feet deep. She flipped that boat over and went under the dark
water. I believe that the hand of God was with us or we would have followed a hearse back to
Little Rock. Short prayers world The Holy Ghost knows what is about to happen and when
danger is present.
Sister Bridges could tell you about short prayers! She stopped at a light on the way home from
church, and a man opened the passenger door and jumped into the car. Immediately, she
began praying and speaking in tongues. The man exclaimed, “Hold it! Stop this car! Let me
out!”

STEP THREE: PRAISE AND FELLOWSHIP

Gleaning prayers will lead you to a time of getting alone with God in praise, in fellowship, and
worship to the Lord. Too many times, people want an instant fix. They want to take a pill for
this and a quick-fix for that. God is sovereign; He doesn’t need any of us. If you are in too big of
a hurry to pray for the Holy Ghost, He’ll let you come to church and go right back out the same
way you came in. I’ve seen people too busy — in too big of a hurry to seek the Lord. They
wonder why they never feel the presence of the Lord and never receive what they have seen
others receiving. It does take some time. I wish I could tell you that you just spray a little on,
and that's it. You just come and get it, and there is no time involved; but it doesn’t work that
way. I’ve got to tell you the truth; it will take some time if you are going to touch God.

Getting alone with God takes time. First of all, it’s important that you feel God right with you
as you pray. The devil wants to make Him seem far, far away. But you need to be able to see
God right with you. Pray with the confidence that “God is for me. God is with me. God is
helping me.”

“And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and
when the evening was come, he was there alone” (Matthew 14:23). Does that do something
for your spirit? He (Jesus) was alone there to pray, to seek God!

When you begin to seek God and set your mind on praising Him, it brings fellowship with God.
The Bible said that we should pray. “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of
God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”
(Philippians 4:6-7). Prayer, fellowship, even your prayer requests should be made with
thanksgiving!

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of
God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5).
Jesus taught us this: when you pray, enter into your closet. When you go into the closet, shut
the door. I don’t believe he was talking about a clothes closet. I believe he was telling us that
when we pray, we’ve got to bring every thought into captivity, focusing on what we are doing.
You just can’t go around saying “Hallelujah! Move, Lord. Work, Lord” while daydreaming of
your job and other things. What you are saying has to come off the drawing board of your
heart — a specifically designed prayer of how you feel about God — in order for you to pray
effectively. If you are going to pray, you have to bring every thought into captivity. Bring every
thought into the obedience of Christ, and get into that closet of prayer. The closet can be right
where you are sitting. Kneel down, close the world out, and it’s just you and Jesus. You begin
to seek after God, travailing and seeking the Holy Ghost.

STEP FOUR: EARNEST PRAYER

Praise and fellowship lead you to, effective prayers! “Confess your faults one to another and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that
it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months.
And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit” (James
5:16-18). Earnest prayer! Praying earnestly! The Lord spoke this thought to me one time in
prayer: “The Pharisees prayed!” A lot of people pray, but there are not as many people who
pray out of their hearts: fervent prayers, earnest prayers, and sincere prayers.

It’s one thing to hear the message preached and merely go through the motions. “The
preacher instructed me to have a prayer life so I’m going to have a prayer life, start praying,
and go through the routine of prayer.” But it's another thing to say, “I've got to have a prayer
life. I’m going to dig in and pray earnestly. I’m going to pray out of my heart.”

The biggest challenge that I’ve had as a pastor is getting people to pray (and I rejoice and
thank God for how He has blessed and how you people want to give). Since I’m the one
preaching tonight, I’ll do the confessing. There’s not ever a time that I go to prayer that I do
not feel my flesh pull back. But once I get started praying, there’s another side of me that
loves it. Anyone who tells you that his or her flesh loves prayer, does not have the same flesh
you and I have. The flesh will never love prayer! You’ll always feel a little spirit that draws back
when you know that it is time for prayer meeting and time to go to the church and pray. It’s
like taking that little lamb and leading it to the altar of sacrifice. As is depicted in pictures, the
legs of that little lamb drew back as it was pulled to the altar. That's a good picture of our
flesh. A lot of people just give in to their flesh. They feel that “pull back,” they just let the flesh
do what it wants to do, and they are never victorious in their walk with God. The way I’ve
always shown you is that you have to reach back and get this flesh by the nape of the neck, get
hold of some of that loose skin and say, “Whether you like it or not, here you go!”

I get mad and aggravated at this flesh. I can get with men standing around and talking and
when I look at my watch, I realize that we’ve stood there an hour, throwing away precious
time, talking about nothing! You start to pray, and the devil fights you tooth and toenail!
The greatest thing on this earth, the best way you can spend your time is talking to the King of
Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Everyone believes in prayer! You may think that your time is being wasted, but I promise you
that if you end up at midnight tonight sitting in the emergency room of any hospital, you will
believe in prayer. You can take a trip to any emergency room and you will find the hardest
hearted people who never pray at any other time praying. If you go up to them and gently say,
“I’m praying for you,” they’ll be grateful and say, “I appreciate that.”

The Holy Ghost is at work. It’s at work in this city. A sinner man told me that every time he
passes in front of our church, he feels something. You better believe he’s feeling something.
The traffic that passes by our church feel something. It’s more than a beautiful building; it's
more than a big sign; it’s the power of the Holy Ghost, and it's the anointing of God that’s in
this place.

While walking in this building tonight, praying before the service, I told the Lord, “Lord, you
knew we were going to pray when we got into this beautiful building, that it would be used for
the right purpose: for prayer and seeking God.”

I confess to you tonight that I cannot listen to my flesh. I don’t mean to reflect on ministers,
but the biggest problem in the ministry tonight is the lack of a prayer life. I can’t tell you the
evangelists who have come through this church and never one time have I come upon them
and caught them praying. Carnal, cold, and indifferent preaching makes carnal, cold saints.
How can you learn to pray unless someone leads the way: praying, pressing, encouraging,
boosting, pushing, shoving, and pleading. Come on. We’ve got to pray! This building will not
serve its purpose if we're not going to pray! We should cut off the lights and sell it to a
denominal church if we're not going to pray, because it's just wasted money and wasted time.

We’ve got to have prayer, fervent prayer. People must invest themselves in prayer and not get
more caught up in this natural. (We are so willing to invest ourselves in natural things.) The
ones who really should be investing in prayer are the young people. Young people have
strength, and it takes strength to pray and to pray earnestly. When you turn forty and invest
yourself in praying, you are about worn out when you get through if you put yourself into it,
praying earnestly out of your heart, and giving it all you’ve got! Fervent prayers are not cold
and indifferent. Five examples:

(1) ]onah prayed fervently in the belly of that whale. Do you think he was casual and
nonchalant? He looked up and saw the rib cage of that whale and said, “I’ve been to hell.” It’s
so sad when things drive us to pray. One of my spiritual goals is that I will not need situations
to drive me to prayer; I want to drive situations! I’ve experienced what I'm preaching tonight
and have found that it’s so much easier to say “Thank God, I’m glad I’ve prayed and fasted,”
than to say “Oh, Lord, I wish I had been going to those prayer meetings. Oh, Lord, I wish I had
dug me out a prayer life. Oh Lord, I wish I had been praying.” It’s a whole lot better. It feels a
whole lot better when you face sickness, death, financial problems, or whatever with a prayer
life. You can say, “One thing I know is that I have prayed.”
Young people, pray! I watch you as you play ball. I wish you would pray like you play ball. I’d
like to see you invest yourselves in prayer. We get nothing out of many things we do for the
natural man, but prayer pays off!

(2) Hannah was another one who prayed earnestly. The Bible said she came to the house of
God and got in agony. “God, I want a son, I want you to give me a child.” She prayed until
there was nothing coming out of her mouth, although her lips were moving. Eli the prophet,
thinking she was drunk, told her to put away the wine and the strong drink. She said, “No, my
lord, . . . I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the
Lord.” The devil is a liar; he sits on people's shoulders and tells them that it will not work, but
prayer is the only thing that really works. The only true answer to your problems is through
prayer. I’m not growing weary! By the grace of God, I am growing more determined. When
the devil tries to make you weary with your walk with God, throwing in all the pressures of
everyday life, just say, “No, devil, I’m not going to get weary; I’m just going to get more
determined.” I’m determined to live for God; I’m determined to walk with God.

