Accessing light through prayer (1)

by Pastor Faith Oyedepo, Week 2, October, 2006

Hello Reader,

Welcome once again to this column. I am sure you are still basking in the aura of revelation. So far, it has been indeed a great time of refreshing. This end of year, God’s Word will make you better than you were this time last year in Jesus’ name. Last week, we began looking at the topic for this month – Accessing Light through prayers. We saw that if we must journey on the road of this quarter successfully and stumble-free, we need to lay hold on the light from God’s Word through prayers. God has promised that if we will call upon Him in prayer, He will show us great and mighty things that we know not which we ought to know (Jeremiah 33:3).

In James 4:3 the Bible says, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” The question then is, “How do I lay hold on this covenant tool of prayer to access light from God’s Word, to make my prayer life fruitful and to deliver to me maximally’

Your prayer must be heartfelt:

If you must gain access to the light in the word of God, your prayer must be heartfelt. Your prayer must be from the heart and not from the head. We must get to understand that prayer goes beyond what we say with our mouth. Your mouth is involved, words are involved, but it goes beyond what you say with your mouth. Prayer takes root in the heart not the mouth. You must get to understand that the place of communion with God in prayer is not the mouth but the heart. Until the heart is involved, God is not committed.

You know it is possible to say something in your mouth but not really mean it from your heart. The heart is the altar; it is the table where the sacrifice that brings up the odour that ascends unto God in prayer takes place. That will tell you why in I Samuel 16:7 the Bible says, “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”The Bible also records of Hannah, “Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken” (I Samuel 1:13). Also, concerning, the woman with the issue of blood Matthew 9:21 says, “For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.” So, your heart must be in place.

When you take your Bible to read to contact light, you don’t just carry it and open it and begin to read it like a newspaper. What do you do first and foremost’ You take the covenant weapon of prayer and then from the depth of your heart, you say, “Lord, grant me access to the light that is in your Word.” It doesn’t have to be a long prayer session full of words, it doesn’t have to be loud, it doesn’t have to be a prayer that disturbs everybody around your neighbourhood, but, it must be a prayer that comes form the heart.

Ask God to grant you access into His Word. Ask Him to cause the book to open to you. It may be just a few words, but let it come from the heart. As you do that, you will find that the light shines; the Book is opened and before you know it, your countenance changes with excitement generated by revelations and insights. That was what happened to Hannah. The Bible says that after she had prayed, her countenance was no more sad. In other words, her light came and then it reflected in her countenance. From this day forward, your countenance will change positively. People that used to see you and say, “Oh! Sorry oh! What is going on’” They will begin to come around to rejoice with you. It was someone else’s turn before to be rejoiced with; beginning from today, it shall be “congratulations” all the way for you!

Put your faith in place:

Your faith must be in place if you must contact light from God’s Word. I will like to define faith as walking in the consciousness of spiritual realities. I also define faith as practical confidence in God and in His Word. Faith is fake without obedience. Obedience therefore, is a proof of faith. Abraham, as the father of faith is a good example of practical obedience of the Word of God. Without asking God questions, he obeyed God to the last. The Bible records of Abraham in Hebrews 11:17-19, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son … Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” That was a great demonstration of faith. He was willing to sacrifice the only son God promised would be his heir, just because God said to him: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of” (Genesis 22:2).

Faith demands that you become so conscious of the fact that even though that light hasn’t come yet, as you prayed that prayer, the light will be received by you as you study. Be conscious of spiritual things that unbelief and doubt have no access to your life. Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” I am sure you have heard so much on faith, as you pray this kind of prayer of faith, asking for access to light into God’s Word, you will find out that doubt has no more room in your life. When you pray that kind of prayer, you believe that just as you have declared it when you go into God’s Word, God will grant you access. From this day forward, your faith will begin to produce for you in Jesus’ name.

The Bible says: “The earnest prayer of a righteous man has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16 TLB). It is only the prayer of a righteous man that has such wonderful results: Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ makes you the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21) If you would want to receive Him today, then pray this simple prayer with me: Lord Jesus, I come to You today, I believe You died for me and on the third day You rose again that I might be justified. I accept You now as my Lord and Saviour. Cleanse me from my sins and make me a new creature. Thank You Jesus for writing my name in the book of life! Now, I know that I am born again.