Praying with Passion: Grounded in Obedience

By Albert M. McCaig Jr.

Praying with Passion is the perfect antidote to listless prayer. Judge McCaigs admonitions are on target.

Dr. Charles J. Wisdom, senior associate pastor,

Second Baptist Church, Houston, Texas

In fifty-nine years as a pastor, Ive read many books on prayer. Praying with Passion is the first that looks at all facets of ones prayer life. I wish I had Praying with Passion during my early years as a believer. I recommend this book to anyone serious about his or her prayer life.

Lowell F. Thompson, retired editor and consultant,

Baptist Sunday School Board (now LifeWay Christian Resources)

If everyone prayed just like you do, what would the world be like?

If everyone prayed exactly like you wish you prayed, what would the world be like?

The answers to those two questions are very telling. Praying with passion means having an intense, real relationship with God. It means having a conversation with God in which you truly know in your heart that He hears you. Praying with Passion seeks to help you learn to communicate with God and move closer to Him in all parts of your life. Learn to seek Gods will, discern that will, and courageously follow it. Praying with Passion enables you to become passionate in your prayer life, as passion on fire has a far greater effect than knowledge on ice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jun 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490835709

Albert M. McCaig Jr.

Albert M. McCaig Jr. is just a guy who believes in God and in helping others realize the power of prayer. He is a Texas judge, former army officer, prayer ministry leader, writer and speaker. He is married with two grown children, each involved in planting churches. He champions his God, his country, and his family.

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Copyright © 2014 Albert M. McCaig Jr..

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™ All rights reserved.

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Imagery provided by Peter Seman and Danka Bobulska, frombusytoeasy.blogspot.com.

Such images are used for illustrative purposes only.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3571-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3572-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-3570-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014907762

WestBow Press rev. date: 06/19/2014

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Power of Prayer

Chapter 2: Prayer through Faith: How Does That Work?

Chapter 3: Prayer: What Is It? Who Invented It?

Chapter 4: Prayer: How Do We Do It?

Chapter 5: Attitudes of Prayer

Chapter 6: Answers to Prayer: What Should We Expect?

Chapter 7: Healing Prayer

Chapter 8: Prayer in Spiritual Warfare

Chapter 9: Praying through Adversity

Chapter 10: A Prayer

Conclusion

Biography

Acknowledgments

No work for the glory of God can be done in isolation or without the valuable assistance of family, friends, and supporters. That is true of Praying with Passion. I cannot count the number of people who have encouraged me, prayed for me, and helped me in so many ways.

Former pastors Lowell F. Thompson and Charles J. Wisdom have been instrumental in keeping me on solid theological ground, as well as ensuring the grammar is correct. My current pastor, Allen McClure, has greatly encouraged me to follow my heart in prayer ministry and has given me an ample and free hand in doing so.

A critical eye from another perspective was given by my great friend Jim Cope, a retired lieutenant colonel of infantry and stalwart Christian. I simply cannot name all the friends and family members who have read an early manuscript, used various sections for their own spiritual needs, or simply encouraged me. There are many, and I thank each of you.

I would be remiss in not giving credit to my family. Kitty is my wife of forty-three years, and I cannot count the times I’ve failed her or disappointed her; yet she loves me, encourages me, and respects what I am doing in this ministry. My daughter, Blake (Amanda), is well on her way to becoming a Proverbs 31 woman. Her help with the cover and marketing ideas, as well as her encouragement as not only my daughter but also my sister in Christ, has been awesome.

My son, Donald, has given time away from his ministry as a church planter and pastor to read the manuscript, offer insight into the younger generations, and contribute on the theological side of the book. Kitty and I are honored and blessed by our children and their wonderful spouses, Taylor and Joe.

Finally, and more importantly, I give all the glory to God for any good Praying with Passion may do in building His kingdom. I’ve said and prayed that this work should not see the light of day without God’s blessings. It would be arrogant of me to claim that God approves of Praying with Passion, but He did indeed set me on the course to write it, and I am blessed by Him to have completed it.

Thank You, Father, for all You have done in my life. This is dedicated to the kingdom of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Introduction

Have you ever truly wanted to get real with God? Have you ever had the urge to run into the middle of the forest and shout, God, what am I doing here? What do You want me to do? You look around and see others raising their hands to praise God, tears streaming down their faces as they passionately absorb the music and message of God, and you wonder, Why not me? Why don’t I feel like that? I want what they have, and God, I want it now. I want to know You, God, desperately and passionately.

I want that too. I have wanted that passionate fire in my heart for years, but I spent so many of those years in desperation and longing, searching for the reality of a God I had only heard about or read about. I did not have that deep relationship and fellowship with God that I was so hungry to find. I began searching, reading, and studying, and I finally found what I was looking for through prayer. I want to take you there so that you too can have a passionate relationship with almighty God through prayer.

Praying with passion means having an intense, real relationship with God that is manifested through our own physical, emotional, and spiritual sense of that reality. It means a conversation with God in which we truly know in our hearts that He hears us. Our passion for fellowship with God is visible, even tangible, as we communicate with God in such a way that we move closer to God in all parts of our lives. Praying with passion is praying for real.

