A YEAR OF PRAYER
PRAYING FOR VISION IN THE PROCESS
But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. —Luke 24:16
Where there is no vision [no redemptive revelation of God], the people perish; but he who keeps the law [of God, which includes that of man]—blessed (happy, fortunate, and enviable) is he. —Proverbs 29:18 (AMPC)
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,but blessed is he who keeps the law. —Proverbs 29:18 (ESV)
1. Rehearsing the pain of the process (facts) will always keep you blinded from the promise (truth).
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. —Luke 24:13 - 142 For You are the God of my strength; why do You cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
3 Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle.
4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy; and on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God. —Psalms 43:2 - 5
2. When we are wandering with no vision and blinded with the discouragement of the process (facts), Jesus finds us.
15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. —Luke 24:15 - 16> 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall [a]fall on me,” even the night shall be light about me;
12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. —Psalms 139:11 - 12
3. The discouragement of the process can leave us living with a past tense vision of Hope.
17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”
18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. —Luke 24:17 - 211 I cried out to God with my voice— to God with my voice; and He gave ear to me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my hand was stretched out in the night without ceasing; my soul refused to be comforted. —Psalms 77:1 - 210 And I said, “This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.”
11 I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old.
12 I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God?
14 You are the God who does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples.
15 You have with Your arm redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. —Psalms 77:10 - 15
4. Praying the the Word of God in the process will give vision for the next step toward the promise.
26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”
27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. —Luke 24:26 - 27> Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. —Psalm 119:105
5. The prayer of intimate invitation to Jesus in the process will always be answered and accepted.
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther.
29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. —Luke 24:28 - 2920 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.. —Revelation 3:20 - 21
6. When Jesus finds us, walks with us, and sits down with us, our vision for the promise is restored (revelation).
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. —Luke 24:30 - 31
7. When we get a new vision of the promise, we will supernaturally receive strength for the process.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together. —Luke 24:32 - 3316 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. —Ephesians 3:16 - 21