Battle Formation by Fidelis Fengu (good novels to read TXT) 📕

BATTLE FORMATION (Series)

Prayer

Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (KJV)

For our struggle is not against human opponents, but against rulers, authorities, cosmic powers in the darkness around us, and evil spiritual forces in the heavenly realms (International standard Version)

Thank you

Special thank you to the Man of God Sisonke Ndlovu, a mentor, and a friend .

Mufaro M. Ndirayire the centre that holds all things together, editor whose face launched a thousand words , thank you for being awesome.

Special thank you to Denise Miller, Ntokozo Msipha, Rachel Kuodza, Trish Nyasha Mugabe, Gugulethu Ndlovu, Eva Sibanda (Sibusiso Media), Tatenda and Ayanda Fengu, Seth Mangena, and Thembani Mpofu

Bonolo (Major - daughter in our family we relax) Gwangwa you have been an inspiration, pillar of strength and your great smile has been inspirational

My cousin Mgcini, thank you for the support and the amazing heart that you have.

Special thanks to other special friends who have been supportive on the spiritual journey.

In a loud silence I remember Lyn Matipaishe Fengu, the one I never got to know , the one I wish I knew, the one I wish I could be there for but time and fate keep us apart till God wills.

To God be the glory, for all the things He has done.

Global Prayer line: Whatsapp / SMS +263774886184

Dear Reader

Hie there

Thank you for taking the time to go through this book, may God give you wisdom and may He explain His word to you as He sees fit.

So, you are holding a book that explores God, faith, prayer, and the results thereof. Awesome stuff hey.

This is an inter-denominational book that has been written prayerfully , and by faith, I believe (and also declare) that this book and the knowledge herein will transform your life and catapult your spiritual life to the next level, in accordance with God’s will over your life. Life has several challenges and we often look for solutions from all over place but today I would like to tell you that even you can work miracles through prayer in your own life.

Fidelis Fengu

Battle Cry

James 5 : 13 – 20

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing praise. Is anyone among you ill? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned their sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful; and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring back that person back remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

1. Understanding Prayer

In our quest to understand prayer we will look at 2 words in their Greek format, Greek because most of the New Testament was written in Greek. The 2 words are proseuche (prayer) and deesis (petition/supplication)

In Ephesians 6:18, the Apostle Paul says “Praying always, with all prayer ….” In both instances the word “prayer” is taken from the most commonly used Greek word for prayer which is proseuche. This is a compound Greek word derived from the words pros and euche. The word proseuche has to do with a type of surrender, sacrifice and consecration, this word makes it apparent that God wants to do more than just bless us, He wants to transform us. He wants us to place our lives in His hands as we come face to face with him at His throne.

The word pros (from proseuche) is a preposition meaning face – to – face. The idea conveyed by this word is one of intimacy.

The second word euche (from proseuche, is a Greek word that means a desire, a wish or a vow. It was usually used to depict a person who made a vow before God in exchange for a favourable answer to prayer

Now, the word proseuche shows us 2 important things about prayer

1. That prayer should bring us face to face with God in an intimate relationship

2. That prayer is a place or act of decision and surrender where we freely vow to give our lives in exchange to God His divine life to be imparted upon us

The word deesis comes from the word deomai which mostly describes a need or want. The word denotes a cry for God’s help that exposes our inability to meet our own needs.

The word deesis is found in James 5:17, where it states Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly (deesis)… Elijah recognised his inability to change the situation apart from God’s intervention.

The word helps us realise that our appeal to God must be out of a deep sense of humility, requesting Him to grant our petition.

The Apostle Paul uses these 2 words together in Phillipians 4:6 where he says BE anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer (proseuche) and supplication (deesis) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God

The Apostle Paul links these 2 words together because they create the basis of how we should pray. The word proseuche focuses on the One to whom the prayer is directed and the word deesis focuses on the need or needs bring presented toward God.

