Several weeks ago a friend sent me a youtube link of a sermon delivered by James Aladiran. I have never heard of this preacher before, and it turns out I was in for a shock. His preaching on prayer convicted me greatly. From that sermon I decided to go to my church every morning at 6 am to pray for an hour.
The below "proverbs" are the notes I took over the course of my weeks of praying. I formatted it like the Bible, with each week expressed as a chapter. I'm being a little bit presumptuous, perhaps, to do so, but my intention is playful. These are certainly not Scripture.
But hopefully the reader will glean something of value from these proverbs.
I will be adding to this post periodically.
Chapter 1
1 When I pray I have the attention of the creator of the universe.
4 We don't know what to pray, but Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26), One prayer... Holy Spirit multiplier.
9 The way we do things in church is because of the way people have done things in church.
12 What would we exchange to know the surpassing greatness (Philippians 3:8)
Chapter 2
2 Our prayers makes us creators of holy places
3 I don't want my faith to be contingent on results.
5 I don't want to be an accumulator of revelation and insight that ends with me. I don't want to be a spiritual dead end.
Chapter 3
1 Revival without prayer and discipleship is like gathering feathers in a windstorm.
2 Breathe on the embers, fan into flame our faith.
3 May I never be so sure of my doctrine that I injure someone.
3 May I never be so sure of my doctrine that I injure someone.
4 We don't know what to pray, but Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26), One prayer... Holy Spirit multiplier.
5 Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives a burden to pray about, but other times we pray and then realize after that we were given the burden. This is praying in the Spirit...
6 Doing the sensible thing without the Holy Spirit is not sensible.
6 Doing the sensible thing without the Holy Spirit is not sensible.
7 There is no logic in chaos. The kingdom of darkness doesn’t need to make sense.
8 The prayer of a righteous man availeth much..." (James 5:16) If true, then how much should I be asking for in prayer? I've been ok with availing just a little.
8 The prayer of a righteous man availeth much..." (James 5:16) If true, then how much should I be asking for in prayer? I've been ok with availing just a little.
9 The way we do things in church is because of the way people have done things in church.
10 I don't really want to know how this church is run. I want to know how to run in this church.
11 I shouldn't complain about my pastors lacking the pastor gift, I should pray they become pastors.
11 I shouldn't complain about my pastors lacking the pastor gift, I should pray they become pastors.
12 What would we exchange to know the surpassing greatness (Philippians 3:8)
Chapter 2
1 The church needs to begin thinking like You think.
2 Our prayers makes us creators of holy places
3 I don't want my faith to be contingent on results.
4 I don’t trust him because heard and he answered, I trust him because he made order from chaos, beauty from nothing, and light from darkness. This God can be trusted because these things speak to His character and nature.
5 I don't want to be an accumulator of revelation and insight that ends with me. I don't want to be a spiritual dead end.
Chapter 3
1 Revival without prayer and discipleship is like gathering feathers in a windstorm.
2 I'm praying for the vigor of the elderly in the church. We're going to need them for discipling us.
3 We are not called to worship only a few facets of God, but some are content with one or two. We like the good stuff and the blessings. But justice, wrath, judgment? Maybe not so much.... Kindness and severity. (Romans 11:22)
3 Everything in the kingdom, everything about God, is known through revelation.
4 If everything is predestined it is like God playing game of solitaire with all the cards face up.
5 Expectations about the way the church and its ministries are run always leads to frustration, bitterness, and anger.
6 We cant even compare eternity with the processes of time. How God exists within eternity and interacts with time is beyond our ability to understand. Beyond tracing out. (Romans 11:33)
4 I repent on behalf of my church and the faulty foundation it was founded upon, and all the error and failures and sin that resulted from that. I now proclaim my church to be released from its bondage and is now set upon the Rock. (Matthew 7:24)
5 We stand on the legacy left by anonymous laborers. This is our inheritance. What inheritance are we leaving?
3 Everything in the kingdom, everything about God, is known through revelation.
4 If everything is predestined it is like God playing game of solitaire with all the cards face up.
5 Expectations about the way the church and its ministries are run always leads to frustration, bitterness, and anger.
6 We cant even compare eternity with the processes of time. How God exists within eternity and interacts with time is beyond our ability to understand. Beyond tracing out. (Romans 11:33)
7 God exists in an eternal place. He exists in a separate process. Yet He has caused His eternal nature, His processes, to work within the processes of time. For 33 years the eternal God in Jesus existed within the processes of time.
Chapter 4
1 The coming revival will look nothing like past revivals. Slain in the spirit, holy laughter... those things are yesterday, if they were even a sign of revival at all.
Chapter 4
1 The coming revival will look nothing like past revivals. Slain in the spirit, holy laughter... those things are yesterday, if they were even a sign of revival at all.
2 The traditions of men. How much does spiritual error in one thing affect other areas?
3 We need to stop being content in our deceptions. Some deceptions are gateway drugs to greater deceptions. We cannot tolerate even small deceptions.
