How To Pray Daily by Apostle Emmanuel Iren: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Starting With the Gospel

One mistake many people make is relegating gospel preaching to evangelism alone. The gospel is preached to sinners — but it is taught to believers. For evangelical purposes, the depth of soteriological understanding required is not vast. All that is needed, and all that must be believed, is that Jesus died and rose again, and that belief in the heart and confession with the mouth brings salvation. Simple.

But for the believer who is walking daily with God, there is a relationship in the knowledge of the gospel that must be walked in continually.

Romans 5:17 — "For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."

Notice two things in this text:

• The gift of righteousness — this comes with the definite article. When the Bible says "the gift of righteousness," it means specificity. You either have it or you do not. You cannot have more of it or less of it. Salvific righteousness, received freely in Christ on the basis of His sacrifice alone, is not graduated. It is binary. Even comparing spiritual performance is useless — by performance, everyone falls short. But by grace through faith, you qualify completely the moment you believe.
• The abundance of grace — this one varies. It is subject to understanding. Not everyone operates at the same level of consciousness of grace. You can know it in your head and still not truly believe, at the level of practical trust, that your standing before God, your ministry, and your praying for the sick are entirely by grace. If you do not know this, more prayer will not benefit you — it can make you worse. It increases your self-consciousness: "I've prayed more." You can see less grace when you pray more.

Galatians 3:1–3 — Paul confronts the church: "Who has bewitched you? Having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?" It is very possible to be selected for ministry by the election of grace, and then — once a platform exists and performance is expected — to begin trusting in works, forgetting the grace that brought you there.

The consciousness to carry into every prayer, every ministry, every day: I am going to be faithful, but it is not my faithfulness. I am going to pray, but it is not my prayer. I come boldly to obtain grace.

Never fall for the trap of believing your own hype. It is the gospel that qualifies you.

The Centrality of Brokenness

The second and closely related component of daily devotion is brokenness. The most important component of a daily devotional life is that humility drives you to a place of worship and brokenness. Drive yourself there every day — hit that gusher and come back. Do that every day.

The danger for those who know how to pray in tongues and stir themselves up spiritually is that this stirring can become a substitute for relationship. Power can be stirred up and sustained without genuine relationship — but it will not last. What Samson's life illustrates is that the anointing can operate even while the relationship deteriorates. The understanding of the gospel must be what drives you to that place of brokenness.

The mystery of the incarnation is weighty enough to anchor this. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. That Word became flesh. And the first extended sermon he preached — after 30 years of silence — opened with this in Matthew 5:3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

God Himself, in human form, waited three decades to preach His first message. And the first thing He said concerns poverty of spirit. This is the ultimate secret of devotion: to look at yourself and see insufficiency — a hole that only God can fill. Not because worship was emotionally moving and tears came easily. But genuinely, at the level of honest conviction, believing that without God's help you are finished. That your hope for the future is entirely in Him.

Psalm 51:17 — A broken and a contrite heart He will not despise.

The blessings of God carry a temptation. Strength, beauty, results, resources — the very things God gives can begin to replace Him. The illusions they create must be consciously resisted. This is not a one-time adjustment — it must happen daily, because when a drift begins, it often goes undetected.

Pride will block your discernment. You will not even know who you are talking to. God is a lifter of men — never underestimate anyone. The way to treat people is with the awareness that this God can put His hand beneath any person and raise them entirely. Handle everyone accordingly.

The Paradox of Humility and Exaltation

Luke 14:11 — "Whoever exalts himself shall be abased, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."

James 4:6 — God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

1 Peter 5:6 — "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time."

The moment pride enters, it is an invitation to resistance. It creates a stumbling block to progress — built with your own hands. If a demonic force were the obstacle, deliverance would be available. But when it is God who is restraining your rising because of pride in your heart, who then can help you?

There are people heaven is committed to keeping small — so that at least they will make heaven. Their angels have the responsibility of making sure certain doors do not open, for their own sake.

Self-promotion can be dangerous. This is not an argument against putting your work out. The question is motive. It is whether you are seeking to be seen by God or by people. The one who rises and lasts makes it their ambition that it is God being displayed.

Fasting as Humility

2 Chronicles 7:14 — "If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways — then I will hear from heaven."

The structure of this verse is critical. The condition is not merely prayer — it is prayer preceded by humility, accompanied by turning. You can pray without humbling yourself, and that prayer will not work. They must go hand in hand.

One of the ways humility is demonstrated is through fasting. In its original expression in Scripture, fasting was not always a deliberate abstaining-from-food practice. It was the overflow of prioritizing God so completely that food became secondary. When Moses went up the mountain to intercede for the children of Israel, the burden suspended appetite. The Bible frames it this way: "I desire you more than necessary food."

Fasting reorders priority. What is more important? It answers that question with action.

Psalm 35:13 — "I humbled myself with fasting."

It is not only food. Fasting should extend to entertainment, to social media — to anything that competes with the time and attention that devotion requires.

The Lesson of the Wilderness and the Promised Land

Before God brought the children of Israel into the promised land, He brought them through a period of home training. He fed them with manna and deliberately withheld some things they could have had — to remind them that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

This is why Jesus, when fasting and tempted to turn stones into bread, refused. The purpose of fasting is to deliberately withhold yourself from satisfaction you can afford. Not because you cannot eat — but to remind yourself, while you are able, where your priority lies.

Deuteronomy 8 makes the principle clear: God was preparing a people to receive wealth without being corrupted by it. For those who want God's financial blessing particularly — if you cannot show heaven that you know how to control your appetites, you are not ready for kingdom wealth.

To present yourself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God — that is your reasonable service. Lord, because you are my help, I humble myself. I put my body under to show that I rely on you.

Worship as a Daily Practice

The Levitical law says the fire shall not go out. Every day, worship. Every day, sing to the Lord. Dance before the Lord. Play before Him. This is the sacrifice of praise — serving the Lord continually, giving Him the fruit of your lips.

The secret of David was this: he wanted God to know regularly that he was wrecked without Him. In reading through the Psalms, what stands out is how consistently and deliberately David expressed this — as a king, as a warrior, with extraordinary results and wealth — he still constantly said, "God, if you don't help me." That is the big secret. That consciousness, maintained intentionally, is what sustained him.

Psalm 16:8 — "I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."

This is the modus operandi for daily life. Set the Lord before you. No shaking. No moving. Not because of your strength — because of where your eyes are fixed.

Declaration and Blessing

The things you have been pursuing will start pursuing you. You will be on fire for the Lord, and the plans of the enemy to distract you are cancelled. Every ungodly relationship that has made you unprofitable in your walk with God — those relationships are cancelled. For those who have genuinely been struggling — help is coming from Zion. The same thing that once held you down will become the subject of your testimony of God's faithfulness. Great deliverance has come. The fire in your devotion is restored. Get up, dust yourself, and move on. The call on your life still stands.

Lord, I humble myself before you. Today I pray but it is not my prayer. I fast but it is not fasting. I come boldly to obtain grace — your grace that qualifies, your grace that carries, your grace that promotes. I present myself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to you. You are my help, and I rely entirely on you. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen.