P R A Y E R

Greetings friends. I would like you to do a few things for me...right now.

1. Take a deep breath
2. Slowly exhale
3. Say the name...GOD.

What you have just done is initiate a prayer.

"Be unceasing in prayer--praying PERSEVERINGLY" (I Thessalonians 5:17)

In Jack Hayford's classic book on prayer he lists various reasons...and needs for this thing called prayer.

(1) People addicted (2) Bound by destructive habits (3) Businesses shipwrecked on rocks of economic reversals (4) Marriages with the love wrung out of them
and society asserting that divorce is the answer (5) Medical reports silently screaming CANCER (6) Children exploding into unpredictable behavior patters
(7) Bills towering above an overdrawn checkbook (8) Jobs disappearing and unemployment offering a way to nowhere (9) Long-term hopes dissolved
(10) Constant pain from a physical problem that knows no reprieve
(11) Recurring frustration with a personal deficiency that can't be overcome
(12) Blockades on the highway to happiness (13) Bulletin boards affixed with blank papers (14) Wondering what to do next (15) Having tried anything and everyone (16) Futility (17) Face-to-face with IMPOSSIBLITIY---or what seems to be like it." (Prayer Is Invading The Impossible by Jack Hayford)

In the first collage of pictures...you can tell the focus is on PRAYER. The prayers are based on FAITH...the substance of things HOPED FOR (confidently expected)...the evidence of things NOT SEEN (Hebrews 11:1). There several pictures of Jesus...going to the Father in PRAYER...as He faced torture and death...and as He pulled a way from the hustle and bustle of his MINISTRY...to get recharged and get directions from the Father...since He never said or did anything unless he heard or saw it from the Father. Prayer was KEY to Jesus. A couple of the pictures are from the movie IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The movie starts of with prayers swirling from various people of Bedford Falls....specifically for a man in desperation and trouble named George Bailey. The prayers left the lips of the praying people...up through the atmosphere into the heavens...and set into motion the answer for their prayers. (see the house picture). The picture of Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey...is of George...in a bar...trying to numb himself and figure out a way out of his problems. He prays to God for help...and the prayer was IMMEDIATELY ANSWERED...by George getting a fist slammed into his face. AMEN...THANK YA JESUS FOR THAT ANSWERED PRAYER! He left the bar...and determined that SUICIDE was the way out...BUT God had another answer already set into motion...an Angel 2nd Class (without wings)...named Clarence. (See the movie It's A Wonderful Life for full details on how the prayer was answered). Other pictures show dry and cracked land with no RAIN IN SIGHT....with Elijah (with whom we share the same nature)...and his servant on the lookout for the answer to the prayer.

"And the PRAYER [that is] of FAITH will save him that is sick...and the Lord will restore him; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess to one another therefore you faults--your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins; and PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER...that you may be healed and restored--to a spiritual tone of mind and heart. THE EARNEST (HEARTFELT, CONTINUED) PRAYER OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN MAKES TREMENDOUS POWER AVAILABLE--DYNAMIC IN ITS WORKING." (James 5:16)

"Elijah...was a human being with a nature such AS WE HAVE---with feelings, affections and constitution as ourselves; and he PRAYED EARNESTLY...for it NOT TO RAIN and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. And then HE PRAYED AGAIN and the heavens SUPPLIED RAIN and the land produced it's crops as usual." (James 5:17,18)

If you read I Kings 17 and 18...you will see this man who has the same nature as you...PRAYED for something SPECIFIC...and then had to WALK BY FAITH...NOT BY SIGHT. The EARNEST PRAYER process took SEVEN (7) times before a cloud the size of a fist rose up out of the sea. This speaks of the EARNEST...DILIGENT...TENACITY...of PRAYER.

The picture of the SKELETON praying speaks to me of the tenacity of prayer...DEM BONES GONNA RISE AGAIN. And finally...we see the picture of the group PRAY FOR RAIN with UMBRELLAS UP. Couple that with the dry, cracked waterless ground picture...and you get a picture of not only tenacity of prayer...but EXPECTANCY of an ANSWER TO PRAYER. Years ago...I remember how we were praying for and end to a rainless season in Tennessee and the surrounding area. I was struck with what I DID NOT SEE (including me). I did not see anyone CARRYING AN UMBRELLA...in expectation for the COMING RAINS.

Another aspect of this thing called PRAYER...is TENACITY. So many times we pray once...and are afraid that if we pray again we would JINX the prayer. It has been said by CHARIS-MANIACS...that if you pray TEN (10) times... then NINE (9) of those prayers were out of UNBELIEF. They say if you pray once...you don't pray again...but you can THANK HIM for the answered prayer.

Well...prayer and thanksgiving (before you see the answer) is definitely needed...but I believe that UNLESS THE LORD tells you to give up...then you NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP (Winston Churchill). You are like the frog in the pelican's mouth...with a strangle hold on the pelican's neck...as the frog refuses to GIVE UP. The mama hog...the sow...represents the tenacity of prayer. If you show harm to her little piglets...she will attach her teeth onto your leg...and NEVER LET GO. The Ruminator saying is..."YA GOTTA HANG IN THERE...LIKE A BITIN' SOW."

Perseverance brings success. Positive Thinkers....love to take a godly principle without submitting to the Lord of the principle. The bottom line...prosperity and success are linked to tenacity. Joshua knew the principle as God gave him instruction on how to BE STRONG AND VERY COURAGEOUS.

"This book of the law shall not depart OUT OF YOUR MOUTH...but you shall MEDITATE (ruminate) on IT (the word)...that you may OBSERVED and DO according to all that is written in it...for then you shall MAKE YOUR WAY PROSPEROUS...and then you shall DEAL WISELY and have GOOD SUCCESS."

Biblical Prosperity is...having your needs met with enough to overflow to those in need (not necessarily monetary)...and Biblical Success is.. accomplishing what God has purposed in your life.

NEXT TIME: We will look at the KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON PRINCIPLE.

Love and Tenacious Kisses
Rodney "Bitin' Sow" Boyd