Lifestyle Prayer

When we come to a place where GOD, the creator of the universe is speaking to US we begin to recognize our value! We begin to recognize who we are in Him! And this is a POWERFUL transition because now we are ready to receive ALL that belongs to us through our blood covenant with Him. And as we receive we are free to now GIVE.

Now that we know we can connect with God anywhere anytime knowing He is ready to communicate with us, we can begin a LIFESTYLE OF PRAYER.  What we use to call a “quiet time” or a “daily devotion time” is no longer something we put in a box and leave in the privacy of our own home. Prayer is now something that we carry with us everywhere we go.

In Lifestyle Prayer we are:

1. Extending The Kingdom

Matthew 6:10AMP, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus was teaching His disciples how to pray. Our job in prayer is to extend His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. You can see how Jesus spent His life like a Uhaul bringing down God’s kingdom everywhere He went in the lives of people. We are His disciples and we are to do what He did.

We are ambassadors of God’s kingdom sent here to extend our Kings rule and expand the kingdoms borders. And prayer is the tool we use to do it. It is like our signet ring or our scepter. But what would happen if a king sent ambassadors to extend his kingdom and they never used the authority given to them to extend the kings rule? If they just began to settle into a comfortable life and routine would anything change? Would the rules of the kingdom be enforced? Would the present powers be forced to come under submission to the king’s authority?

No! But this is what we are seeing. This is why we are frustrated. We are the ambassadors meant to extend God’s kingdom. The present powers of this age are resisting being overthrown by us.  Until we, with confidence of the authority we have been given, begin to contend in prayer, AND KEEP ON STANDING, they aren’t going to budge. We shouldn’t be surprised by the resistance nor shall we grow weary.

Ephesians 6:10-18AMP, “In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides]. Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil. For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere. Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place]. Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God, And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the [a]firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness [b]produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.(B) Lift up over all the [covering] shield of [c]saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one]. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit [d]wields, which is the Word of God. Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).”

What happens when a governing system refuses to come under the authority of the governing system that has defeated it? It’s time to do BATTLE! Jesus already won the war so now it’s time to stand OUR ground. It’s time to CONTEND against “the world rulers of this present darkness”.

The enemy is deceitful. He will tell you, “You aren’t healed. God didn’t really set you free or give you that gift or promise to provide and bless you.” That’s when we tighten our belt of truth and keep standing on the truth until we see the evidence of the reality of God’s kingdom extended.

I think every one of us in this room appreciate our troops and the sacrifices they have made so that we can enjoy freedom. But have you ever seen someone disrespecting them? I have and I get so angry that they ungratefully want to enjoy the benefits of these guys’ blood sweat and tears but without demonstrating honor.

I often come across wives who are not completely happy in their marriage. They are unhappy with who their husband is and yet they are not willing to pay the price in battle for their spouse.

My husband was meeting with a man who commented that his wife reads my blogs and loves them. This friend has taken the things I have said about my husband in my blogs and now asks her husband why he can’t be more like mine.

That is a huge disappointment to me!

She has seen the way I write about Travis honoring him, speaking prophetically to call out the gifts of God in him, she has read how I labored in prayer for my partner and STILL she has some how missed the point.

Just like her, I said “yes” when my husband proposed to me. I made a choice that he was valuable enough for me to commit the rest of my life to him. She made the same choice for better or for worse. The only difference between her man and mine is I LABORED and CONTENDED for mine.

And she has belittled hers.

She wants to enjoy the benefits of a great marriage but without sacrificing in battle.

In LIFESTYLE PRAYER we are living :

2. Eyes Wide Open/Always Watching and Listening

“Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).”

We were taught in Sunday school to bow our head and close our eyes before prayer. But LIFESTYLE prayer is alert. It is always watching and always praying. “Yes, God I see that give me kingdom perspective for that situation so that I can pray out your will.”

We are watching over our family. We are watching over our friends and our community. Lifestyle prayer is recognizing that our steps are ordered by God so wherever we go we have a purpose, an assignment.

This takes the focus off of myself when I am forced to go to Walmart; a place that happens to always be filled with people who need encouragement from the Lord on any given day or time. How many know God’s kingdom NEEDS to be extended at Walmart!

