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| Prophetess Hilda Arredondo |
"Praying, The Will Of The Father"
Dear Praying Friends, What is the will of the Father in a given prayer situation? How can you be sure that you are not praying your will and off into soulish praying? What is soulish praying? Sometimes when a vessel is not thoroughly clean and lacks heavenly wisdom, he will begin to pray out of lusts, wrong motives, and selfish desires. He will pray out of the soulish (mind) realm and not from the heart of the Father. He will begin to pray his will in a prayer situation and not stop to seek the Father's will. This tells us that this is not a Holy God’s way of accomplishing His will in us. God will never violate a man’s free will. He showed us frankly and openly His Word of truth, either through the Bible or through a servant that told us about salvation, deliverance, etc., and we were allowed to choose freely. If we are to be His true representatives, then we need to walk in His statutes and commandments and that includes righteous motives in our life of prayer. Sometimes without much thought, it is easy to set up ourselves as an authority over that situation and feel that a particular outcome would be the best way for the Father to handle that situation, and we begin to pray in our will. Being on the end of receiving dozens of prayer calls and asked to pray and agree with prayer needs, I feel that the Lord is directing me by His Spirit to admonish you with some truth, so that we can be corrected in an area that is sometimes easily violated by pray-ers, either by the lack of knowledge or plain ignorance. Some prayer examples are as follows:
PRAYER EXAMPLE #1
A pray-er called and said, “I believe my oldest daughter’s time has come to marry, but the boy she is now dating is not the one for her. The Lord has shown me who she is to marry. Let’s pray that God break up this relationship.” As a parent we may see things in our children’s lives that are a hindrance; and it is our duty to pray, direct, and guide them with words of wisdom and love. I don’t believe; however, that we have to try to force God’s hand and pray for Him to break up the relationship. Is He not the God that fashioned the heavens, great in counsel, and mighty in work; “…for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 32:19. Righteous Praying #1 – “God bless, direct, and guide my daughter. Give her the young man of your choice. Father, I commit this situation to You, to work out what is best for her and this young man.” Let’s not be guilty of meddling with the will of the Father.
PRAYER EXAMPLE #2
A pray-er called and wanted prayer for someone on their job who was causing them much discomfort. The request was to pray the someone causing them the discomfort out of the job so the pray-er could work in peace. Now this seems like the easy thing to do. I am sure this other person has a family, children, wife, and bills to pay. The answer is never praying the problem away, but dealing in the love of Christ with the problem. All successful relationships are based on love, harmony, and good communication skills in Christ. Could it be possible that the person is in our path for a reason? Possibly to smooth out the rough edges of our character? Sometimes the very things in our path that are uncomfortable will be the very things needed for us to grow up in the stature of our Lord Jesus Christ – like loving the unlovable. Matt. 5:44 says, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Here, the Word of God says “do well”. Are we doing well when we try to pray someone out of a job? Righteous Praying #2 - Our prayer could possibly be Father, bless my co-worker and work your kindness and love into his heart. Make me patient and enduring and let him see the love of Jesus in me.”
PRAYER EXAMPLE #3
Some pray-ers called and stated that they felt the leadership in their church was not doing what they thought they should be doing. Again the prayer request was a request to get the leadership to do things their way – dominating and manipulating in prayer was evident. When God raises up a man or woman in authority, He gives them a mantle of authority. God gives this man or woman His plan to accomplish His purpose and goals to bring His kingdom work to pass. When you start coming against a person in authority in soulish prayer, you are on shaky ground; they are God’s representatives. Even David would not come against evil Saul, he had enough compassion and wisdom to not touch this man who at one time had been God’s anointed. Righteous Praying #3 - If you feel those in leadership are in error or sin, begin to pray and ask God to bring them into the truth. Have mercy upon them. There is no need to pray our will upon them. God who is Almighty and sees all will deal His measure of correction to their disobedience. II Samuel 22:25-28 says, “Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight. With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright. With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury. .And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.”
PRAYER EXAMPLE #4
A pray-er needed prayer agreement to speak destruction by fire on a worldly bar building that was a sore thumb in a particular community. Did we ever stop and think about the person who owns this work of darkness? The reason that he is involved in the works of darkness is because he is a lost person. He is a human being with great potential for salvation and prayer. Righteous Praying #4 - Would it not be better to pray for that man’s salvation so that he can come to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? What if people were hurt inside the building while our “destruction of fire” prayer came to pass? Would it not be better to pray that God turn the building into a church for the Glory of God? In Luke 9:54-56 the apostles were upset because Jesus was not received by some; they said let us call fire down from heaven and destroy them. Jesus told them He came to save men’s lives not to destroy them. This was a lack of maturity on the apostles’ behalf, yet at a later date these very same men were used mightily by God.
