Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer

by Priscilla Shirer

Make it part Praise, part Repentance, part Asking, and a whole lot of Yes.

Fervent prayer relies on focus.

Focus protects your goals and dreams from being consumed in small bites, stolen right out from under your nose in twenty-minute segments of compromise.

And focus is the antenna that prayer helps to keep raised and alert,

there is something you can’t see working underneath the surface, controlling and manipulating what you can.

Instead of continuing to fail by taking the battle into your own hands—and taking the battle to the wrong people—you’re joining instead with all the power of heaven to take your fight directly to the source of the problem.

the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of gospel peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, better known as the Word of God.

Truth

Righteousness

Peace

Faith

Salvation

The Word of God

“Pray at all times in the Spirit,”

kairos, which refers to specific times, precise occasions, and particular events.

And through the bold, mighty name of Jesus, pray that we’ll live with our armor on and not let Satan’s otherworldly forces wreak their havoc in this house, in this heart, on this day.

am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38–39 nlt)

that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow,

Though I fall I will rise;

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;

Praise:

Repentance:

Asking:

Yes:

Thus says the Lord to you, “Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. . . . Station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out and face them, for the Lord is with you.

equipped through Christ with “every spiritual blessing” (v. 3) chosen in Him “before the foundation of the world” (v. 4) regarded as “holy and blameless before Him” (v. 4) adopted through the “kind intention of His will” (v. 5) redeemed and forgiven, “lavished” with grace (vv. 7–8) recipients of a glorious “inheritance” in heaven (v. 11)

secured forever by “the Holy Spirit of promise” (vv. 13–14)

Prayer is how we isolate the real problems. And prayer is how we get up behind those problems and attack them at the roots. It’s how we isolate the real enemy.

And prayer is also how God gets through to us, even while we’re praying for our husband, convincing us that maybe what our husband needs most right now is for his wife to become a soft, safe place for him to land,

Obedience to God garners intimacy and nearness, divine blessing and favor. Always.

It’s intimidation. It’s based totally on lies and fear. Fear that we won’t have enough. Fear that we won’t be enough. Fear that we’ll fail and will no longer come off looking as perfect as we want to appear. Fear that somebody else who’s working harder and moving faster will get what was supposed to be ours.

“God doesn’t want something from you. He wants something for you.” Your value is not in what you do (as if you could ever do enough) but in who you are

God’s purpose in giving you Sabbath spaces amid your full, productive life is to help you be uninhibited in your devotion, service, and worship of Yahweh. Margin keeps you from marginalizing God.

God to the periphery, it’s a sure sign we’ve replaced our devotion to God with a love for something else. The pressure to perform, for example, often means you’ve made an idol of your reputation. The pressure to maintain a ridiculously jam-packed schedule: the idol of self-reliance. The pressure to maintain an impressive standard of living: the idol of achievement. The pressure to take on everything in which your kids show even the slightest interest: making an idol of your children. Our hearts can make idols of anything . . . yet sometimes be the last to realize it’s happening.