What do we do when someone asks us for prayer?  Of course, the very first thing is to say, YES!  Then, what’s next?  Our ways of praying may vary from one person to another according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, but one thing I learned from saying YES is my accountability to partner with the one who is asking for prayer.  I so believe that when two or three are gathered in His name, He is in the midst of them and gathering sometimes mean regardless of proximity.  We can agree in prayer with one intention, with our hearts in union, with a prayer that is according to the will of God even if one is somewhere across the globe.  He honors our faith when we believe He is in our midst and that He hears us.  This gives us the confidence in our hearts that surely He will move.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in 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 have asked of Him.”  (1 John 5:14-15)

For me, there is no formula in prayer.  God’s thoughts and ways are higher than ours, therefore how He leads and prompts us to pray, it is really all up to Him.  Our role is to tap into the frequency that when He speaks we hear and obey Him.

Sometimes we ask ourselves, “did I hear it right, Lord?”  But our assurance comes from what His word says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” (John 10:27)

One time I got a message from a very good friend of mine halfway across the globe.  She asked me to pray for her employer who has cancer and is undergoing some treatments.  She and her mother agreed that they both will pray at a certain time.   And so I said, YES to what she asked for and that I, too. will do my part and be accountable to it.

When I started praying, I declared healing scriptures that I know of over her employer.  It went on and on until the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to see Naaman’s healing from leprosy.  I myself was stunned yet overwhelmed by how God quickens our spirits and put in remembrance these biblical testimonies.  My prayer shifted in an instant.  “Just as Naaman dipped in the Jordan river seven times and was miraculously, instantly healed (Jordan river being outside his body), how much more when the Blood of Jesus runs through our veins and the fountain of living water gushing out from deep within us, cleansing and purifying our bodies, as sickness and diseases bow down into the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives?  Truly we have a better covenant established on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6)  After praying, my heart was at rest trusting God to do the rest.  He is God and we need to often be reminded that we are not.

“Upon God alone, O my soul, rest peacefully; for my expectation is from Him.” (Psalm 62:5)

Hearing Him speak causes our faith to rise up and increase to a whole new level. It touches our spirits, our innermost being to believe Him and trust Him, for His words are SPIRIT and LIFE. As we believe what He has spoken, therefore we speak, for out of the abundance of our hearts, what been deposited inside our hearts will overflow.

Life is in the blood and when the Blood of the Lamb of God was shed at the cross and was put on the mercy seat of God, we have been sealed and sanctified to live His life in and through us.  He suffered that He may know our sufferings though He need not suffer for He NEVER KNEW sin, yet He BECAME sin for us that we may become the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM. (2 Corinthians 5:21)  The forgiveness of our sins was sealed, no matter how unforgivable we may think it is.  God’s perfect and unfailing love demonstrated by the shedding of the blood of Jesus is more powerful than any sin we can ever think of or imagine.  Freedom from sin and unrighteousness is the greatest miracle we could ever receive from Him.  Truly, whom the Son sets free is free indeed. (John 8:36)

Not only did He fully pay for our sins, but at the same time He fully paid for our healing 2000 years ago when He bore every stripe in His body until He was beyond recognition so you and I can partake of divine health and wholeness.

“SURELY He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we ^[i]esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.                                                                                                          But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.”  (Isaiah 53:4-5 NKJV)

I love the MSG Paraphrase of these two verses.

“But the fact is, it was our pains He carried—
    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought He brought it on Himself,
    that God was punishing Him for His own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to Him,
    that ripped and tore and crushed Him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
    Through his bruises we get healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-6 MSG)

We are sanctified by the cleansing of the Blood of Jesus at the same time sanctified of the Spirit that is higher than the work of redemption. It is a kind of sanctification that comes from being declared BEING righteous into DOING righteous things. It is an empowerment of the Holy Spirit where we walk in triumphant victory, lifting us into higher grounds as Jesus is revealed to us day in and day out. It is allowing the present day resident Holy Spirit to fortify us, strengthen us, and to cause us to dial in into what is in God’s heart and yielding to it. It is sanctification into obedience. Obedience into His word that says … “BY HIS STRIPES WE ARE HEALED”  It is our yieldedness and surrender into the TRUTH of His word that will cause us to overcome the whispering lies of the enemy.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, thank You, for unveiling our eyes to see how deeply loved we are.  If You withheld nothing from us, not even Your Son, Jesus Christ, Whom You gave us, how will You not also with Him graciously give us all things?  Truly, Your love is beyond what we can dare think, dream or imagine.  It is Your love that forgives us, heals us, restores us, redeems us, provides for us and keeps us alive, enjoying it to the full.  Thank You, Holy Spirit, for always teaching us everyday how to live as the redeemed of the Lord and victorious in every way.  Amen!

Photo Credit: Jana Therese Paz