Bashan Ministries Preparing the way

One day he was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said, "Master, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." Luke 11:1.
And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiply words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

Pray, therefore, like this: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven (left, remitted, and let go of the debts, and have given up resentment against) our debtors. And lead (bring) us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matthew 6:7-13.

There are a few people in the bible who not only prayed, but they knew how to pray and get results.
John the Baptist was one. He not only knew how to pray... he taught his disciples. Jesus was a man of prayer. He prayed often and he got answers every time and His disciples saw it! Like many of us, they didn't really know how to pray and asked Jesus to teach them.
What we call the Lord's Prayer really is not what he told us to say. By way of answer to their request, He told us to pray like this... giving the example or the pattern to apply but many believers have made it a tradition... a ritual, that is more often than not repeated without thought and recited as one recites a poem.
The God kind of prayer is one that changes things. It intervenes in the ordinary to make it the extraordinary and to produce a desired outcome. Such praying releases or activates the miracle working power of God.
We share some prayer secrets... some of the keys or principles of how to pray in such a way that you get God's attention, knowing that once you do that... He will answer!

Every need and every problem... everything that is beyond your own natural resources has an answer. It is always bigger than your situation or circumstance in the natural realm because we are dealing with spiritual matters. God is a spirit. We do not approach Him in the natural but in the dimension of the spirit and the answers come by the spirit to be manifest in the natural realm. When you understand this... you are well on your way to being able to pray like Jesus.
His prayers were always answered and for simple reason... He always depended on the Father and pleased Him in all respects, so whenever He prayed, it was always in line with what God wanted. His prayer in Gethsemane summed it up, when He stated it was not His own will than mattered, but the will of the Father. See Luke 22:42.
I am able to do nothing from Myself [independently, of My own accord—but only as I am taught by God and as I get His orders]. Even as I hear, I judge [I decide as I am bidden to decide. As the voice comes to Me, so I give a decision], and My judgment is right (just, righteous), because I do not seek or consult My own will [I have no desire to do what is pleasing to Myself, My own aim, My own purpose] but only the will and pleasure of the Father Who sent Me. John 5:30.
There is one thing to remember at all times and that is the fact that God never changes.
His will is fixed and His plan is perfect.
When we know that.. we can pray with absolute confidence that He will hear us and if He hears us then the answer is there.
My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God's Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he's listening. And if we're confident that he's listening, we know that what we've asked for is as good as ours. 1 John 5:13-15.
Once we know what God is like and what He wants, then we can align ourselves with Him and pray the prayer of faith, knowing that the answer is already ours!

Please look again at Jesus' illustration on how to pray.

“And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who pretend piety by praying publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. Truly, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your Father secretly, and your Father, who knows your secrets, will reward you. “Don’t recite the same prayer over and over as the heathen do, who think prayers are answered only by repeating them again and again. Remember, your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! “Pray along these lines: ‘Our Father in heaven, we honor your holy name. We ask that your kingdom will come now. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. Give us our food again today, as usual, and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.Don’t bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One. Amen.
There are two points to consider.

God knows about everything and He will reward you
He already knows what you are going to say before you utter one word
God's will is always fulfilled in Heaven, where there is no lack or poverty, no sickness or disease, no wars and fighting, no natural disasters or any of the things that concern you in the here and now. Your prayers should therefore concentrate on fulfilling the will of the Lord on earth, to bring the principles of the Kingdom to bear in our midst. When we do this, the prayers are answered!

When you pray, never hesitate; never wonder if your prayer will be answered; never doubt, for nothing will work for you. James says that it will get you nowhere.

If any of you needs wisdom to know what you should do, you should ask God, and he will give it to you. God is generous to everyone and doesn't find fault with them. When you ask for something, don't have any doubts. A person who has doubts is like a wave that is blown by the wind and tossed by the sea. A person who has doubts shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord. A person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at the same time and can't make up his mind about anything. James 1:5-8.
He was focussing on asking for wisdom, but the principle applies to anything!

I want to take this further by looking at Mark 11.

And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:22-24.

Jesus told us to have the God kind of faith. He said that the principles apply to whosoever! If you are a whosoever... then they apply to you. Look also at His closing remarks... WHAT THINGS soever ye desire... WHEN YE PRAY... BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE THEM!
According to this, we are to believe WHEN we pray, that we already have the answers. The power of which we speak is released when we know the mind and will of God in the situation and pray according to that. Take healing for example. Is it God's will for you to be well? Yes, of course, so you have every right to pray for healing! Did Jesus take the curse on Himself at Calvary? The answer is a resounding Yes, so you can pray for the results of the curse to be removed. Is it God's will for people to be saved? We know this from 2 Peter 3:9, so we can be certain that praying for someone to be saved is going to be heard. I am sure that you can add to the list of illustrations, so we shall continue.

