Teach Us to Pray: Prayer That Accesses Heaven and Changes Earth

by Corey Russell

1. Fasting reinforces sonship—our belovedness to the Father, our authority in the Spirit, and our inheritance in Christ.

It’s in the wilderness of fasting and prayer that the revelation of Jesus’ Sonship was solidified as the devil sought to tempt Him to operate outside of His identity as the Son.

2. Fasting expresses longing and desire for the return of the Bridegroom, which will one day culminate in His return.

Jesus calls us all to fast, not out of obligation or religious duty, but out of longing.

3. Fasting brings breakthrough as it bolsters authority and power in the individual believer’s life.

4. Fasting together as a corporate body of believers brings greater accountability and grace.

I believe the call to us as the new breed of believers and messengers is to be trumpets in our spheres of influence. We issue the sound that gathers people together for solemn assemblies of prayer and fasting.

5. Accumulated prayer and fasting over time releases angelic activity and fresh revelation.

6. A lifestyle of fasting cultivates the forerunner spirit.

VALUE 3: PRAYING IN TONGUES

I’ve found that twenty to thirty minutes of praying in tongues in one setting proves to be the catalyst that keeps me in the spirit of prayer for the rest of the day.

Praying in tongues brings me into a direct connection to God.

2. Praying in tongues brings the Spirit of Revelation, which brings understanding of mysteries.

3. Praying in tongues strengthens my inner man.

4. Praying in tongues forms the character of Christ in my soul.

5. Praying in tongues is key in spiritual warfare.

VALUE 4: READING, STUDYING, LOVING, AND MEDITATING ON THE WORD

VALUE 5: BUILDING A MERCY-BASED CULTURE OF ACCOUNTABILITY

VALUE 6: SLEEPING, EXERCISING, AND RECREATION

The way we rest, exercise, recreate, and eat are all important to our spiritual lives.

VALUE 7: PREACHING

The days of Sunday-only Christianity are coming to a close. Nearness to Jesus is the call and draw of the Spirit. And if you respond to that call and allow Him to create great hunger and lovesickness in your daily life, no longer will anyone have to talk you into prayer, into fasting, or into giving of yourself, your time, your love, or your money.

The expression send forth (ekballo)—as in “send out laborers”—is the same expression that is used for casting out demons. Jesus is telling us that, in the same power and force that demons are cast or thrust out, God will show up in places all over the earth in His timing and choosing, and He will thrust forth laborers into the harvest field across the earth.

If you will find your success and highest joy in encountering Jesus and His voice, you will become one of the most dangerous people who ever lived. You will unnerve every religious spirit, political spirit, networking spirit, and spirit of control and manipulation because you can’t be bought, controlled, or manipulated by money, opportunities, applause, or open doors. Others won’t be able to touch you or maneuver you because your reward won’t be found in something someone can give you or take away from you.

I’ve often been asked, “How do you know if or when God is highlighting something in the Word?” I think the simple answer to this question is you know God is highlighting something when the words you’re reading seem to come at you in a way you’ve never seen them before.

When God begins to rest on a specific theme or chapter or verse, it’s at this point that I will begin to slow down and shift into a different mode. I will familiarize myself with the chapters and verses surrounding the one I feel the Lord is highlighting. I will also become familiar with the context of the original audience.

My goal is not a message, a book, a song, a social media post, or something cool to share with someone. My goal is simply encountering Him.

I truly lean on the passage in First John 2 where we are told that we have the anointing that teaches us “concerning all things” (v. 27). We each have an anointing, and as we learn to honor the anointing and give way to the anointing, clarity and the true heart of the passage will surface into our understanding.

I remember Mike Bickle saying one time, “Study your anointing.”

God has tailor-made ways with each of us. It would do us all well to familiarize ourselves with them.

wait until clarity comes.

Toward the end of reading yourself full, you will move into thinking yourself clear.

We need a new generation of preachers who are diligent to be approved by God. If I’m approved by God, I can handle being rejected by men. When you are approved by God in preparation and preaching, you are not ashamed, and you can stand confidently, knowing you pleased the Father regardless of how the crowd responds.

PRAY YOURSELF HOT AND LET YOURSELF GO

Pray yourself hot refers to the minutes, hours, and days leading up to your message during which you pray, fast, and ask God for His fire and anointing to fall on the message.

NUANCES TO PREACHING

There are so many nuances that go into preaching. You can preach the same message using the same verses, and it can come out completely different based on the audience you are speaking to, the culture they live in, how old they are, and what their depth of biblical understanding is. There are so many nuances that are learned through trial and error, and you have to go on the journey to learn what these things are.

MY FOUR LIFE MESSAGES

Earlier, I encouraged you to study your anointing. When you do this, you may also want to consider what message or messages God seems to be calling and anointing you to preach.

All preaching, whether from the Old Testament or New Testament, should be filled with Christ and the crucified life, and it should point to Christ and His crucifixion and resurrection.

I promise you that every passage in the Word leads to Him. Don’t stop until you find how the present passage that you’re studying comes back to Him. We always want to leave Christ and His death and resurrection on the minds and hearts of the people. You want to impart Him, and not yourself, to others.

The greatest miracle that God will perform in the last days will be taking a Laodicean church filled with the spirit of this age and bring us into a holy Church set on fire. God will take a divided, dull, bored people and will transform us into a Revelation 22:17 Bride who is spotless, holy, united with the Holy Spirit, and anointed with the spirit of prayer.

THE REVELATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT One of the most critical truths for the end-time Church will be the revelation of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the revelation of the Holy Spirit is going to revolutionize the Church. Right now, we ascribe to Him in theory and doctrine, but our understanding and knowledge of Him are going to become deeply personal before Jesus returns.

For the last two thousand years, the Holy Spirit has been on FM while the Church has been on AM, yet I have no doubt that we will get on the same frequency before the Lord returns.

I can feel the Holy Spirit’s zeal, tenacity, and determination in this season to come and rearrange furniture within our lives and our churches to prepare a place for Jesus once again.

THE HOLY SPIRIT: YOUR WEDDING PLANNER

The wilderness is the place where the Word arrests us and subdues us so that it may make its home in us. The ones who have stayed long enough for the Word to become flesh in them will be the voices.

If there was one revelation that I believe needs to be restored to this generation of believers, it’s the revelation of eternity. Nothing will deliver us from the fleeting opinions, thoughts, and words of this age like the revelation of eternity. Nothing will deliver us from the fear of man like the revelation of eternity. Nothing will deliver us from the fading beauty and seduction of our culture like the revelation of eternity. When believers are immersed in an eternal perspective, we are freed from the inward chaos of proving and defending ourselves.

I’m convinced the only words that are going to be able to penetrate the noisy and wordy generation that we live in will be words born out of eternity. The wilderness delivers us from the temporal value system and connects us to eternity.

We are going to see a restoration of preaching that confronts people, but the confrontation is not just highlighting people’s stuff, but it is going to go to a higher place of anointed proclamation of God.