Message: DYNAMICS OF PRAYER
Text – Luke 9:28-29
Ministering: Pastor Dr. Raf Otono
Date: 16th July 2023
Prayer is the food of the spirit! Any man that wants to be spiritually fed must spend time in the place of prayer!
I started by saying 3 weeks ago that there are 3 dimensions of prayer (Wilderness dimension, Transfiguration dimension and Agonizing/God’s will dimension)
- Wilderness Dimension:
This is the first dimension and it comes with a lot of prayers and fasting but also with a lot of temptations. At this dimension we are asking and seeking the face of God for one miracle or the other.
I told us: This is a very delicate place to be – It is a wilderness experience! And not a pleasant place to be, it is where men are hungry and desperate for a change, so satan takes advantage of it and offers you what you are praying for on a platter of gold because he is aware of your desperation.
I said if you can pass the temptations of the wilderness you graduate into power – Luke 4:14
Dunamis – miraculous power – power to cause changes – James 5:16 AMP – The heartfelt and persistent prayer of a righteous man is able to accomplish much – it is dynamic and can have tremendous power!
The 2nd kind of power you generate from prayer is Kratos – Eph 6:10
Kratos means strength, force or mighty great power – it is the expression and demonstration of power. When you pray you generate Dunamis but when you want to manifest POWER you manifest Kratos!
In Acts 2 what they received after prayer was DUNAMIS, but in Acts 3 what Peter and John manifested at the beautiful gate was KRATOS!
After you generate power in the wilderness and pass the temptation of power, fame and anointing then you graduate into the mountain of transfiguration!
- Transfiguration Dimension:
This is the realm of light and a mountain top experience. It can only be experienced through deliberate long, focused heartfelt prayers! At this dimension, you are transfigured into the image of Christ through prayer.
…..And as he prayed the fashion of His countenance was altered…. This is not the wilderness dimension of asking in prayer, this is the dimension of ministering to the Lord. This is the place where men are broken in prayer – where characters and old ways are altered!
Listen: Unfortunately, this is not for everybody, this is only for those that are matured or seek to grow in Christ, this was why Jesus only took 3 disciples with him to experience this dimension. Jesus had the 500, 70, 12 and the 3 – where do you fall into?
- The 500 – Numbers & Multitude – They were not true believers but seekers of miracles. They left him at the slightest opportunity – John 6:53-56,60-62,64,66
Write this: Never esteem the miracles of God over the principles of God. Miracles raises God users; principles raise God lovers!
- THE 70 – The power hungry & spiritually proud – These are the type that are only interested in possessing and demonstrating God’s power to feed their ego and prove that they’re anointed – Luke 10:1,17-20
Write this: Never seek the power of God over the tower of God – Prov 18:10 (The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe.)
Listen: Power over demons should never be a source of joy to you because it is your birth right as a believer, but rejoice when you are walking right with God knowing that your name is written in Heaven.
Our focus should never be about manifestation of power but on doing the will of the Father – Matt 7:21-23
- THE 12 – Luke 6:12-13 – These are born or revealed from the place of prayer. These are loyal and followers of Christ, unfortunately one is a devil or influenced by the devil – John 6:67-71
Write this: If you don’t want to be used by the devil, submit fully under authority and honor leadership
Don’t question and try to understand everything! Somethings cannot be understood physically because they are spiritual!
Do you know what prompted Judah’s betrayal? – John 12:3-6, See- Mark 14:6-11
Why? He didn’t understand the spiritual relevance of the OIL!
- THE 3 – Luke 9:28- These are the inner circle and most loyal!
They were present with Jesus at every special events – Transfiguration, The Garden of Gethsemane experience and Jairus’s daughter restoration from the dead.
So, they witnessed Jesus’s greatest moments of glory and His darkest trials!
Peter, James and John were in Jesus’s inner circle because they loved his humanity (weaknesses) and honored his divinity (Deity)
Can I show you something?
- They were among the first disciples called by Jesus – Luke 5:1-11
Why were they special? THEY FORSOOK ALL, AND FOLLOWED HIM!
- Peter, was the first disciple to identify Jesus as the Christ (Messiah) and Son of God. And Jesus nicknamed him THE ROCK!
- James and John were firebrand, bold and heavy defenders of Christ like Peter (Peter cut off Marcus’s ear when they came to arrest Jesus) – Luke 9:54
They were so brutal that Jesus nicknamed them “SONS OF THUNDER!” – Mark 3:16-17 NIV/NLT
Listen: You are not yet in the inner circle until you get a nick name!
Transfiguration Dimension: At this dimension your identity in Christ is confirmed by 2 or 3 witnesses – Elijah, Moses & the Father! – 2 Cor 13:1, 1 John 5:8
This where you begin to have encounters in the place of prayer of angelic beings in the form of different men of God anointing you as witnesses. (My encounter with the late arch bishop and papa Oyedepo)
At this dimension your spiritual garment is purified – (And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered and his raiment was white and glistering)
At this dimension the Father Himself speaks and endorses you. – Luke 9:35
To maximize this dimension and get results – You must tarry in the place of prayer till the council of elders’ commune with you and the Father endorses you!
RISE ON YOUR FEET!
PRAYER:
Father in the name of Jesus, give me the stamina and capacity to tarry in the place of prayer so that I can be transfigured
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