Look with me at an incident that happened in the history of Israel and Judah, when Hezekiah was King. In 2 Kings 18:1-8 we see that he was a righteous man, doing what the Lord considered was right.
The Assyrian king sent an army to attack them and a messenger came with a message that caused great distress to Hezekiah. At this point, Hezekiah humbled himself and prayed.
When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the Temple to pray. Then he told Eliakim, Shebnah, and some of the older priests to clothe themselves in sackcloth and to go to Isaiah (son of Amoz), the prophet, with this message: “King Hezekiah says, ‘This is a day of trouble, insult, and dishonor. It is as when a child is ready to be born, but the mother has no strength to deliver it. Yet perhaps the Lord your God has heard the Assyrian general defying the living God and will rebuke him. Oh, pray for the few of us who are left.’ 2 Kings 19:1-4.
The king of Assyria had insulted God. Despite the fact that God’s people had rebelled and disobeyed, which led to their problems, the Assyrians ridiculed God and His covenant people. No one does that successfully!
King Hezekiah turned to a prophet of God for help. Instead of complaining, he acknowledged the situation and sent a message to the man of God, asking if he knew what God said about it. This is the starting point for your prayer miracle. Hezekiah went to prayer and then acted upon it. He sent message to Isaiah and asked for prayer support.
Isaiah replied, “The Lord says, ‘Tell your master not to be troubled by the sneers these Assyrians have made against me.’ For the king of Assyria will receive bad news from home and will decide to return; and the Lord will see to it that he is killed when he arrives there.” 2 Kings 19:5-6.
The messengers gave him the answer, but the enemy was still there!
When you pray—an answer will come, but never think that when the answer comes, you will see an immediate external or physical sign. It may or may not come like that, so do not rely on sight, but faith. We walk by faith, not by sight… remember?
God had sent His word!
That is the basis for releasing the power needed to bring the answer.
Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers, read it, and went over to the Temple and spread it out before the Lord. Then he prayed this prayer: “O Lord God of Israel, sitting on your throne high above the angels, you alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You created the heavens and the earth. Bend low, O Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to this man’s defiance of the living God. Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all those nations and have burned their idol-gods. But they weren’t gods at all; they were destroyed because they were only things that men had made of wood and stone. O Lord our God, we plead with you to save us from his power; then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone are God.” 2 Kings 19:14-19.
This sounds a little like an, Thy Kingdom come… thy will be done prayer! Hezekiah had placed God’s integrity and honor at the top of his priority. Right in the middle of trouble, he made a faith statement that declared, God, You are the one who is high and lifted up. You are Lord. You are supreme. I honor you. I trust You. Answer this plea so that you get all the glory and acclaim!
That is how we are to pray. We often come to God with a shopping list, say a quick hello, then gimme this and gimme that, then off we go again. What is in it for God? What does He want? How does He feel?
I often sit with God and never speak one word. I sometimes say, Hello. I am here. May we spend some quality time with each other? I rarely “pray”, but like to relate. Naturally, there are things I need to obtain help with. This ministry is top priority and I simply do not know what to do and how to do it without the Lord, so freely admit it to him and ask Him to show me want He wants and then to help me do that!

We have a fourth watch prayer time in which we have a prescribed prayer regime that we have developed over the years and 90 percent of it is comprised of scriptures. We do what Hezekiah did. We read what God has said and make that our prayer.
The prophet gave him the word and he read it back. When he did, God moved.
Then Isaiah sent this message to Hezekiah: “The Lord God of Israel says, ‘I have heard you! And this is my reply to King Sennacherib: The virgin daughter of Zion isn’t afraid of you! The daughter of Jerusalem scorns and mocks at you. Whom have you defied and blasphemed? And toward whom have you felt so cocky? It is the Holy One of Israel! “ ‘You have boasted, “My chariots have conquered the highest mountains, yes, the peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down the tallest cedars and choicest cypress trees and have conquered the farthest borders. I have been refreshed at many conquered wells, and I destroyed the strength of Egypt just by walking by!” “ ‘Why haven’t you realized long before this that it is I, the Lord, who lets you do these things? I decreed your conquest of all those fortified cities! So of course the nations you conquered had no power against you! They were like grass shriveling beneath the hot sun, and like grain blighted before it is half grown. I know everything about you. I know all your plans and where you are going next; and I also know the evil things you have said about me. And because of your arrogance against me, I am going to put a hook in your nose and a bridle in your mouth and turn you back on the road by which you came. And this is the proof that I will do as I have promised: This year my people will eat the volunteer wheat and use it as seed for next year’s crop; and in the third year they will have a bountiful harvest.
“ ‘O my people Judah, those of you who have escaped the ravages of the siege shall become a great nation again; you shall be rooted deeply in the soil and bear fruit for God. A remnant of my people shall become strong in Jerusalem. The Lord is eager to cause this to happen. “ ‘And my command concerning the king of Assyria is that he shall not enter this city. He shall not stand before it with a shield, nor build a ramp against its wall, nor even shoot an arrow into it. He shall return by the road he came, for I will defend and save this city for the sake of my own name and for the sake of my servant David.’ ” That very night the Angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian troops, and dead bodies were seen all across the landscape in the morning. Then King Sennacherib returned to Nineveh; and as he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him. They escaped into eastern Turkey—the land of Ararat—and his son Esarhaddon became the new king. 2 Kings 19:20-37.