(3) Peter was in jail, but the church was praying. He was locked between guards with no hope
of getting out. But the church went on their knees and started praying. They were praying,
praying earnestly and fervently. An angel from heaven came down; the chains dropped
off. Peter walked out of the jail. Those doors that were locked when Peter stood up and
walked up to them flew open and he walked through. He made his way down to that house
where the church was praying and the saints were seeking God, crying, “Ch, God, they’ve
beheaded one, but we can’t stand to see it done to Brother Peter. In the name of Jesus Christ,
we are believing You.” When Peter came to the gate and knocked, a little girl answered. She
couldn’t believe it was him; she was so overjoyed that she left Peter at the gate while she
went back to tell the others. They said, “It can’t be Peter; it must be his angel.” Peter was
standing at the gate because someone had prayed earnestly.

(4) Hezekiah was told by Isaiah to set his house in order because he was going to die. He said,
“I don’t like the news I've just received. I’m not going to accept it.” The Bible said he turned his
face against the wall and began to cry. He began to pray, weeping and seeking after the Lord.
The Bible said that as he began to cry out, God told Isaiah to “go back down there and tell him
that I’ve added fifteen years to his life.”

(5) The Bible said that being in agony, Jesus prayed more earnestly and his sweat was as it
were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

STEP FIVE: PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT

Earnest prayers will produce the next step, which is praying in the Spirit. It’s hard to tell
someone how to pray in the Spirit. It’s like trying to tell somebody how to get the Holy Ghost.
But I want to give you some guidelines. If you’re going to learn to pray in the Spirit, you're
going to have to get broken. You are going to have to humble yourself and repent. Too many
times we are looking for the results and the effect of the Holy Ghost before people get what
they need to get in their hearts. Speaking a few words that you don’t understand is not
enough. The heart has to change! Tying yourself to the altar will change you. You will be
changed when you become broken in spirit. As I have preached before, Abraham took Isaac
and offered him up. He bound him on the altar and he drew back the knife to slay him. If
you want victory in your life and want to learn to pray in the Spirit, you are going to have to
learn how to kill your flesh.

Praying in the Spirit is simply having the right attitude. One of our biggest problems is that it is
hard for our attitude to melt. There is a lot of pride and self-will in us that stands up big and
tall and screams out. The only way that you can ever learn the wonderful secret of
praying in the Spirit, travailing, and weeping in the Spirit is to put your flesh on the altar.
Anytime you are praying and you want to go deeper into the Spirit — you want to feel more —
put yourself on the altar! Die! Die! Say, “Here I am, Lord. Break me; use me, Lord. I want to be
what you want me to be.” You will immediately feel the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. It all begins
with a broken will and breaking this flesh.

I love praying in the spirit. It's the ultimate. All praying is good if it is done sincerely, but the
ultimate of prayer is reaching the point of praying in the Spirit and going on into that other
world. Get out of your mind and into the mind of Christ, and the Spirit will begin to pray
through you. “Likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26,27).
The spirit helpeth our infirmities. We don’t know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
— the Spirit of the Holy Ghost — begins to pray through us.

Is it wrong for me to encourage you to seek for this? To ask God to let you reach that point in
prayer where you pray in the Spirit every day? Where you experience the ultimate in prayer
when the spirit takes over every time you pray? Can you imagine the great God of heaven who
knows all things and sees all things—who knows what you are going to face that day—praying
through us? He has unlimited power, vision, understanding and knowledge. And now it’s not
us praying, not our little peanut brain figuring out what we need to pray for; but the mind of
Christ, the Holy Ghost, God Himself, is making intercession through us and the Spirit is praying.
We become a channel that God can just roll through; that’s the reason you come into it. You
don’t know what you are saying; it goes into groans, which cannot be uttered or copied. When
the Spirit gets hold of you and you begin to groan in the Spirit, no longer are English words
coming forth, but the Spirit is making intercession.
Apostle Paul said, “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my
understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the
understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also” (I
Corinthians l4:l4, l5). He said, “I'll do it both ways. I'll pray with my understanding, then I’ll pray
in the Spirit.” I’m going to pray both ways. I’m going to let the Holy Ghost pray through me.
Then when it’s not praying through me, I’m going to be calling on His name and seeking Him.
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost”
(Jude 20). Telling someone how to pray in the Spirit is like trying to tell someone how to swim.
You can’t tell them how; they've just got to get into the water and start working their arms
and legs. I can give you some guidelines, but praying in the Spirit is something you just have to
pick up in your soul and spirit as you walk with God. Every child of God ought to be striving and
seeking to be praying in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit is being in earnest and relaxed at the
same time. How do you do that? I don’t know, but it works. You can be fervent, yet confident.
Having confidence that God is with you and that God is praying through you.