4 I repent on behalf of my church and the faulty foundation it was founded upon, and all the error and failures and sin that resulted from that. I now proclaim my church to be released from its bondage and is now set upon the Rock. (Matthew 7:24)
5 The sins of indecision, uncertainty, prayerlessness, and inaction are paralyzing the church.
6 One can be doctrinally mistaken and still be saved.
7 When I pray long enough to deplete my supply of easy phrases, that's when prayer starts to get real. I don't want to be a casual pray-er.
6 One can be doctrinally mistaken and still be saved.
7 When I pray long enough to deplete my supply of easy phrases, that's when prayer starts to get real. I don't want to be a casual pray-er.
8 For some, the little touch of Holy Spirit is where they stop. The glimpse of glory is enough. They weep and raise their hands because the little touch will do that. We have the presence, but what about the glory?
9 We need to lay the spiritual groundwork before we decree and declare. That is done through a history of prayer.
9 We need to lay the spiritual groundwork before we decree and declare. That is done through a history of prayer.
10 I need God to show me my territory, the boundaries of the authority He has given me.
11 You didn’t just save us, you want to be with us.
12 Some of us need an encounter with God. Others need a collision.
Chapter 5
11 You didn’t just save us, you want to be with us.
12 Some of us need an encounter with God. Others need a collision.
Chapter 5
1 I need to start having bigger faith and bigger prayers.
2 I look forward to the future church, a fully functional church, a fully mature church, a church filled with the Spirit, filled with vision, with a track history of decades of spiritual victories and spiritual fruit.
3 If you're a church leader who is not discipling your replacement, you're not a church leader.
4 In terms of perpetuation, it's easier to maintain a spiritually healthy contemporary church than it is to ensure the next generation continues forward in faith. We need to work harder for the next generation than this one.
2 I look forward to the future church, a fully functional church, a fully mature church, a church filled with the Spirit, filled with vision, with a track history of decades of spiritual victories and spiritual fruit.
3 If you're a church leader who is not discipling your replacement, you're not a church leader.
4 In terms of perpetuation, it's easier to maintain a spiritually healthy contemporary church than it is to ensure the next generation continues forward in faith. We need to work harder for the next generation than this one.
5 We stand on the legacy left by anonymous laborers. This is our inheritance. What inheritance are we leaving?
6 Acts 5:10-11 At that moment she fell down at his feet
and died. Then the young men came in and, finding
her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her
husband. Great fear seized the whole church and
all who heard about these events.
Holy Spirit, if your power at work in my church would be anything like this, what would my church then look like? What if the coming revival is going to be deadly serious.? What if the manifestation of the Spirit makes people pray, "Oh God, please don't kill me?"
Chapter 6
1 There's a difference between being humble and being timid.
2 There's a difference between boldness and presumptuousness.
3 There's a difference between confidence and pride.
2 There's a difference between boldness and presumptuousness.
3 There's a difference between confidence and pride.
4 Holy Spirit, teach me to pray your prayers.
5 Open to us the gates of righteousness. Psalm 118:19
6 Make my church a high traffic area for the Holy Spirit. Let our prayers be the road construction for the highway. (Isaiah 40:3)
7 You have replaced the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, Aaron's staff, and the stone tablets with Your church.
7 You have replaced the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant, Aaron's staff, and the stone tablets with Your church.
8 The church needs to get some clarity on the magnitude of salvation.
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
1 Let my labor remain in anonymity, my intercession not get credit. Let my heart be content to labor in without the praise of men.
2 Intercession is a prophetic act.
3 The intercessors must be weepers who are willing to pray the hard prayers. Heavenly Father, raise up the weeping intercessors. Joel 2:17 Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar...
4 God doesn't require intercession to act, but He prefers it.
5 Is it possible to forget sins and not just forgive people who have sinned against us? Hebrews 8:12 "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
We have the mind of Christ. If He can forget our sins, so can I. Now, how does that change my thinking?
1 Asking with the wrong motives, is literally, to ask badly or sickly. (James 4:3)
2 Keeping in step with the Spirit applies to a church service as well. (Galatians 5:25)
3 A church for the city must minister to the city. It's time for us to get into our stride.
4 Cast all my cares on Him... just don't take them back.
5God has required persistent prayer. He doesn't require intercession in order to act but He prefers it.
6"Let's have pleasant church service." - things Jesus never said.
7 Why don't we let other people bear our burdens? Maybe that's why we don't move on in the faith --- we don't do the basics. Maybe that's a reason revival tarries.
8 May it never be said that our church would be a lot better if this person or that person went somewhere else.
9 I am confident that God will not only preserve his church but will prosper it.
Chapter 9
1 Jesus said "your father in heaven" and "heavenly father." I don't think He should be called "God" or "father God." His name isn't "God."
2 The kingdom of heaven is not outside our reach:
Mat. 10:7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
He is the the King of kings, but within reach.
3 If we want people to pray we need to properly model it. We have so few examples of people who when they're praying look like they believe prayer is worthwhile, or even that they're enjoying themselves while praying.
4 Why do we use special words or a special voice when we pray? Why can't we speak in a conversational tone like we would with a friend?