My personal conclusion is that Prayer is an altar, a spiritual place or atmosphere we create to build an intimate conversation with God , and in that intimate conversation we make our wishes, wants and needs known to Him. Take note that I use the word alter because for prayer to be meaningful you give yourself to God, you open your heart and shred it to pieces before God and let Him consume it with the Fire of the holy Spirit creating a new heart that is fully loaded with the power (dunamis) of the Holy Spirit.

At some point in my life, I used to struggle with prayer.

I had been praying for a while and yet nothing was happening. I tried it all and visited a number of popular preachers, pastors and prophets yet everything remained stagnant while other areas got worse.

I had not understood that when praying one has to give themselves completely to God. My prayers were more of demands, where I literally stood before God with a shopping list telling God what I want, as if God was an ATM. These prayers were useless and I remained the same.

My life turned around the day I read

John15:7 If ye abide in me and my words abide in you , ye shall ask what ye will , and it shall be done unto you.

This verse opened my eyes to limitless possibilities and helped me realise the cause of stagnation in my prayer life. I didn’t abide in Jesus, I was more of a visitor, who came to get what he wanted and left.

It is sad to note that today most of us are visitors in Christ and we treat Church and the gospel like a Spaza shop where we frequent when we need to get something, after we receive it we head back to our homes.

We go to God when we need material things, and yet we should abide in Him; in Him should be our shelter, our refuge the place we call home should be in the arms of Saviour Jesus Christ. When you abide in Christ there is no condemnation, nor trial or tribulation that can take away your joy, peace and blessings.

Abide in Him

For us to enjoy answered prayer we need to abide in Him who answers prayer.

We need a personal and intimate relationship with God, and that is the starting point to answered prayer.

To build an intimate relationship with God we need to go before Him and accept Him. Accepting Him is giving Him His place in our lives as the Creator, the Provider and the Saviour. This can be done through opening our hearts to Him.

Opening our hearts to Him is like opening an account at the bank of heaven, you cannot walk into Standard Bank and demand money from there if you do not have a relationship (account) with them.

To open our heaven account and build a relationship with God we need to do the following from the depth of our hearts:

Acknowledge that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

acknowledge that with God is able to save us from sin, trials and tribulations , with Him nothing is impossible

acknowledge Jesus Christ the only begotten son of God died for us on the cross and was raised on the third day that we may receive salvation

The Bible says Romans 10 : 9-10 (KJV) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead , thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Now we need to make a confession , read the confession below out loud , if you received Jesus as your Lord and Saviour you can still say this confession and renew your relationship, confession and salvation with Jesus

Confession

With my mouth today I confess that I am a sinner who has fallen short of the glory of God, with my mouth I declare that I believe in Jesus Christ who was crucified at the cross of calvary, and rose on the third that I might be saved. I confess that Jesus Christ is now the Lord of my life, the Lord of my heart, mind, body and spirit. With this confession I declare that it is done in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Congratulations, with that confession you have begun or renewed your relationship with God.

Go deeper

We have confessed that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is our Saviour. During His earthly ministries, Jesus did so many marvellous things, John 21:25 states that no book could ever be big enough to record and contain all the signs, wonders and miracles that Jesus did.

One thing that was quite noticeable was Jesus’ strong, consistent commitment to prayer. The Bible does state that Jesus had to seclude Himself from the crowds to go to a private place to pray to God. Jesus was truly a great Man of prayer. Jesus the Son of God being human, had to rely on God the Father for guidance and sustenance just as the children need to rely on their earthly father for food, shelter, advice and the general walk of life.

If Jesus had to rely on prayer so much, who are you to not want to rely on prayer? Ah Ah!!!!!

Jesus’ constant prayer life displays our very need to seek God’s face through personal prayer.

Going deeper in prayer

Prayer is a privilege that God gave us to stand in His Holy presence and communicate with the King of Heaven. God is the creator of the Heavens and the Earth and He knows everything that we are, that we need and want