Power Praying

Power Praying

Last time we discussed the value of preparing an “I AM” list that reflects those things that we want to believe about ourselves. It is a description of “the person that I am” – with modifications.

We indicated that the modifications come in two basic forms. The first type involves deletion of the negative beliefs that we have about ourselves that limit our capacity for outstanding positive achievement.

The second set of modifications involves visualizing a transformed self –“The New Me” - that is anchored by positive character traits that we now hold to be true about ourselves.

The principles on which the “I AM” list is based are grounded on a deeper understanding of the role and impact of our self-image. This is true at the individual level and collectively as a congregation. What we believe to be true about ourselves as a group has direct implications for what we will and will not do and guides how we operate.

I quoted from Maxwell Malt’s “The New Pscho-Cybernetics” because of the clarity of his presentation.

“By understanding your self-image and by learning to modify and manage it to suit your purposes, you gain incredible confidence and power.

Whether we realize it or not, each of us carries within us a mental blueprint or picture of ourselves. It may be vague and ill-defined to our conscious gaze. In fact, it may not be consciously recognizable at all. But it is there, complete down to the last detail. This self-image is our own conception of the “sort of person I am.” It has been built up from our own beliefs about ourselves. Most of these beliefs about ourselves have unconsciously been formed from our past experiences, our successes and failures, our humiliations, our triumphs, and the way other people have reacted to us, especially in early childhood. From all these we mentally construct a self (or picture of a self.). Once an idea or belief about ourselves goes into this picture it becomes “truth”, as far as we personally are concerned. We do not question its validity, but proceed to act upon it just as if it were true.

The self-image then controls what you can and cannot accomplish, what is difficult or easy for you, even how others respond to you just as certainly and scientifically as a thermostat controls the temperature in your home.

Specifically, all your actions, feelings, behaviour, even your abilities, are always consistent with this self-image. Note the word: always. In short, you will “act like” the sort of person you conceive yourself to be. More importantly, you literally cannot act otherwise, in spite of all your conscious efforts or willpower. (This is why trying to achieve something difficult with teeth gritted is a losing battle. Willpower is not the answer. Self-image management is.)

….. The person who perceives himself to be a “failure type person” will find some way to fail, in spite of all his good intentions or his willpower, even if opportunity is literally dumped in his lap.

…. The self-image is a “premise”, a base, or a foundation upon which your entire personality, your behaviour, and even your circumstances are built.

…. Obviously, it’s not enough to say “it’s all in your head”. In fact, that’s insulting. It is more productive to explain that “it” is based on certain ingrained, possibly hidden patterns of thought that, if altered, will free you to tap more of your potential and experience vastly different results. This brings me to the most important truth about the self-image: It can be changed.

…. “Positive thinking” cannot be used effectively as a patch to the same old self-image. In fact, it is literally impossible to really think positively about a particular situation, as long as you hold a negative concept of self. Numerous experiments have shown that, once the concept of self is changed, other things consistent with the new concept of self are accomplished easily and without strain.”

All of us hold false beliefs about ourselves. We have bought into ideas that have been planted by ourselves, our teachers, our parents, our friends, our school mates, our work colleagues, advertisements, articles and many other sources. These beliefs have the same force as our actually and literally being hypnotised.

Maltz: “Realising that our actions, feelings and behaviour are the result of our own images and beliefs gives us the lever that psychology has always needed for changing personality.

It opens a powerful psychological door to gaining skill, success, and happiness.

Mental pictures offer us an opportunity to practice new traits and attitudes, which otherwise we could not do. This is possible because, again, our nervous system cannot tell the difference between and actual experience and one that is vividly imagined.

If we picture ourselves performing in a certain manner, it is nearly the same as the actual performance. Mental practice is as powerful as actual practice.”

Maltz: "When you see a thing clearly in your mind, your creative "success mechanism" within you takes over and does the job much better than you could do it by conscious effort or willpower". This is in support of the practice of "mental picturing" or "visualization" or "imagination practice" or “The Theater of Your Mind" or “Act as if".

Maltz explains: "This exercise builds new "memories" or stored data into your midbrain and central nervous system. It builds a new image of self. After practicing it for a time, you will be surprised to find yourself "acting differently", more or less automatically and spontaneously, without trying."

