Proseuche, Pr. Anish Mano Stephen, Sermon Note - Sunday 27th August 2023
Overview
1. Introduction – Prayer
2. Tefillah – the Hebrew word for Prayer in the Old Testament
3. Proseuche – The Greek word for Prayer in the New Testament
4. Proseuche – Praying in the Revelation of Prayer
5. Things that can delay the answers to our prayers
6. Proseuche – Coming Face to Face with God and Taking a Vow
7. Model of Proseuche Prayer in the Old Testament
8. Proseuche of Apostle Paul – A man who prayed with the revelation of New Covenant Prayer
9. The Vows made in the presence of God should be fulfilled
10. The Power of sickness defeated by Proseuche
11. The Power of sin defeated by Proseuche
12. Being Vigilant and doing Proseuche
13. Standing Together with Jesus and doing Proseuche
14. Conclusion
Introduction - Prayer
“For You, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore, Your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to You.”
2 Samuel 7:27 (NKJV)
We all are familiar with prayer but many times we do not understand that we have very limited knowledge or understanding or revelation on the word prayer. Here, we read about the prayer of King David and, for the first time in the Bible, a prayer like this is coming where David comes up to God and says, God, because you are blessing me and my house, I am going to build a house for you. And then he continues to pray because you have given me an opportunity to build a house for you, may my family, may my house be forever and be blessed forever.
Tefillah – The Hebrew word for Prayer in the Old Testament
“Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.”
Psalms 69:14 (NKJV)
In the Old Testament, the word used for prayer is Tefillah. When we translate that word into English, the meaning becomes similar to saying ‘to pray with the attitude of a beggar.’ A beggar would be in bad shape, the hair not arranged properly, and there would be no joy, or peace in his life, and he would be in sadness, pain, and probably sickness. This would be the condition of most of the beggars. In the Old Covenant, judging oneself, with this kind of attitude people had to come to God and pray.
Proseuche – The Greek word for Prayer in the New Testament
Prayer is a very powerful medium of connecting to God and in the New Covenant, the Greek term ‘Proseuche’ is used for prayer. This word means nearness to God, to come closer to God, to draw near to God, to come into a fellowship with God. It is no more attitude of begging and asking, but there is only an attitude of inheritance as being a Son and receiving it by faith because, through the Holy Spirit, we have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15 NKJV).
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
John 1:1 (NKJV)
Now, for the above verse, it is written the word was ‘with’ God, which means ‘face to face with God’. In Greek it says, the Word was face-to-face with God, and that is how the believers’ prayers are in the presence of the Almighty God, very close. Here, the Word and God are one, so when we are praying, we are not begging God but we are declaring God himself. That is where the word Prayer - Proseuche is of great importance which is saying that when we pray, we are coming closer and closer to God.
Proseuche – Praying in the Revelation of Prayer
“And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So, when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
Mark 2:4-5 (NKJV)
Here we see an example of people praying in the revelation of prayer by exercising ‘Proseuche’ and getting the answers to their prayers very quickly. Jesus Christ is just 30 years old, and the word ‘man’ is used for the paralytic person who was brought to Jesus, and as the Bible commentators say, he might be a 40-45-year-old person. When the friends of that person decided to break open their barriers and come closer to Jesus, He had only one word to address that paralytic person and He called him, ‘son’. And Jesus healed Him of his physical and spiritual infirmities.
Things that can delay the answers to our prayers
a) Not praying in the Revelation of being a Son
When we pray in the revelation of prayer, the relationship with God will be restored and also, our prayers will be answered quickly.
b) Our Iniquities
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear.
Isaiah 59:1-2 (NKJV)”
Our sins will hinder the answers to our prayers. But if we decide to repent and come face-to-face with God, we will see deliverance through our prayers
Proseuche – Coming Face to Face with God and Taking a Vow
The last five letters of the word Proseuche – ‘EUCHE’ mean when in a face-to-face conversation we take a vow. The prayer in the new covenant is a revelation of coming closer to Jesus and taking a vow in front of God.
Blessings will be released faster
In the face-to-face conversation Prayer, when we are talking to God, that blessing can be released in a higher way when there is a vow attached to it.
The nearness of God will be our goodness
“But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”
Psalms 73:28 (NIV)
The Word of God says here that the nearness of God is our goodness. Psalms 23 says Goodness and mercy shall follow us, and in the book of Exodus God says to Moses that God’s goodness will go ahead of Moses. Now in this verse, we read a higher revelation, which says, when we come to the presence of God with the revelation of new covenant prayer that it is talking face to face and taking a vow before God, Jesus becomes your goodness.
Model of Proseuche Prayer in the Old Testament
“Therefore, they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.”