5 Prayers should be weighed just like prophecies are. Not just for anointing, but content.
6 We don't need to be more eloquent, our prayers need to be Spirit led.
7 In some churches they expand the size of the stage and decrease the number of seats. That's backwards. We need to make room for revival.
8 In some churches the people facilitate the pastor's vision. In other churches, the pastor facilitates the people seeing the vision for themselves.
9 I don't need to be first, but i don't want to be last.
This is about the kingdom.
10 If you're in a race and you stop running, it's very difficult to catch up again. Over the centuries, how far behind has the Church fallen behind what God has called it to? Keep running the race.
11 Keeping in step with the Spirit means both keeping up and also not outrunning him.
12 We sing, "Holy Spirit you are welcome here." But He doesn't operate so much by good feels as he does by fearful displays of glory.
13 A day of reckoning... "the time when one is called to account for one's actions, to pay one's debts, or to fulfill one's promises or obligations."
14 Why am I so burdened to intercede for this church? Why is it important to me? I don't know. There's an urgency I can't explain.
3 If we want people to pray we need to properly model it. We have so few examples of people who when they're praying look like they believe prayer is worthwhile, or even that they're enjoying themselves while praying.
4 Why do we use special words or a special voice when we pray? Why can't we speak in a conversational tone like we would with a friend?
5 Prayers should be weighed just like prophecies are. Not just for anointing, but content.
6 We don't need to be more eloquent, our prayers need to be Spirit led.
7 In some churches they expand the size of the stage and decrease the number of seats. That's backwards. We need to make room for revival.
8 In some churches the people facilitate the pastor's vision. In other churches, the pastor facilitates the people seeing the vision for themselves.
9 I don't need to be first, but i don't want to be last.
Matt 19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.
This is about the kingdom.
10 If you're in a race and you stop running, it's very difficult to catch up again. Over the centuries, how far behind has the Church fallen behind what God has called it to? Keep running the race.
11 Keeping in step with the Spirit means both keeping up and also not outrunning him.
12 We sing, "Holy Spirit you are welcome here." But He doesn't operate so much by good feels as he does by fearful displays of glory.
13 A day of reckoning... "the time when one is called to account for one's actions, to pay one's debts, or to fulfill one's promises or obligations."
Holy Spirit, would you bring our church to a day of reckoning? Time to make a choice: Will we remain a nice, pleasant church, or be obliged to move on to be a Kingdom church?
14 Why am I so burdened to intercede for this church? Why is it important to me? I don't know. There's an urgency I can't explain.
Chapter 10
1 Father supplies guardrails and boundaries but we impose restrictions and limitations.
2 Public honor, private dishonor: We must not put on a public show but then privately treat people poorly.
3 It's time some dead people started getting raised.
4 This church needs to start thinking about leaving an enduring legacy of faith.
1 Father supplies guardrails and boundaries but we impose restrictions and limitations.
2 Public honor, private dishonor: We must not put on a public show but then privately treat people poorly.
3 It's time some dead people started getting raised.
4 This church needs to start thinking about leaving an enduring legacy of faith.
5 Raise up the company of warriors within the ranks, the mighty men and mighty women who are at the beckon call of the king. Let these warriors take up the burden of prayer, warring in the Spirit, and pulling down strongholds.
6 Pioneers... The trailblazers go first with prayer, clearing the trail so others can more easily walk it.
7 One of the great benefits of delayed revival is getting more time in prayer and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
8 When your testimony receives the anointing is when it bears great fruit.
9 The fruit of a prayer ministry is not the number of intercessors or the length of time they pray. The fruit is answered prayer.
10 Vision is the Holy Spirit giving a glimpse of what could be.
11 Preparing for revival must include preparing for discipleship.
12 Maybe my church is right where You want us to be. Maybe the leaders are being obedient to Your leading. Maybe their decisions are informed by the Spirit. It's easy to identify inadequacies and complain about mistakes, but that must not be the basis for my intercession.
I mustn't assume that my desires for this church are the same as Your desires.
13 Many promises of God are conditional. I believe there will be a move of God in my church, but there are things we must do.
Father, what are Your conditions for us to see revival?
14 I want to be more aware of the ebbs and flows of the Holy Spirit.
15 It's hard to move away from things I want but you don't want.
It's also hard to move towards things you want but I don't want.
Both things result from a lack of keeping in step with the Spirit.
16 A Christian can be obedient and prideful at the same time. It doesn't honor God to be obedient without humility.
17 Jesus said house of prayer, not house of preaching or house of worship. Not to diminish these other things, but what was Jesus ' priority?
The last two months praying here at the church have shown me that all my prayers revolve around this one thing: My church must become a house of prayer.
The last 14 years of attending this church has shown me that nothing I can say or do will make it so. It's the Holy Spirit who must move in people's hearts with a burden to pray.
18 I still want revival, but maybe the initial wave will be a revival of prayer. This might be the necessary antecedent.
19 The weeping intercessors weep because of grief over the church's dullness, the pain of people's illness or loss, the lost that they may hear and believe, and for the move of God which seems to tarry too long.
20 Holy Spirit, would you make this house a 24/7 house of prayer?
21 "Kingdom come" is the order the Holy Spirit brings to the fruits of revival.
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