In his book Penetrating the Darkness, pastor Jack Hayford details his personal battle plan for unleashing God’s power and defeating hell on earth. He explains how embracing the power of the cross allows you to develop a powerful prayer life, engage in effective intercession, understand the weapons in your arsenal and confront—and defeat—evil.
He says, “Nothing has more greatly shaped the experiences and events of my life than prayer: personal prayer, public prayer gatherings, pointed and focused prayer, passionate prayer, and power-filled, Spirit-energized prayer!”
Jesus taught that praying goes beyond the habits of multitudes who, when they do pray, are exercising something more akin to rubbing a rabbit’s foot—a hope heavenward that “something good will happen” or “this awful thing will go away.”
Hayford explains how to: develop powerful devotional habits, engage in intercession, plead the blood of Christ, understand the correct use of binding and loosing, confront evil and learn why some prayers don’t succeed.
The Practice of Prayer
Hayford shares about a season in his life when his prayer time had been so deeply influenced by new dimensions of worship and intercession that he altered his daily devotional time with God. The Lord confronted him and said, “You have forgotten the habit of daily devotional prayer.”
Although Hayford was interceding, he was not giving himself to the daily intimacy of time with Jesus. He knew that Jesus was inviting him to return to his daily relational time. Hayford learned the importance of renewing the simplicity and intimacy of relationship with God, which equipped him for spiritual warfare. He offers the following advice:
• Set the “practicals” into place—set aside time for devotions, but not a specific duration of time.
• Present yourself to the Lord with thanksgiving and praise.
• Present your heart to Him to be cleansed.
• Present your day to the Lord as a sacrifice.
• Present your reach—pray for family, coworkers, neighbors, etc.
Watch an interview with Hayford below.
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