Insights from The Hour That Changes the World  Dick EastMan

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A practical plan for personal prayer by Dick Eastman

The Slender Nerve of Power
        Where there is an absence of prayer, there will be an absence of power. Where there is frequency of prayer, there will be a continuing display of God's Power.

The Searching Instinct
        Dr.E. Stanley Jones explains " In Prayer you align yourselves to the purpose and power of God and He is able to do things through you that He couldn't do otherwise.⁠

Men of Prayer
        What we do for the Lord is entirely dependent upon what we are in the Lord. Further, what we are in the Lord wholly depends upon what we receive from the Lord. And what we receive from the Lord is directly proportional to the time we spend alone with the Lord in Prayer.

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The Gift of Time
   Like Susanna Wesley: We must make time for prayer everyday. Untill we do, prayer will never become the force God intends it to be in our daily walk. Only as we apply our knowledge of prayer will we discover the practical power of prayer.

A Pattern for Praying
    Especially be careful not to become a slave to any prayer system. Indeed, prayer is not a system at all but the development of a relationship between Man and God.

Prayer Works
    Bishop J.C.Ryle adds these insights: "Prayer has obtained things that seems impossible and out of reach. It has won Victories over fire, air, earth, and water.

Why Praise First?
   Paul Billheimer relates: It decentralize self. The worship and praise of God demands a shift of center from self to God. Praise produces forgetfulness of self.

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A Dose of Silence
John Bisagno observed, " Waiting upon God requires our entire being. It is not drifting into day- dreaming, but is rather an exercise that demands our keenest attention, our most alert frame of mind and all of our soul's attention to the Heavenly Voice.

The Cycle of Prayer
   "Only a sovereign God can inspire prayer, and only a sovereign God can answer it. A man's concept of God, therefore, determines the depth of his prayer life. Real prayers begins and ends with God enthroned.

The Value of waiting
 Bridgrid Herman wrote, The most formidable enemy of the spiritual life, and the last to be conquered, is self- deception; and if there is a better cure for self deception than silence, it has yet to be discovered.

Heartfelt Recognition
 Confession is a heartfelt Recognition of what we are. It is important to God because it indicates that we take seriously our mistakes and failures.

Spiritual Surgery
   Allan Lavender accurately suggests, "Before you pray for a change in circumstances, you should pray for a change in Character.

The Necessity of Confession
 Spurgeon concludes, A prayer without penitence is a prayer without acceptance. If no tear has fallen Upon it, it is withered. There must be confession of sin before God, or our prayer is faulty.

Divine Nourishment
  "Prayer" said E.M. Bounds, "projects faith on God, and God on the world. Only God move mountains, but faith and prayer move God.

E. W. Kenyon wrote; Reading books about faith and men of faith and their exploits stairs in the heart a deep passion for faith, but does not build faith.
The Word alone is the source of faith.

Word-Enriched Prayer
 The Word of God is more than a mere foundation for effective praying; it is the actual substance for effective praying. Just as the Word of God brings life to the believer's daily walk, God's Word brings life into our praying.

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Focus on Positive Thoughts
Finally, focus meditation on positive thoughts. Paul told his phillipians friend (Phil.4:8)

The University of Silence
 J.R. Miller explains, Quietness in a man or a woman is a mark of strength. Noise is not eloquence. Loudness is not power. In all the departments of life. It is the quite forces that effect most. Therefore, if we would be strong, we must learn to be quiet. A quite heart will give a quiet life.

Billheimer concludes,"Praise is the most useful occupation and activity in enabling God to realize the supreme goal of the universe, that of bringing many sons Into glory.

Seek also to set a specific time for prayer. Heed the warning , "Those who have no set time for prayers, do not pray."

Putting Feet to our prayers
 "You can never become a true intercessor untill you are first willing to become a part of the answer to your own prayers."
Lord teach me to get involved!!

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