“Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am” (Isaiah 58:9 ). 

 As I was seeking the LORD for the content of this months Newsletter, the Holy Spirit began to impress on me the subject of prayer. This subject that I’m writing about is vast & so important to the Heart of God. I have discovered that the best teacher is experience. Every day I experience life & sometimes find it most difficult. We live in a world that pressures us to be competitive & strive to be the best. In a world dominated by achievers & non-achievers. We become one or the other. In an environment that always demands success, comes the fruit of man’s fallen nature (selfishness, envy &  pride; Gal. 5:26). Those that lag behind in the achievement department get angry & frustrated because someone else is getting all the breaks in life. It is then the enemy entices us with jealousy & we begin to reason that it’s OK to lie, cheat & steal. After all only the strong survive, right? Isn’t life about self preservation & am I not justified? Who needs a moral code, no body lives by them anyway. So we justify our behavior by perceiving that everyone is cheating in life. Humanity will never change & we cannot evolve into a blissful state of nirvana or utopia (Webster defininition: state of mind as a place of ideal perfection or an impractical scheme for social perfection). The Word of God states in Genesis 6:5; “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. This is why God stepped in & sent His only Son as Savior to die for sinful man  Our LORD emptied himself of His Deity & came to earth to die for our sins. His desire was for relationship to be restored & for man to function as His delegated authority. “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” (Psalms 8:4-6). Hey!! We need help & need to be restored to God. It has always been God’s intent for us to function as son’s & daughters in the Kingdom family. The greatest of all privileges is to know Him as Father God. The way that God has established in knowing Him is communicating by Prayer. I can think of nothing more lacking in the Body of Christ today, than the ministry of prayer. It seems we have been lulled into complacency by wrong mind sets. We cannot leave prayer out of our daily schedule or leave it to others. We should not be neglectful of this privilege that God has given us in intersession, communion & fellowship. We have at our disposal all the arsenals of Heaven to push back darkness, obtain deliverance, receive healing & have heavens windows open for our prosperity. I mean I could go on & on about the benefits of prayer. Some may ask why do I feel as though my prayers have hit a brass ceiling & fell to the ground? The answer is you are not allowing the ministry of the Holy Spirit to usher you into Gods presence, where you can experience refreshment in drinking from a “Heavenly Fount”. Most people do not know how to create a atmosphere for this Fountain to flow. This life that we live is a life that should be infused with the power of God flowing like a fountain. I have experienced over & over the great benefit of inviting the Holy Spirit to intercede for me. In John 16:13; “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come”.  Do you see how the Holy Spirit is the Divine Agent sent by the Father to help & to inform us of Heavenly things that need to be carried out here on Earth. We are often so caught up in self that we forget that God has established the prayer of intersession for others. E.M. Bounds has written many books on  prayer. He was able to teach & write effectively on prayer because he lived it & experienced it. One of his quotes from his many books on prayer says; “Prayer must be broad in its scope—it must plead for others. Intercession for others is the hall-mark of all true prayer. When prayer is confined to self and to the sphere of one’s personal needs, it dies by reason of its littleness, narrowness and selfishness. Prayer must be broad and unselfish or it will perish. Prayer is the soul of a man stirred to plead with God for men. In addition to being interested in the eternal interests of one’s own soul it must, in its very nature, be concerned for the spiritual and eternal welfare of others. One’s ability to pray for self, finds its climax in the compassion its concern expresses for other’s.  This praying for others finds it’s fervency in knowing God & receiving His Heart for dying humanity. I do not believe that God expects less from us than from others who have entered into their prayer closets & changed the course of Divine judgment. We cannot sit passively by & let others pray while we sit on the side lines of life & have a prayer-less life. I’m convinced that when we get to heaven &  rewards are given out we might be surprised at God’s reward system. It might not be the fire brand preacher that preached his fiery message that gets the greatest reward. I believe it will be the one who was actively involved in the ministry of prayer. It is here that the “Intesessor” stood in the gap between a Righteous God of justice & sinful man & pleaded with Him for mercy on behalf of others. Hear what the LORD say’s in Ezekiel 22:30; “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment; James 2:13). So you see that we are our brothers keeper (Gen.4:9). There should be a burning desire that is first begun at regeneration (born again) to be pleasing to God. Then as we begin in this relationship in knowing Him, He encourages us to receive a deeper experience through the Holy Spirit baptism. It is in this immersion of the Spirit that we can experience a more effective prayer life. It is such a joy knowing that this communion with the Holy Spirit produces such intimacy that births prayer for others. So do not let the distractions of life keep you from your daily communion with our Heavenly Father. You might be surprised at the satisfaction & enjoyment of selflessness.                                                                                                           

Rocky Fondren