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AS part of the Pentecostal worship and experience, there is a deep desire to enhance their relationship with God, taking it to a higher level.
The average worshipper will expect that during the course of their Christian experience, they will enjoy one or more supernatural encounters.
Supernatural encounters may present themselves in various guises, but the emphasis here is that believers should expect to enjoy supernatural occurrences in their walk with God.
It is in this quest for supernatural encounters that urges Pentecostal believers to embark on some “strange” practices (strange to the observer) that may be difficult for those not of the Pentecostal persuasion to understand.
In their quest for supernatural encounters, different streams of Pentecostalism may also not share common ground in terms of practice. Suffice to say, that believers still continue to search for God and for miraculous encounters with Him.
In this discourse I will discuss several keys but focus largely on one which I believe is crucial as we seek to enjoy supernatural encounters.
I have listed several keys to the miraculous that we may find useful. These keys have been drawn from the lives of men and women who encountered various situations as they sought for deeper experiences and encounters with God:-
l Separation/isolation — Joseph experienced a season of separation and isolation from his family when he was sold into slavery in Egypt. Through the course of his time in isolation, he experienced several supernatural encounters.
l God is drawn to those who are able to focus solely on Him. Abraham is a man who exhibited an amazing ability to focus on God as he left his immediate family to follow after an unknown God who was taking him to an unspecified destination.
l Sacrifice is also a catalyst for supernatural encounters. We note this in the instance of Abraham when he chose to sacrifice his only son Isaac who was born to him in his old age. God was attracted to Abraham’s ability to sacrifice and gave him a ram to sacrifice instead. It was during this occurrence that Abraham encountered God as Jehovah Jireh.
l Prayer is one of the greatest ways that a believer can enjoy divine encounters. It is the key of prayer that I wish to focus on in this discourse.
Jude 20
But you, beloved, build yourselves up (founded) on your most holy faith (make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher), praying in the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 6:18
Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Holy Spirit, with all (manner of) prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of the saints (God’s consecrated people).
Luke 9:18
Now it occurred that as Jesus was praying privately, the disciples were with Him, and He asked them, who do men say that I am?
Prayer is very important in the life of all believers. Prayer therefore is a practice that should be cultivated and become a pillar in the life of a believer. The scriptures state “when you pray”. From this statement we gather that it is a normal expectation that believers should pray. Matthew 5:7-9 Also when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward in full already.
But when you pray, go into your (most) private room, and closing the door, pray to your Father, who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.
And when you pray, do not heap up phrases (multiplying words, repeating the same ones over and over) as the gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their much speaking.
When talking about prayer in Pentecostal circles prayer practices vary greatly, ranging from “corporate prayer” when groups of believers may raise their voices in unison (quite loudly sometimes) as they pray to the heavenly Father.
Our mainline brethren are often perplexed as to why we have to shout simultaneously to God as though He were hard of hearing. However, this is one form of prayer that Pentecostals will engage in, while other believers will go to mountain tops to experience God as they pray and fast in isolation.
Yet again others will take time to retreat and go to resorts or secluded places, while in most cases groups of Christians will meet together to pray and seek the face of God. During these prayer meetings, various forms of prayer will take place, including the laying on of hands by other believers as outlined in scripture.
However, the most common form of prayer is personal prayer that is engaged in by believers in the privacy of their homes. Regardless of the form of prayer, prayer is still one of the greatest keys to unlocking divine encounters.
It is noteworthy that encounters with God usually come about as a result of a vibrant, personal prayer life. For example, Daniel encountered God during his 21-day prayer and fast while Jesus also was strengthened by the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prayed before His crucifixion. Other examples are Hannah in the temple as she sought God for a son and Elijah on Mount Carmel as he challenged the prophets of Baal.
Despite the efficacy of personalised prayer, it is not something all believers enjoy or look forward to doing despite its extreme importance. The modern Pentecostal has exchanged personal prayer for prayers prayed on their behalf by “spiritual giants”, intercessors or prayer partners praying on their behalf.
As personalised prayer is imperative in the life of the believer, I wish to discuss some truths that could assist all believers to start experiencing and enjoying a vibrant prayer life that will lead to “encounters with God”.
Understanding prayer
As we start to pray we need to have an understanding that will make us realise that God is easily accessible. We must bear in mind that though we may not see Him with our natural eyes or even perceive Him with our remaining physical senses, God is not resident in a distant heaven. We must bear in mind that He is omnipresent and right where you are. This makes communicating with God in prayer less complicated. You are conversing with a God who is right where you are. He is also not a heavenly being that is far removed from us, rather He is a heavenly Father who listens to us and is easy to talk to.