I am convinced prayer unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit and enables God to work in the lives of His people. As James 5:16 says, The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

As we begin, think about the following two questions.

If everyone prayed just like you do, what would the world be like?

If everyone prayed exactly like you wish you prayed, what would the world be like?

The answers to those two questions are very telling for most of us. Christians often come up short of actually living the life of prayer we wish we had. It is for that reason this study on prayer, although direct and simple, may be one of the more meaningful studies you will undertake in your Christian walk, outside a study of the Bible itself.

Your participation in this study, regardless of your calendar age, is evidence of your desire to grow in spiritual maturity and become a capable and effective Christian. For some, this may be near the beginning of your walk with God through salvation provided by our Lord Jesus. And for those, I say, Welcome to the family. For others, you may have been a Christian for many years but want to increase your understanding of the power of prayer. Perhaps you see your current prayer life as empty and short on results and you are hungry to have an effective, passionate prayer life.

Finally, for others, this may be the stepping-stone you need to become a powerful prayer warrior, interceding for others who come to you for prayer, a faithful Christian willing to step out in faith and pray for others as the need arises. Wherever you are in your Christian walk, a deeper understanding of the power of prayer will prove to be a blessing to you and to others you encounter throughout your life.

In our lives, we face adversity and stressful issues every day in school, in our work, in our relationships with others, in our health, in our families, and in other areas of our lives. Those of us who aspire to be prayer warriors also see those stresses in the lives of others who come to us for prayer. Those stresses are a common, everyday aspect of life and, left unresolved, they can destroy our joy of living.

One objective of this study is to help you overcome those adversities you face and to allow you to be fully engaged in meaningful prayer that manifests itself with results and affirmative answers so that your joy may be restored. In this study of prayer and the Bible, we will learn to seek God’s will, discern that will, and then courageously follow it.

Another, deeper aspect of this book is to enable you to become passionate in your prayer life, as passion on fire has a far greater effect than knowledge on ice. That passion will give you the relationship with God you are looking for.

As we undertake this study, keep in mind that prayer is not about rules or procedures. We won’t find ourselves raising our hands and shouting out to God because of the rules we learn. We will raise our hands and shout out to God because of our understanding of God’s overwhelming love for us. Prayer is all about love. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19).

We will discuss methods of prayer and the teachings about prayer in God’s Word, and even a few basic rules about prayer, as there surely are instructions in the Bible. It will all be meaningless, however, without an understanding of God’s all-consuming love for us. God loves you; love Him back! Love Him unconditionally, under all circumstances, all the time. Realize that love and learn to communicate that love back to God through prayer.

I encourage you to spend time in your Bible, spend time in prayer, and be ready for the blessings God will confer on you by honoring Him in this study. When you begin to understand your relationship with God and God’s love for you through the conduit of prayer, God’s will for the entirety of creation can be revealed.

When we understand God’s will for our lives, there is no limit to what God can use us to accomplish. There is no end to the joy you will experience as you live in God’s favor. Then, you may be that person passionately shouting out to God as you absorb His music and His message.

Chapter 1

The Power of Prayer

God is all-powerful!

How powerful do you feel right now? How much power do you really have in your prayer life? Do you go into prayer knowing you are plugged in to the greatest power in all creation? A power greater than the universe, greater than infinity, and greater than anything you can even imagine? Do you go into prayer knowing that almighty God not only hears you but also wants to do mighty works in your life?

Are you a new Christian who is hungry to learn all about this glorious Lord Jesus to whom you have committed your life? Do you want to know that God truly speaks to you and will speak through you to others by way of this thing we call prayer?

Do you have a relationship with God? Are you in fellowship with Him? Do you know, and I mean really know in your heart, the God who lives in the words of the Bible?

Perhaps you have been a Christian for a while and in your time of prayer, you’re just getting through your list of needs, kind of tossing them up to the ceiling in the hope that something will stick. By some coincidence or unknown favor, you hope one of your needs or desires will actually be met by a God who really seems to ignore most of what you have to say. There is a melancholy feel to your prayer life.

Or have you reached a point where you really don’t pray much at all? I mean, after all, what’s the point? God hasn’t answered one of your prayers in years. Why should you bother to talk to Him now?

We may have an awareness of who God is but find that He just isn’t a part of our everyday life. And that lack, that inability to connect with God in a personal and meaningful way, is the reason our prayer life is what it is today. We have no deep and abiding understanding of God’s love or the awesome power, compassion, and concern that God has for us.

Most of us have at least some level of happiness in our lives just as they are. We have an acceptable level of family life. Most of us have our basic needs met, although many of us are not what the world would describe as well-off. We have jobs we enjoy—or at least tolerate. Things really aren’t too bad if you just look at us superficially, especially if you compare us with most of the citizens of the world outside North America.

But what is going on outwardly in your life as a true believer and follower of Jesus Christ that is so different from the lives of the unchurched or unbelievers who are your neighbors, coworkers, and friends? What do you have in your life that is so visible and apparent that people who seldom, if ever, go to church would want? For most of us, the answer is nothing, really.

We have our salvation, and that is incredibly important, but our daily Christian lives are, by all outward appearances, no different from the lives of everybody else out there. They also have their needs met. They also have at least some level of happiness in their lives. They also have an acceptable