Jonah 1:14-16 (NKJV)
This is a prayer that starts with a supplication and ends with vows made in the presence of God. We are forced to take vows because the Lord knows that we are weak in flesh, and we are living in this world. Generally, we make decisions and we fail to follow them but in a face-to-face conversation with the Almighty God, when we make a decision, the Holy Spirit will keep on reminding us to fulfill it.
Proseuche of Apostle Paul – A man who prayed with the revelation of New Covenant Prayer
Apostle Paul, who was immensely blessed in all areas of his life, who had supernatural protection and provision from God understood the revelation of the New Covenant prayer. He never prayed with the attitude of a beggar in front of God but in Romans 8:15, he said ‘The Holy Spirit has been poured out on me to call him, Abba, father.’ He took many vows in his life. And, Paul made sure that whatever decisions he took in the presence of God were fulfilled by him.
“I will pay my vows to the Lord; now in the presence of all His people.”
Psalms 116:14 (NKJV)
Proseuche is not just face-to-face prayer, but there has to be a decision attached to it. Many times, we pray and nothing happens, we fast and nothing happens, we do so many things and nothing happens. It can be because we failed to keep the vows that we took in the presence of God while praying
But the moment we realize that the New Covenant Prayer was about coming closer to God, praying with an attitude of sonship, and at the same time taking a decision in God's presence and fulfilling the vow, we will see miracles.
The Vows made in the presence of God should be fulfilled
Vows taken in the presence of God will accelerate our blessings and answers to our prayers.
The Word of God says that vows are very important. Whatever decisions we take in the house of God, in his presence, we have been marked in heaven and we should not abort, delay, or reconsider to pay our vows. The answers to our prayers can be blocked if we are :
a) Not fulfilling the Vows
“Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil. Do not be rash with your mouth, and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes through much activity, and a fool’s voice is known by his many words. When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it; For He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you have vowed— Better not to vow than to vow and not pay. Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?”
Ecclesiastes 5:1- 6 (NKJV)
b) Delaying to pay the Vows
“When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you.”
Deuteronomy 23:21 (NKJV)
c)Reconsidering the Vows
“It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy, and afterward to reconsider his vows.”
Proverbs 20:25 (NKJV)
The Power of sickness defeated by Proseuche
“Then those who went before warned him that he should be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!””
Luke 18:39 (NKJV)
In Luke 18:35-43, we read about a blind man sitting on the road and begging. He was a beggar sitting with an attitude of beggar and begging. But the moment he hears about Jesus of Nazareth passing by, he cries out Jesus, Son of David! It was not the information that he got from the people, but this blind man had the revelation and he prayed with that revelation and it got answered. Jesus stopped. People were trying to silence him, but he had the revelation and he did not stop his prayer. The Bible says Jesus stopped at his prayer and gave the answer to his prayers.
The Power of sin defeated by Proseuche
“Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
John 8:9 (NKJV)
Here we read about a woman caught in adultery who is brought close to Jesus. She was caught in an act of sin but one thing good that happened was she was brought closer to Jesus and that defeated the power of sin in her life.
Being Vigilant and doing Proseuche
“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;…”
Colossians 4:2 (NKJV)
Prayer is coming close to God. Proseuche is talking to God face to face and taking a vow. The Word of God says we should also be vigilant while being in this attitude of prayer. When we pray, not only the eyes of the Lord are upon us, but the demonic realm is also watching us.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 (NKJV)
So, the devil is roaming around the world, like a roaring lion seeking who to devour. He is searching for one opportunity to deviate our focus from Jesus. So, when the focus breaks the face-to-face communication gets disrupted and we lose faith. That is where Apostle Paul says that we have to be vigilant in prayer, and never let anyone or anything of this world break the connection we have with God.
“Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.”
1 Peter 3:7 (NKJV)
Even Apostle Peter says this, to be alert and to dwell with understanding, because the moment we lose the connection, our prayers can get hindered and the answer to our prayers will automatically stop and the devil will succeed.
Standing Together with Jesus and doing Proseuche
“He is near who justifies Me; who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me.”
Isaiah 50:8 (NKJV)
In this face-to-face relationship, we are standing along with the Lord Jesus Christ. Though the world is controlled by the devil when we stand together with Jesus, no principalities, or powers of darkness will be our adversary. Apostle Paul says he was standing with Jesus and fighting because he had the revelation of spiritual warfare, he was very clear about the fight and with whom he was fighting. Paul went to Ephesus and found out 12 people who knew Jesus but had never gotten the Holy Spirit. He prayed for them and the Holy Spirit came upon all 12 of them, and together with them he brought down the glory of the demonic powers that ruled there and he lifted the name of Jesus in that city.
Concluding Prayer
Dear Jesus,
Today, we are deciding to climb up to this attitude of prayer, where we are coming closer to you, face to face, taking vows in your presence and keeping them. As Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…”, because when we draw near to you, we know as James 4:8 says, You will draw near to us. We want to do ‘Proseuche’, praying in the revelation.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.