Power in Praying

I've been reading a book on intercession for the last few weeks, I have learned so much about God's character and some truths that I have never recognized before. The author is Joy Dawson, she is an older and very traditionally conservative follower of Christ, but she knows how to pray! She has been teaching courses and seminars for years on all sorts of ideas, so I thought I would include some things that I read a few days ago. Number 5 has been what God has really been stretching me to understand during the last few days.

Some Helpful Steps to Intercession:

1. Praise God for who He is. God's power is especially released through worship.

(As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. 2 Chronicles 20:22)

2. Make sure your heart is clean before God by giving the Holy Spirit time to convict should you have any unconfessed sin.

(If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; Psalm 66:18)

3. Acknowledge that you can't really pray effectively without the Holy Spirit's enabling.

(In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. Romans 8:26)

4. Deal aggressively with the enemy. Come against him in the all-powerful name of Jesus with the sword the of Spirit - the Word.

(Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7)

5. Die to your own imaginations, desires, and burdens for what you feel you should pray.

( ... lean not on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:5)

(Those who trust in themselves are fools ... Proverbs 28:26)

(For my thoughts are not your thoughts ... Isaiah 55:8)

6. Praise God now in faith for the remarkable prayer time you're going to have.

7. Wait before God in silent expectancy, listening for His direction.

(Sólo en Dios halla descanso mi alma; Psalm 62:5)

8. In obedience and faith, take action on what God brings to your mind, believing.

(I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go ... Psalm 32:8)

9. If possible, have your Bible with you should God want to give you direction or confirmation through His Word.

(Psalm 119)

10. When God ceases to bring things to your mind for which to pray, finish by praising and thanking Him for what He has done, reminding yourself that ... "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen." (Romans 11:36)