When I go to Walmart I wear my permasmile. I make eye contact with shoppers and staff until I force a smile out of them. And I LOVE when I see their countenance change. Giving someone a smile is more powerful then we give it credit. It says, “ I see you. You are not invisible. You are valuable. You are not alone.”

Just think about how your whole day can be affected when someone honks at you or flips the bird at you. These are things that don’t even bruise us coming from someone we will never see again and yet, they can eat at us all day stealing our joy. But a smile does the opposite and it only costs me putting myself out there to possibly be rejected.

Our job is NOT to live a safe life, it is to carry God’s kingdom within us and administer it where the enemy is still ruling.

Recently I became aware that my son was angry and frustrated. He had become like an open door allowing the enemy to come into our family with strife, fear, disrest. I had been praying for the Lord to show me what to do. I wanted to control the situation with him and was planning to come down really hard on him. But the Lord said, “you can do that and you may be able to change his actions or you can help him cultivate a relationship with me and I will change His heart.”

I decided that was a pretty good plan, much better than mine, so I agreed, but I had to keep standing and keep asking God to show me how to do my part. I talked to a couple of older moms who explained to me that my son was going through an age appropriate transition with me where I needed to step aside from being the one who disciplines him and Dad needed to take over.

We were both doing our jobs up until that time, our job description as parents had just changed. The problem was I wasn’t going to go to my husband and tell him how to do his job. So I kept standing and believing.

Soon after, God brought us both to a conference where these things were being addressed and God totally planted vision for our son in Trav’s heart so that now we were ALL on the same page with the Holy Spirit.

Was my job to control my son? Was it to control my husband?

Nope. My job was to keep my eyes open, hear God’s plan for our situation and agree and contend for God’s kingdom to be made manifest in our home.

Here’s one more example from my own life of what it means to be a LIFESTYLE PRAYER watching for opportunities to administer God’s kingdom and push back the enemies rule:

I volunteer one day a week at my boys’ school to help the teachers, get to see my kids in their own world and to get to know their friends because someday these kids may be my kids teen friends. It is to my family’s benefit that I invest in them. Though I have been doing this since the beginning of last year, as I was preparing this teaching God started showing me how I am literally carrying His kingdom into the public school every time I go. Last year I developed a lasting friendship with a young teacher and she began to seek God and prayer because I was just carrying out my “orders”.

Last week I walked in just as a teacher got off the phone with her husband who said his dad just died suddenly. I was there to listen to her and pray quietly as I worked on a project for her.

Four weeks ago I spent some time one on one with a kindergartener who is in his second year of kindergarten and still struggling through the alphabet. The Holy Spirit showed me how this boy is like my eldest son and very creative. I built him up and then as I was doing cafeteria duty his mom “just happened” to be eating lunch with him. The Lord led me to encourage her that her son was a very creative out of the box thinker. And I told her he was the kind of kid who grows up and changes the world. We both almost cried as God’s kingdom truth was pushing back the hopelessness of the enemy’s rule.

Do you see how the Lord gave me the gift of prophecy for that situation and it didn’t have to get weird?

We all want to save the world and do great things, but what we don’t recognize is that happens in everyday life as we follow the Holy Spirit in LIFESTYLE PRAYER.

We may look foolish at times. We may miss-hear sometimes, but we will be compelled by God’s love that is bursting out of our hearts. It’s a love worth looking foolish for.

Be confident as you live a LIFESTYLE of Prayer:

3. You Are Equipped/Empowered:

In every place He leads us we can assess the situation and know that we have whatever gift is needed to extend God’s kingdom for that circumstance.

1 Cor. 12:4-6,“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.”

He will give you word of knowledge, prophecy, healing, wisdom, faith, whatever you need to express God’s love (the more excellent way) as you extend God’s kingdom wherever you go.

Joshua 1:3 NLV, “I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you.”

Most important of all, remember the first part of this verse Ephesians 6:10, “In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides]

Everything we have gained in the Lord has come from our private times alone with our most loving Father. Don’t neglect your union with Him because it is where your power comes from.

John 15:5, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”