Scripture: 1 John 2 v 27: "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."
1 Thessalonians 5 v 16 - 22: "Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 Quench not the Spirit.
20 Despise not prophesyings.
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil."
In Paul's 'To Do' list above, with some 'not do' items as well, the memo "Pray without ceasing" would be quite difficult unless we had an anointing to pray. This anointing comes after the baptism in the Holy Spirit which includes nine powerful gifts. The gifts which anoint your prayer life are called the revelation gifts.
The gift of Prophecy - The Holy Spirit gives those praying insight into a hidden problem that He needs the prayer team to work on. To prevent it happening.
The Word of Knowledge - It is just one word that could be the person's name or root problem.
The Word of Wisdom - A single word that gives direction or deeper insight into the prayer needed.
The Discerning of Spirits of good and evil - an incredible gift that is used every day to discern truth from error; like the Gypsy spirit mentioned below.
Miracles - When God uses our crumbs of prayer to raise the dead, heal like only Jesus can heal, do the impossible!
Tongues - so valuable as it is a hotline to Heaven. The enemy cannot understand it nor interfere. It brings immediate insight into the real problem - visions, words of knowledge, strong discernment.
Interpretation of Tongues - If there is a person present with this gift it is very helpful. I was in a church meeting where a woman went forward for prayer wearing a neck brace after being in a car accident. A man behind me uttered a short message in Tongues. A lady near the front shouted out "Take off the brace" which was the interpretation. The pastor immediately took off the brace and she could move her neck freely and without pain.
The anointing of the Holy Spirit enhances our prayer life into the stratosphere, and turns praying into a spiritual adventure. The flow of the Spirit puts words in our mouths that have impact near and far.
A few years back we were having a family barbecue and a relative suddenly started telling me about a gypsy fortune teller who had put a curse on her. At this exact moment my daughter in law in the UK sent me a text message that I needed to cut off a false prophecy from a woman. My family in the UK were not aware there was a family gathering in progress that day.
It's so helpful when there is confirmation, but to have it from so far and so instantly showed that it was urgent. This is how the anointing works. I had just finished praying for her and any other members of the family that may have been affected by this gypsy curse, when a prayer request came on my cellphone from a dear friend in Australia.
She was at a year end function and a Gypsy fortune teller was bugging her to tell her fortune! When the Holy Spirit is moving He covers every place that can be reached with one prayer! We were able to cut that off before it happened.
Praying without ceasing in action. Jesus is exalted on high. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher and He is omnipresent on Earth. The next morning a light aircraft crashed into a parking lot a few miles away. It was a Gypsy Moth, no victims. The Lord has interesting ways of confirming that the task has been successful!
The Holy Spirit has different depths of anointing. There is the urgent drop everything one where its a matter of life or death. It is strong and insistent, could be suicide, murder or accident about to occur. We pray as led by the Spirit until that urgency has lifted.
I had that for my son in the UK about 12 years ago. I didn't know it was for him, just a word of knowledge that a serious car accident was imminent. Prayed for about twenty minutes. Suddenly got a text message from him that he had just narrowly avoided a collision with a truck on the highway. Anointed prayer is so powerful and we don't always get feedback unless its family or friends.
Jesus said we must pray in our closets and He will reward us openly. Our small team of Intercessors would pray earnestly as led by the Lord and this was many years ago. My son then aged 7 was holding a tape measure in his hands and he was running his fingers over the numbers when he stopped at 55. He said there is a baby who is lost in the snow, when they found him this was his core temperature.
We started to earnestly pray and bit by bit his fingers moved up the tape measure. He said there are many doctors trying to revive him. When his fingers hit the 90's they went up and down like a yoyo, until they stopped on 96. He said, he's okay now, and we praised and thanked the Lord.
Some years later a series called Rescue 911 appeared on TV. One time we were watching it and I felt the presence of the Lord. The next item showed a toddler being rescued from the snow being rushed to the hospital. His core temperature was 55. There were 11 doctors working on him. His temperature started rising but fluctuated in the 90's! He completely recovered. Jesus rewarded us openly and showed us the results of our prayers. Our God is an awesome God, He reigns over Heaven and Earth in wisdom, love and power.
When prayer becomes an adventure its hard to stop praying. It becomes a way of life. Some, actually many times, we never find out what happened but our faith is strong and having been shown a number of miracles we can believe God for anything. There is always something to pray about to bring God's perfect will into our circumstances. He needs us to pray because that gives Him the opportunity to fix things. While Satan still controls the world the Lord uses us to get things done. This applies to every born again Christian.
Everyone can, and should, have a prayer life. If we can meet with the Lord at a certain time everyday we will find Him waiting for us, ready to begin the next rescue!
Keep a prayer diary and make notes of the prayers and who got prayed for. When you hear of answers to your prayers link them with the originals. It grows your faith in huge leaps and bounds. James, the brother of Jesus, said, Faith without works is dead. Let your faith be alive and growing to the glory of God.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, please bless and enhance our prayer life with the anointing to pray. It becomes exciting to venture into the spiritual realm with You. The testimonies are a great blessing. Thank You. In Jesus' name. Amen.