Remember that if you create a vivid mental picture and do that consistently your nervous system will accept it as being real and record it as if it is actually happening.

That brings me to the issue of PRAYER and its necessary companion FAITH.

To what extent are we as Christians unlocking the power of faith-filled prayer? When we word a prayer what happens before, during and after?

Drawing from the world of sport, we come to a fuller understanding of the importance of something called follow through. The fast bowler learns to deliver the ball with his arm held as high as possible and to swing the arm through after delivery until it passes the opposite thigh.

The batsman or baseball hitter knows that the arc and speed of the bat before and after contact is made with the ball has major implications for the final destination of the ball.

Shaquille O’Neal misses the majority of his free-throws in basketball largely because of poor follow through after he releases the ball.

Follow through is an essential ingredient of goal attainment and success.

If we shift the focus to cooking, we will quickly realize that while the rice grains might be actually cooked we will not please those who we serve unless we allow the heat to dry out more of the water. Without follow through we end up with something that is closer to rice porridge.

Follow through is an essential ingredient of success.

When we think about embarking on a course of study, we know that we will not achieve the ultimate goals if there is no follow through on the decision. Similarly, many of us set out to learn a new skill and we falter because we do not follow through. We make commitments that never materialize because we do not follow through.

A lack of follow through has negative impact with respect to fitness and health issues, work related issues, our finances and our relationships. That very interesting first encounter may well have borne fruit with a follow up contact in a timely manner.

The question then is what happens after we word our prayers? Are we short-changing the power of our prayers because of a lack of follow through?

The batsman plays the shot, follows through and holds the pose until the ball reaches the boundary. He visualizes the desired outcome. The preparation, focus and follow through enhance the chances of success.

Asafa Powell knows that ultimate achievement and success comes from starting by focusing on the goal…the tape that is 100 meters away. He sees himself putting in place exactly what he has practiced right to the end. Critically, he must maintain his form beyond the tape if he is to run the fastest time. He must follow through beyond the tape. Cutting his speed too early is a bad and costly practice.

The question is still before us, when we pray what happens after we word the prayer? When we ask for success in our exams what happens next? When we pray about a job interview what happens next?

Are we following through in our prayer lives? Or have we been pulling up short and negating the power and impact of our prayers?

Tiger Woods knows that the ball will land near to the pin if his golf swing and follow through are OK. On completion he moves confidently towards the pin in the certainty that the ball will be in a good position.

In a similar fashion, the batsman who hits the ball sweetly and follows through knows the outcome and acts accordingly. The expert cook knows that by setting up the correct ratio of water to rice and by allowing it to remain on the stove for the right amount of time the result will be rice that will neither be soggy or burnt.

The cook does not go into anxiety and worry fits about the outcome of the rice. The expert cook does not spend a lot of time fussing about the rice….opening and testing and opening and testing. The expert cook knows that he set things on course for the desired outcome to be achieved and he acts as if it is so.

OK ..rice taken care of…on to meats or vegetables. He is not hamstrung with concerns about the rice. At the appropriate time, what he knows to be true might be more manifest to the eye but he knows that it was always so. This was always going to be the result. I did not need to wait to see the final evidence to move on because I know the outcome is assured.

Matt 21: 18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” 21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

There is immense power in prayer. However, there is a rider or caveat. It says that if you ask believing you will receive. It is not a question of merely asking. You have to believe that the outcome is assured.

Matt 17: 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief;[a] for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

A deep and abiding faith is an essential companion to prayer!

I John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know[d] that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us[e] commandment.

There is immense power in believing prayer!

James 1: 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Strong faith is an essential companion of effective prayer. And as Christians, there is much to encourage us to unlock the full power of prayer. We ought to engage in power praying. Prayer that is directed by the assurances that we are given in the scriptures.

2 Cor 9: 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Phil 4:12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me.

Question: If the batsman swings wildly and does not swing in a proper arc and does not follow through effectively, is he able to feel assured that the ball will go to the boundary?

If Tiger Woods’ swing is off, can he confidently walk up to the green expecting the ball to be in a good position?

