Pastor Sunday Adelaja: HOW DO YOU MAKE YOUR PRAYER LIFE EFFECTIVE

(theses of the anointing service for December)

December in our church is the month of fasting, prayer and personal prayer retreat. And as Jesus’ disciples, we should learn at His feet.
Matthew 6:8-10 says: Therefore do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him. Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

Here Jesus is teaching His disciples how to pray, or to say it right, how to pray effectively. An effective prayer is the prayer that induces action, the one that the Lord sends an answer to. In this Scripture, Jesus reveals to us the main secret that makes a prayer effective. This principle, is the corner stone on which all our prayers (including regular daily prayers), fasting and personal prayer retreats are based.

Unfortunately, as many Christians do not consider this principle (which the Lord Himself reveals to us), I could say that about 80% of all their prayers remain unanswered. The reason to that is that people either do not know this principle or do not pray according to this simple truth.

We can see the secret in verse 10: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”. So what is the principle of effective prayer?

Jesus teaches us that our prayers should be concentrated and focused on praying through the things that are God’s will. The target of all our prayers should be bringing God’s will to earth, i.e. the desires of His heart.

We should always pray about the desires of God that are already in His heart or those that He wants to fulfill or has fulfilled in the spiritual world, because God’s desires will not come to earth without a prayer. Everything that God wants to see on earth starts in heaven and prayer is used to bring the desire of God’s heart to earth.

However, it often happens that we pray for and declare the desires of our own heart, our own will, asking God to fulfill them in heaven but it is supposed to be the other way around – the starting point of changes on earth is heaven, not our own will. We pray to fulfill and establish on earth the things that have been fulfilled and established in heaven. In other words, we are merely instruments in God’s hands to carry out His business on earth.

How do we become God’s instruments on earth? The most essential thing is to find out what His desire is. And then we pray for this desire to be fulfilled on earth. Examine your heart desires to make sure that everything you are praying about is meant to only glorify His name and have God’s will be fulfilled on earth!

For instance, if you are praying for good health, then it is to help you serve the Lord. If you are praying for a job, then it is not only to earn money for yourself and to fulfil your desires but to spread the Kingdom of God and establish His will. And also to spread His principles to your place of work. If you are praying for your future spouse, then you must be certain that through this marriage you want to glorify God by establishing His principles and desires. In other words we must be sure that in prayer the motives of our hearts are targeted to fulfill God’s desires on earth. If we pray that way, then the percentage of answers to our prayers will be much higher than we can only imagine.

Apostle James had this same revelation. James 4:2-4: You desire, and do not have. You murder, and are jealous, and cannot obtain. You fight and war, yet you have not because you ask not. You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your lusts. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever desires to be a friend of the world is the enemy of God”.

If our prayers are concentrated on satisfying our own carnal needs and desires, then there is no chance that such prayers will be heard in heaven. This is because far above everything, God answers prayers that are targeted at fulfilling His intentions and will on earth.

James 4:13-15: Come now, those saying, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and spend a year there, and we will trade and will make a profit, who do not know of the morrow. For what is your life? For it is a vapor, which appears for a little time, and then disappears. Instead of you saying, If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.

In the passage above, Apostle James is telling us that we cannot dictate to God what He is to do from/in heaven. But it should be the other way round - we receive His orders. We, as obedient servants, can only listen to God’s orders/will and fulfill them on earth.

Even Jesus could not pass over this truth. John 6:38: “For I came down from Heaven, not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me”. Jesus announced it publicly that this is the only lifestyle He dedicated Himself to. He came only to carry out what God intended to fulfill through Him. And all His actions were focused on fulfilling the desires of the Father revealed to Him in prayer.

James 5:19: “Then Jesus answered and said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do. For whatever things He does, these also the Son does likewise”. In this Scripture Jesus explains His prayer. First Jesus prays for God to reveal to Him His desire, His will. Then once Jesus would see God’s will for Him, He prayed to bring it here to earth. And only after that Jesus went on and carried out the will of the Father through certain deeds.

Apostle Paul also explains to us the secret of answered prayer: “And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that 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 the petitions that we desired of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).

We can always have answers to our prayers if we know for sure that we are praying through God’s desires and intentions which He has seen and determined in heaven. By so praying, God answers and fulfills what we are asking for.

The most important for God is the fulfillment of His will. And only what is done to glorify and establish His Kingdom on earth counts in heaven. Imagine, Jesus does not even call His mother and brothers His own if they do not fulfill God’s will on earth. “For whoever shall do the will of My Father in Heaven, the same is My brother and sister and mother” – that is what Jesus told his disciples when they brought His mother and brothers to Him. (See Matthew 12:46-50)

So we become closer and dearer to God when we become more and more dedicated to fulfilling His will on earth, giving ourselves fully to realizing God’s programs, God’s projects, God’s desires and establishing God’s glory on earth. It is this dedication that defines our closeness to God.

If you see someone who is dedicated only to bringing the glory to the Creator: it is the person who will have authority on earth and in heaven. But whoever is trying to use God for their own interests will be “found wanting” in the sight of God (Dan. 5:27).

God’s authority on earth and in heaven belongs to those who seek for fulfillment of God’s will on earth. May God help us that our prayers and daily actions be dedicated only to finding and fulfilling the will and desires of our Heavenly Father on earth, as it has been done in heaven.

We recommend the following books to study this topic deeper: “Mighty Warrior” by Sunday Adelaja; “The Final Quest” by Rick Joyner.

May the Lord bless you and your family!