PRAYER EXAMPLE #5
A pray-er calling for prayer needed someone that could touch the throne of God with prayer power and was calling us for prayer. In this situation God had showed the pray-er a particular house for rent and told him it was his – the present people living in it were not moving out and the pray-er needed someone to agree with him that this was his house and help him pray the present occupants out so that he could move in. If God has told us something and we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is His voice; why do we need to help God out? If He has said it, then He will do it in His time. If we have to keep trying to force God’s hand through prayer to make something happen that God has already spoken, then it’s possible you heard wrong or you are ahead of God and not resting in God. Righteous Praying #5 – The prayer in this case could possibly be: “Righteous Father, I need a place to live and I feel you have showed me a particular place; I now place this request in your hands and know that you will bring your perfect will to pass in your time. Bless the man and family presently living in this house.” Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” When a person is in this kind of deception (wrong praying) and can find another person who is in the same error and deception to agree, they begin to pray soulish prayers in agreement, they will see some results, but the power tapped into is in the soulish realm (mind power) and they are deceived that it is God answering their prayers. I have observed several things about individuals involved in soulish prayer – they are in much confusion, they don’t understand why their lives are in such a mess and out of balance. They mistakenly discern self’s voice as the Holy Spirit’s voice. They are usually strong, self-willed individuals with beautiful gifts from God, but will not submit to any kind of authority or training. They will try to dominate, manipulate through prayer their ways of thinking. They always have a scripture to justify their action of prayer. There is limited power in soulish prayer. The thing or situation prayed for will not last or the time will come that the pray-er will wish he had never prayed his will and will begin to pray something else that he now thinks will bring the solution. This puts the pray-er in an endless cycle of having to constantly pray soulishly to keep and control what he thinks is best for him or others. The Lord is looking for vessels of prayer that He can move through so He can demonstrate His prayer power and glory. He does not want to be a chess piece in our life that we can move as we see fit, but He wants us to be a chess piece in His Holy Hand so He can direct our lives for His Glory. In the book of Malachi there are thirty-two sins mentioned: some are irreverence, dishonoring God, disrespect and deception. When we bring God down to our soulish level and try to manipulate His power of prayer for our own selfish means or desires we are dishonoring a Holy God. We are also in deception and showing disrespect by trying to undermine God’s ways and principles for our selfish desires. Who are we to dictate to God our methods and ways? Is He not the God that created the heavens; hangs the sun, moon, and stars in the sky? He created the intricate anatomy of our physical bodies. Isaiah 40:12, 15, says, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance.” V 15 “Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as very little thing.” Your question now can be how do we pray?
JESUS OUR BEST EXAMPLE
Our best example is to look at Jesus in Chapter 17 of John and see how He prayed. Verse 9 “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” Verse 11 “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.” Jesus prayed for the keeping and oneness of all believers. He also prayed in much respect. If anyone could have been in a chummy relationship with the Father it could have been Jesus, yet with much respect He said, “Holy Father”, and then He prayed for close communion between us and the father. In verse 13 He prayed that they might have joy. In verse 15 He prayed for the Father not to take them out of the world, but to keep them from all evil. You know Jesus could have prayed that God keep them from all the evil. He could have said, “Father, I want them with me so we can be in glory land together.” Let us not be hasty to pray a person in or out of a situation. Let us pray in wisdom like Jesus did. Let us not try to pray all the mountains away from that person, but on the other hand let us pray that God give him the strength and wisdom on how to remove mountains in Jesus’ name. Someone once said, “Do not pray for easy lives, but pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your power, pray for power equal to your tasks.” In verse 17 Jesus prayed for their sanctification, Verse 21 He prayed for the unity, and in verse 25 He prayed that true love dwell in them. In Matthew 26:39 Jesus prayed, “…Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt.” What is God’s will? The word of God tells us it is God’s will to meet our physical needs as well as give us our daily bread, save us, heal, and deliver us. But how God chooses to do this is His will and His methods are better than ours. If we limit God by dictating to Him every detail of the answer we are going to limit God in what He can do for us in that situation. I know that we have had much teaching to pray the answer, don’t pray the problem, be specific with God when you bring your needs to Him, but if you are not seeking the Father’s will and discerning the voice that is speaking to you – much confusion and heartache may come our way.
HIS WAY ARE HIGHER
Let’s remember that His ways are higher than our ways. The Holy Spirit impressed on my heart one day the following thought: “I’ve become a pawn in some of my people’s hands – they say this is my desire and now you bring it to pass. God, you perform for me.” They don’t stop to consider that what they are wanting might be harmful for them or others. I know the beginning and end of every situation. They look at my word and say this promise of scripture will apply the magic formula needed to bring this to pass. Beloved of God, some of you have shared and counseled with us that you don’t understand why your life is in confusion and turmoil. You’ve prayed for something, but that only brings more confusion, heartache, and error. There is no fruit to your prayers. Beloved, before you utter another prayer before the God of heaven stop and ask the Father what is His will in the prayer situation, then listen quietly and pray His will. Let me share these words of wisdom with you – they are not my words of wisdom – but they brought much fruit to my daily walk in prayer. Miracles and answered prayer should be distinguished from the works of magic. In magic the wonder worker himself possesses the formula which causes the alleged result – the alleged supernatural power is controlled by the performer. Compare Exodus 7:11 & 8:7. In miracles and prayer the results depend wholly upon the divine will, and the one who works the miracle is simply an agent for the Lord. If we are guilty of wrong praying let us repent (turn away) and ask God to forgive us of dishonoring Him, irreverence, disrespect, and deception and because we serve a God of love and mercy, He will make us to be in right standing with the father. 1John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Praise be to God…His servant hilda arredondo
Thank you so much for reading this message. If you would like to make a copy or copies of this newsletter, you are welcome to do so. Make sure your copy is in its entirety and the message should not be changed. Judgment messages are very serious and those declaring them carry a big responsibility.
Hilda Arredondo's name and her website http://NDCPrayer.com/ and e-mail address uipwc@bellsouth.net should accompany this message as you print it. If you have any questions or comments please e-mail us. At this point we have no representatives outside this ministry and all business for the ministry is handled by hilda arredondo, 195 El Shaddai Rd, Opelousas, La. 70570