If the apprentice cook drowns the rice in water and turns off the stove too early can she expect any other than soggy rice?

So, it is with our prayers. To ask, believing, certain things must be in place. The lead up to the prayer and the follow through are critical to the success of the prayer. This is a critical understanding if we are to fully achieve power praying in our lives.

When we ask for good results in our exams we can only believe that we will get that outcome if certain conditions apply. We must have some knowledge of the subject matter. We have to believe that we know enough…which assumes some level of exposure to the material.

We must also follow through after the prayer. That means that like the expert cook, we accept that the outcome is assured and proceed accordingly. We do not sweat and get anxiety attacks. Instead, we maintain our form and do the things that successful candidates do. In that state of mind, somehow things become clearer. Somehow, in the believing state of praying, you get a sense of the likely questions that will appear in the exam. Somehow, in that believing state of prayer, there is an unmistakeable knowing that the result is assured although it will only be outwardly manifested later.

You might have noticed from this that prayer is a process. Prayer is not an event…an act that takes place in a single moment in time. Believing prayer is a process.

Can we ask believing if our hearts condemn us? Can we really ask believing for success in our exams when we have not attended classes and have not studied?

Then, at the other end, having asked, are we likely to be successful if we get bogged down with so much anxiety that we cannot think or cannot express ourselves?

So, power praying is a process that involves adequate preparation, asking in firmly grounded faith and accepting that the desired outcome is assured and behaving accordingly (follow through).

That knowledge that the outcome is assured and acting as if that is so is tied to our beliefs about who we are. It loops back to our “I AM” statement.

We cannot truly pray believing about getting the job as a rocket scientist if our self image is not aligned to the skills and experiences that are required for that job.

In the event that we do not YET have the skills but we see ourselves in that role in the future then we have to adopt a self image (belief about ourselves) that says that we are rocket scientist trainees. We then do all the things that successful rocket scientist trainees do. Power praying is a process.

As we pray about the job, we get ourselves ready for it. The confidence in the outcome leads us to excellence in our preparation and an assured outcome.

That is why Timothy is to focus on the things that will cause him to move to spiritual maturity.

1 Tim 4: 15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. NKJV

New American Standard: 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

The key is to be absorbed in your desired image. If you meditate constantly on the YOU that you want to be your progress will be evident. The Psalmist talks about meditating day and night. You constantly paint mental pictures of yourself in the role that you crave. You play the role over and over and over.

That is the visualization that Maltz talks about. The Theatre of the Mind. Visualization is the follow through of prayer.

Psalm 1: 1
Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Psalm 4: 4 Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.

It is never too late to adjust our self image and have the change manifested in our lives.

Use your “I AM” list as the platform for your prayer life. The issues that you will meditate on over and over in the "Theater of Your Mind" in a relaxed state as you commune with God.

Having put aligned your actions and your self beliefs, prayed and meditated deeply and fervently, your automatic success mechanism kicks in and the outcome is assured.

One final thought about power praying. The nature of prayer…what we ask for.

James 4: 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

I am of the view that we are limiting the power of prayer by seeking to impose our human vision of what God wants to do for us. We ask for very specific things that we can see and that places limits on what is possible for us.

Also, because we are so focused on some narrow outcome in a specific time frame and in a particular way, we ourselves are hard-pressed to ask believing. An element of doubt creeps in and we already know that faith is essential to successful prayer.

If we allowed God more latitude in directing our paths then our prayer lives will be far more effective.

Instead of dedicating fervent prayer and meditation to getting this specific job that we seek, what if we asked God to guide us into a successful career. We can then align everything including our self-image to make that a reality.

Ask and it shall be given unto you…that is true as long as you follow the principles of effective praying.

Instead of asking about help on a particular exam, how about asking God to guide you into being a highly successful student.

Power praying is a process. When the process is followed, success is guaranteed.

We should open the scope of the things that we ask of God. That allows options that we may not have envisaged to come into play. Remember, Solomon asked for wisdom. From that higher order request flows many more specific blessings.

The key is to ask globally and generically of God and visualize at the more specific level. The follow through visualization is vivid and intense backed by the sense of assurance that having asked believing the outcome is assured.