I recall in my early years as a Pentecostal believer how I was dazzled by “spiritual giants” who could pray very long, pious sounding prayers. Their use of jaw breakers whether it was in the vernacular languages or English was something of a marvel. This display of “prayer prowess” frightened me as I thought I could not possibly pray prayers that would be meaningful or acceptable to God. I was relieved to learn through the study of scripture that while these amazing prayers are a marvel to hear and I am sure highly appreciated by God, He also has time for and accepts the more humble, simple, sincere prayer that may not be embellished by high sounding phraseology. In fact, the Bible urges us not to pray making vain repetitions to Him. I am left wondering about the efficacy of prayer books that have recently made their entry into Pentecostal prayer practice. Some of these books offer “prayer recipes” that ensure answered prayers. My questions pertaining to these would be the scriptural credence of the recipes and whether they are conducive to building intimacy in prayer as a greater part of the prayer session is spent reciting the pre-written prayers. Rather, I suggest we should talk to our heavenly Father in a language that we understand and offer personalised, meaningful prayers as we spend intimate moments with Him.
Spending time with a loved one entails communicating the love and contents of your heart. While we may recite poetry and sing songs to loved ones once in a while, the greater part of our communication is personalised and sincere, emanating from the heart. So it should be when we communicate with God who is the lover of our souls.
In terms of noise/volume (as already mentioned, our main line brethren often wonder at the volume of our prayers). There is a time and a season for everything in communication.
At times we may need to communicate animatedly, with loud expression and shows of emotion as we express ourselves to God. Whereas at other times it is important to be cognisant of the fact that God is not hard of hearing, or too far away and we don’t have to scream, shout or perform.
I sometimes enjoy watching the expressions of brethren during corporate prayer. Some unique facial contortions, gestures and sounds may be observed. The scriptures note that “His ear is not too heavy that it cannot hear, neither is his hand to short that it cannot save”. This restraint in terms of volume and noise would be suitable for personalised prayer as we spend moments of intimacy with Him. Prayer according to the Biblical pattern should be prayed to the Father, by faith and in the name of Jesus. You don’t need to add anything more as these are the total requirements by God of us in terms of prayer according to the scriptures.
Prayer is usually found to be difficult because our prayers are not specific and in most cases unstructured resulting in our prayer times becoming tedious and boring. To alleviate this problem, I suggest that believers keep prayer journals, prayer lists or a prayer record that will assist to keep track of the prayers they have prayed in the past and also record the answers that have been received from God to these prayers.
This practice can serve as an encouragement as you reflect and see just how powerful your prayers have been as you record answers to your prayer.
Defining Prayer
l Prayer is communication with God. God has chosen to communicate with His children and to work on their behalf through prayer.
l Prayer is simply talking to God and allowing Him to talk back to you. Daniel knew how to be quiet in the presence of God. Being quiet in the presence of God is something all believers should practice. It is not necessary to talk incessantly when we are in the prayer closet. There comes a time to be quiet and tune our spiritual ears to hear what God has to say to us in turn.
l Prayer is the weapon that God has given His children to defeat the evil one, his strategies and schemes. Many ploys of our enemy Satan and his cohorts can be nullified as we pray.
l Prayer is a heavenly currency that we use to exchange for “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places”. Many blessings are released to us as we pray.
l Prayer is the spiritual eyesight that God has given us to see into the spiritual realm. The Bible encourages us to “watch therefore and pray”. Seeing into the spirit enables you to be vigilant in the spirit man. It is in prayer that God can also warn of impending dangers. These can be averted as you pray.
Power of Prayer
Not all types of prayer have equal power. There is some prayer that does not have much impact at all. The Bible alludes to the type of prayer that has the greatest impact and this high impact prayer is discussed in James 5:16 — The earnest, heartfelt, continued (some versions state that the effectual, fervent prayer) of a righteous man makes tremendous power available, dynamic in its working. This effective prayer originates from a righteous man. This is one who is in right standing with God, (not necessarily perfect, but one who keeps short accounts with God). This entails living a lifestyle of repentance and confession. When our lives are unrighteous or evil our prayers are hindered and God does not hear us. Psalm 66:18 — If I regard sin/iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me.
Effective prayer is evidenced by the results. Examples that quickly come to mind is the prayer prayed by Elijah that it would not rain until he said it would. This caused a severe drought for many years and rains resumed at his request once again. Joshua prayed an effective powerful prayer that caused the sun to stand still. Imagine the sun standing still, this effectively meant that there would be more hours of daylight available for the army of Israel to wage warfare against their enemies.
It should also be understood that even though we pray powerful, effective prayers we may not always get instant answers. Therefore we may have to offer effective, continued prayer. This “continued” prayer infers that we may have to persist in prayer. Daniel embarked on a season of prayer and fasting and wondered why the Lord God of heaven seemed to delay in sending the answer to him. Daniel’s prayers had been so effective that they had caused warfare to take place in the heavenlies. Demonic spirits and principalities (the demonic prince of Persia) attempted to stop the angel who had been dispatched with Daniel’s answer. He had to return to heaven and get reinforcement from a chief heavenly host named Michael to wage war and bring Daniel’s answer to him. This should serve as encouragement as we pray knowing that our answer is on the way even if we don’t get it immediately.
There are several keys to divine encounters, but it is important for believers to cultivate the habit of prayer as effective, fervent, faith filled, continuous prayers bring results without fail.
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