I’m reminded of the very first person that I saw receive the Holy Ghost in Dyersburg,
Tennessee. It was during my first revival and after the first message I ever preached. There was
a couple there who had been praying for the Holy Ghost for five years. The wife had received
the Holy Ghost, and she was trying to help her husband to yield, to loosen up. She walked over
to him and said, “Just let your tongue wag!” She came here to camp meeting almost eighteen
years later, and she still had that wonderful infilling. We can encourage people to yield, but if
there is sin in their life and they don't want their stinking flesh to die out on the altar, and we
are trying to get them to say some syllables, they aren't getting anything out of it except
confusion! I don’t know how to tell people to pray. I don’t know how to tell people to pray in
the Spirit. But if there is some way you can just get loose, you can get free. My daddy used to
say, “Get free as a little bird.” I know one thing: it certainly feels good. I know when I feel it
and when I don’t, and it’s wonderful to feel it!

STEP SIX: MEMORIAL PRAYERS

The last step in prayer is memorial prayers. You don’t have to worry about your prayers. It
troubles me to talk to people who hear the message, pray a little, then back off and start
charging God falsely. “God, you ought to have done this and that because I told You to in
about fifteen minutes.” It doesn’t work like that! A prayer life is a lifestyle. Let me give you a
goal. Work on your prayer life until it becomes part of you. No big deal? Yes, it is a big deal!
The devil wants to always keep you tense and he wants to always keep you praying like
children play. “You do this and I’ll do that. I’m not doing this until you do that.” It doesn’t work
like that; you get in love with Him and walk with Him and live for Him. I don’t know how it
works, but it works. It’s just like the farmer who goes out and starts sowing the seed. ]ust keep
on sowing. Yeah, the birds are going to get a few and some are going to fall by the wayside.
Prayer is kind of like that. Well . . . that prayer didn’t come to pass, and the devil hindered
this. Don’t worry about it! just keep putting out the seed!
I’m telling you that you sitting here tonight are the results of prayer. You can’t necessarily go
back and put your finger on the date and time and say this is when God gave this miracle; this
is when God did that. It's hard to get all of that lined up. God has a way of kind of blinding
everyone to that. Why? He wants you to walk by faith. He wants you to learn to walk by faith,
not thinking, “Now God, you are going to do this if I do this.” No, I'm doing this because I love
God and I want to fellowship with Him! My flesh doesn’t want me to fellowship. But we know
this flesh is rotten and will mess you up. This flesh will keep so many good things from you. I’m
not going to listen to it. I’m going to bring this flesh under subjection. I’m going to work on this
flesh until I build a prayer life and a walk with God. When can you put your finger on it that it
came to pass? I think a whole lot of it is a trick of the devil. At the same time, he tries to blind
us to all the good things God is doing and all of the wonderful ways God is working in our lives.

Memorial prayers are long-range prayers. What did God say about Cornelius? “Your alms and
your prayers have built a big monument out there. When I was passing by, Cornelius, (and you
weren’t even supposed to have the Holy Ghost), I said, ‘Well, look at that monument. That
man has built something that I can’t go over, that I can’t pass over.’ There’s no way I can walk
around Cornelius anymore. He’s already stacked up enough prayers, he’s got a monument
built so big that all hell can’t stop him!”

