THE SUPERNATURAL HABITS, PAUL & NUALA O'HIGGINS [red novels .txt] 📗

which resist the advance of God’s will. In this way we can impose the will of God against the will of the evil one.

Prayer in Three Dimensions
God is looking for people to stand in the gap in prayer to link God’s mercy with man’s need. “And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.” (Ezek. 22: 30)
Prayer operates in three dimensions:
• upward to God the Father in Jesus’ name
• outward declaring the will of God into our lives and situations, in Jesus’ name
• downward, in Jesus’ name against the spirits that hinder the will of God being done
Supernaturally empowered believers know how to operate in all three dimensions of prayer. They pray vertically, horizontally and downwardly. The effective prayer of the believer requires skillfulness in all three dimensions.
Our authority is based on the access we have to God as new creations and redeemed people through the blood of Jesus. Many believers miss their authority in prayer because they look at their feelings or sense of worthiness. Our authority is not in our perfection but in the name of Jesus and our desire to see His will advance in the situations we pray for. Jesus has actually delegated to those in union and submission to Him the privilege of using His name, and acting in His name.
“Before now you have asked nothing in My name; ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. I have spoken these things to you in parables, but the time is coming when I shall no more speak to you in parables, but I will show you plainly of the Father. At that day you will ask in My name; and I do not say to you that I will pray to the Father for you, for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from God.” (John 16:24-27)
When we accept the benefits of the Atonement we receive the Holy Spirit, adoption into God's family, redemption from the curse and the right to use His name. This gives the believer in Jesus a far higher level of authority in prayer than any other kind of worshipper. It is the restoration of what was lost in Adam, and it is the supernatural equipment of the supernaturally empowered believer.

Hindrances to Prayer
The greatest hindrance to prayer is unforgiveness. Jesus said that we cannot even begin to pray if we have unforgiveness towards others. “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any one; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25)
Unforgiveness breaks the circuit of communication with God. Therefore before we pray we must remove any unforgiveness against ourselves, others or God. For the same reason the prayer of a husband who is harsh towards his wife will be hindered. “Likewise you husbands, live considerately with your wives, bestowing honor on the woman as the weaker sex, since you are joint heirs of the grace of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Peter 3:7)
Prayer is also hindered if we try to appropriate the promises of His kingdom without really believing in Him or surrendering our lives to Him. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33) We cannot ask the Lord for “all things” unless we are seeking His kingdom.
To have the benefits of His kingdom without surrendering to His kingdom is impossible. It is like trying to have the benefit of the sunshine while remaining indoors. Jesus said: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.” (John 15:7) Remaining in union with Jesus’ life and words is the key to fruitfulness and answered prayer. Our prayers are hindered when we move away from His way of perfect love towards all.

Prayer - an Ongoing Life Habit
The greatest prayers are not “give me” prayers but “make me” prayers. The supernatural believer develops a lifestyle of continual communication with God. It never ceases. We constantly ask for God’s will to be done in our lives. We constantly ask that more and more of His promises be fulfilled in our lives and for Him to transform us to the image of His Son.
Prayer has seven major spheres:
1. for ourselves
2. for our families
3. for our local church
4. for our cities
5. for our nations
6. for Israel, and
7. for the harvest fields

Worshippers
The supernaturally empowered believer has perfect access to God’s presence through the blood of Jesus. In addition, the Spirit has come to live in Him and from deep within cries out “Abba, Father.” The Holy Spirit cries out for intimate communication with God. “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” (Galatians 4:6)
Prayer is a not only a matter of receiving and releasing God’s will, it is also a loving communion with God. There is an “Abba, Father” cry in the heart of every supernaturally empowered believer that longs for communication with Him. We call this kind of communication with God “worship”. Love is maintained by communication and as we communicate with Him in worship, thanksgiving, awareness of His presence and listening, our love relationship with Him grows.
Worship is not just something we do in a group setting with musical instruments and singing. Singing may be used in worship but it is not the essential part of worship. Worship is pouring out our heart in thanksgiving and acknowledgment to our God and to our Savior. It is not a matter of ritual - it is a matter of the heart.
Jesus quotes God’s complaint with ritualistic and formal worship: “This people draws near to Me with their mouth, and honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” (Mt. 15:8)
The point is that we may go through the motions of worship without putting our hearts in it. God is looking for people who really love, really honor and really appreciate Him, not because they have to, but because they love to. This is God’s greatest desire: people who will respond to His love with all their hearts, and enter a living partnership with Him.
One of the tragedies of Christianity is that, for everyone who does worship the Lord from the heart, there are many more who simply go through religious motions of worshipping Him. If we are true worshippers ‘in spirit and in truth’ we will walk in His ways and obey His commands.
This is about to change as the Spirit of God deals with institutions that promote this kind of insincerity. He is raising up a new generation of supernaturally empowered believers of every age whose number one goal in life is to please Him, honor Him, obey Him and pour out their lives before Him as a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
“But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)
As we become worshippers, our relationship with God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - becomes the most important relationship in our lives. When God occupies a greater part of our thoughts we become more and more aware of His presence with us. Such believers live their lives to an audience of ONE. They live to please Him rather than to impress people. “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (Ps. 16:8) The most supernaturally empowered believers keep the Lord before them continually. They cultivate a sense of His presence, and become more and more aware that He is with them always.
“Cast all your cares on the Lord because He cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) God invites us to throw our problems at His feet. If something concerns us it concerns God also ... nothing is too small or too big for Him who created the universe and yet knows every hair of our head. The effectiveness of the believer is entirely based on prayer, which links our lives with the help and intervening presence of God Himself. We have many responsibilities in life but we are not expected to fulfill them without God’s resources and abundant help, which come to us when we ask.


Chapter 3: THE HABIT OF RECEIVING

CHAPTER III
THE HABIT OF RECEIVING

“His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue.” (2 Peter 1:3)
“For who makes you to differ? And what have you that you didst not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?” (1 Cor. 4:7)
“And out of His fullness we all have received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16)
“But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19)
Everything we have and are we have received either directly or indirectly from God. If we have gifts, abilities, intelligence, anointing, health or any other blessing it is only because we received it.

Receiving Through the Channel of Faith
Many of God’s blessings come to us simply through the natural process as a gift packet with our creation. Such gifts are passively received. However, a great many of His spiritual blessings, though offered freely, have to be actively received by faith.
To receive by faith is to receive from God through the process of acknowledging one’s need and asking. We can only receive from God what we know He wants to give us in the first place. We, therefore, need the scriptures to know what we can freely receive from God, because they reveal what God wants to give us. In