"Satan Dreads Nothing But Prayer"

Good morning Lord Jesus, fill my with your heart to love myself and others today before I walk out my door.

"Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." (James 5:13-16)

Going into 2023 I have been reflecting on the basics and DNA of our calling as followers of Jesus Christ. In my reflection Wednesday I reflected on The Lordship of Jesus. Yesterday, I reflected on our call to be and make Disciples.  This morning my reflection is on the life breath of all Christians, prayer. “

“No one can believe how powerful prayer is and what it can effect, except those who have learned it by experience. Whenever I have prayed earnestly, I have been heard and have obtained more than I prayed for. God sometimes delays, but He always comes.” - Martin Luther

“There is no power like that of prevailing prayer - of Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse and grief, Jesus in sweat and blood. Add to this list from the records of the church your personal observation and experience, and always there is cost of passion unto blood. Such prayer prevails. It turns ordinary mortals into men of power. It brings power. It brings fire. It brings rain. It brings life. It brings God.”….“Satan dreads nothing but prayer. His one concern is to keep the saints from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, he mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” -Samuel Chadwick

"The prayer of the feeblest saint who lives in the Spirit and keeps right with God is a terror to Satan. The very powers of darkness are paralyzed by prayer; no spiritualistic seance can succeed in the presence of a humble praying saint. No wonder Satan tries to keep our minds fussy in active work till we cannot think in prayer." -Oswald Chambers

Prayer is not a last desperate hope in a losing battle, prayer is the greatest hope on which all battles are won.  Prayer is the life breath of Christians and the church. In our physical life, we breath or we die. In our spiritual life, we pray or we die.  Something miraculous and powerful happens through Gods grace in us when we set aside a large block of time like an hour or more to pray.  The enemy knows this and he will use anything from a dripping faucet to social media to interrupt it.  Some of us just have a hard time focusing on prayer for an hour and our minds drift and wonder.  Don't get discouraged, keep at it!

As a prayer aid I am giving you a great tool for prayer I received from Curtis Seargent, it is the Prayer Wheel. The Prayer Wheel divides an hour of prayer into twelve sections, each 5 minutes long.  The prayer Wheel is a wheel or pie that has 12 slices. Each “slice” is 5 minutes long. It aides you in remaining focused in praying for an hour by breaking the hour down into 5 minutes sections.  I have listed the 12 sections of the Prayer Wheel below.  Before you begin set the timer on your phone for 5 minutes or look at you clock.  Then begin and spend 5 minutes in #1. Praise.  After 5 minutes move to spending 5 minutes in #2 Waiting.  Continue praying this way through #12 and your hour of prayer will be complete.  You can modify the time per section to 2 minutes each if you are at lunch or only have 30 minutes to pray, or add minutes to each section if you have more time to pray.

My family, I pray you will prioritize and commit in 2023 to increasing the time you spend in prayer. I pray you will commit and put in your calendar at least one day a week to spending at least one solid hour a week in prayer. In Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me.  God Bless you my friends!! I have included a copy of the Prayer Wheel Below.

Please share your comments on prayer.  I would also love to hear reflections from those who have spent an hour of time using the Prayer Wheel.

Discipleship Training.

One of my passions is helping churches or small groups understand and embrace their call to be disciples of Jesus in their community. I offer and lead discipleship trainings in person and on-line. If you are interested I would love to talk to you bout it. Email me at garyl@onedirection.community.

Resolve to Help in 2023

 I want to ask you to resolve this year in partnering with my wife, myself, and One Direction Community by supporting our ministries!   We begin a new season of our ministry of pouring completely into planting and growing simple house churches in our neighborhoods, and having “boots on the ground” serving in our community.. Please pray over this. If you click on the link below you can easily set up a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly auto donations in the amount you desire. . We would be so grateful for your help.  You can also give a one-time donation on the same link.  Thank you!

CLICK HERE TO GIVE

You can mail your donation to One Direction Community P.O. Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758

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Email your name and email address to garyl@onedirection.community and I will add you to my ODC Daily Message distribution list to receive an email of these reflection every weekday morning.

 Gary Liederbach- Lead Follower

One Direction Community

Email: garyl@onedirection.community

Website: https://www.onedirection.community

Facebook: One Direction Community-ODC 

PRAYER WHEEL

Set a timer and spend 5 minutes praying in each of the 12 areas, When fininished you will have prayed for a solid hour!

1. PRAISE
Start your prayer hour by praising the Lord. Praise Him for things that are on your mind right now. Praise Him for one special thing He has done in your life in the past week. Praise Him for His goodness to your family. (Psalm 34:1) 

2. WAITING

Spend this time waiting on the Lord. Let Him pull together reflections for you. Think about the hour before you and the things you want the Lord to do in your life. (Psalm 27:14) 

3. CONFESSION

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything in your life which might be displeasing to Him. Ask Him to point out attitudes that are wrong, as well as specific acts for which you have not yet made a prayer of confession. Now confess that to the Lord and claim 1 John 1:9 so that you might be cleansed for the remainder of the hour before you, and then pick up and read the Word. (Psalm 51:1-19) 

4. READ THE WORD

Spend time reading promises of God in the Psalms, in the prophets, and passages on prayer located in the New Testament. Check your concordance. (Psalm 119:97) 

5. PETITION

This is general request for others, praying through the prayer list, the prayer cards, or personal prayer interest on behalf of yourself and others. (Hebrews 4:16) 

6. INTERCESSION

Specific prayer on the behalf of others. Pray specifically for those requests of which you are aware. (Romans 15:30-33) 

7. PRAY THE WORD

Now take the Scriptures and start praying the Scriptures as certain sections of Psalm 119 lend themselves beautifully to prayer expression. (Psalm 119:38-46) 

8. THANKSGIVING

Spend these minutes giving thanks to the Lord for things in your life, things on behalf of the church, things on behalf of your family. (Philippians 4:6) 

9. SINGING

Take your hymnal and sing a prayer song, sing a praise song, sing a song regarding soul winning or witnessing. Let it be a time of praise. (Psalm 59:17) 

10. MEDITATE

Ask the Lord to speak back to you and keep a paper and pen handy, ready to relate the impressions that He makes upon your life. (Psalm 63) 

11. LISTEN

Spend time merging the things you have read from the Word, the things you have prayed, the things you have thanked the Lord for, the things that you have been singing, and see how the Lord brings them all together to speak to you. (I Samuel 3:9-10) 

12. END WITH PRAISE

Praise the Lord for the time you have had to spend with Him. Praise Him for the impressions that He has given you. Praise Him for the prayer requests He raised up in your mind. (Psalm 145:1-13)