All the devils can't stop me. We don’t care what the devil thinks. I preached Sunday night that
if God said it’s written, it's written. It’s finished, it's settled, it’s sure, it’s solid, it’s true, it’ll
work, it'll happen! There may be nothing we need immediately, but we still need prayer
because we need to stack some more of them up. Cornelius, I keep seeing those prayers come
up. That memorial came up — that child of God that wouldn’t take no for an answer — that
child of God who would not be discouraged. It looked like everything came along to discourage
them, yet they weren’t discouraged because they kept on stacking up those prayers. Stacking
up those prayers. It’ll work; it’ll work. Just look around and see what the Lord has done. If he
doesn't do anything else, He's already done enough to for us to kick that sheet back in the
morning, roll out of bed, and say, “Flesh, like it or lump it, you are going to go to prayer
meeting and when you get there, you are not going to pray a sleepy prayer but an earnest
prayer!”

If you pray, you’ll stay. If you’ll pray, you’ll be spiritual. If you don’t, just the reverse will
happen. Men, why don’t you help me? Young men, come on; let's pray! We have great prayer
meetings! You may be unable to attend the morning prayer meetings. I realize that it's a
challenge for everybody, and it may be absolutely impossible for some. One sister who is
unable to come sets her clock every morning and prays at her house when she knows prayer
meeting is going on at the church. She wants to pray with the church. You can do it, too!
Let’s pray! Let’s walk with God. Let's overcome!
Do you believe that prayer has had an efiect on this church? Do you believe that we are where
we are because of prayer? Do you realize that God has blessed us here to influence so many
other churches to pray? My biggest regret about prayer is that I did not start early morning
prayer meeting in the church twenty years ago. I wonder what we would have seen happen?
My mind’s made up because I know this: it’s going to do some good even if it’s just me here.
But there has been a whole host of people coming. It’s been great! I would like to affect this
generation. I would like to see revival. I would like to plant one right on the devil’s nose. When
he says people are backsliding, I’d like to show him some who are getting this old time religion.
I’m not talking about this new religion; I’m talking about this old time, devil-casting-out, life-
changing religion.

Stay with me, Church. Young people, I need you. Sisters, I need you. Men, I need you. I need
you to help me pray. Please, let’s have evening prayer meetings before our service starts. Let’s
pray earnest prayers. Would you give it fifteen minutes? Would you pray? Red-hot prayer,
right out of your soul? Would you not sit and look and talk and visit, but would you pray out
and seek God out of your heart? If you fail to pray, we will see your children die and go to hell.
If someone doesn't get between them and hell, they’re going to be lost. You’d better help me.
You’d better believe with me. You’d better pray with me. We need miracles to take place. We
need some more healings to take place. I want to tell you that through prayer this will happen.

The more we pray, the more transparent we become and God’s glory shines through us. You
know what people are going to say when they come and find out we’re praying. They’re going
to find out that we’re not a proud, lofty people, who think they’ve done something. They are
going to say, “That’s a humble people. God has done such great things for them because they
prayed.” Do you believe that God did what you’re looking at tonight? I believe every piece of
marble that’s in that foyer, the landscaping, etc. — that all of this has been done because
people humbled themselves in prayer! Others are going to have to go away and say, “They're
not trying to be showy; God did it!” God’s given us what we have.

There is something so special that I've almost left out of this message — the certainty of the
blessings that God will send your way because of your walk with Him. I believe with all of my
heart that everything I have in the natural has all come about through my walk with God. He
has blessed me financially. When my wonderful Father wants to come down and lavish His
blessings upon me, don’t get jealous! Just give Him the glory and praise! Everything you see
that has been done in this building, from those letters way up on the beams, He’s done every
bit of it! All of it belongs to Him. He gets all the glory; He gets all the praise! He just allowed us
to be the feeble little instruments that he chose to use and channel through.

Oh, what a blessing God has been in our lives! You can't lose financially with this! The devil will
fight you when you give to God’s cause. There is only one way to meet the devil, and that’s
head on. You’ve got to double up your fist and say, “Devil, I don’t care what you do. I’m going
to give. I’m going to work for God. I’ve put it on the altar. I've put it on the line.” I promise you
that when you’ve proved that point to God, as well as to the devil, God will roll back the
windows of heaven and bless you, and all the devils in hell can’t stop God from blessing you
financially, physically, and in every way. When God gets through testing you, He’ll bless you.
Just settle it.