It is believed that Azrael is a gigantic angel that is so large that one foot rests in either the forth or seventh heaven and the other on the bridge that runs between heaven and hell. Christians assume that the angels are all human like creatures with soft features and beautiful wings. This is not always true. Despite Azrael’s size he also has four faces and four thousand wings. His entire body consists of eyes and tongues. Each eye and each tongue corresponds to the amount of people living on the Earth.

Azrael also has a personality that may astound people. He is a very patient creature, meticulous in his work, soft in his demeanor and work. It is said that many of the other angels didn’t know him that well because he was so unobtrusive. It is believed that Azrael was very kind and gentle to others. Even while bringing death to humans he treats them with kindness.

Within Azrael’s list are the names of the damned which he circles and black. The names of the blessed are circled in light. When the day of death comes a name from a tree with the persons name on it falls from the tree beneath God’s thrown. After 40 days Azrael must sever the individual’s soul from their body. He will then accompany that soul to heave or hell. After all of the humans are dead than Azrael will pass away as well.

The angel Azrael lives and dies like many of us. God will have him die when his work is done and mankind has their rightful place in heave or hell. Azrael, despite his morbid job, is one of the most noble Angels. He belongs to a class of a total of seven total Archangels. Other leader angels include Michael (Angel of Weather),

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These two passages show the power of Christ, as not to know the day nor hour of Israel’s restoration. And two, The Power of God, over all, to hold the restoration in His good time. Jesus in this instance, is shown not to know all things but the things that His Father allowed Him to know.

Act 1:6-7; When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.( Jesus only knew that Israel would have to endure much suffering before the Kingdom of Israel could be established. That is why He was angry in Luke 13:34; “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”

Luke 13:35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.(Reference; Isa.40:9-11) Mat 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias (ELIAS or Elijah. In Rom.11:2 margin “the Scripture saith in Elias,” i.e. in the Scripture portion that treats of Elijah. Eli’as. The Greek form of Elijah.) truly shall first come, and restore all things.

Before the restoration can begin and the curse lifted, we must look at what Jesus said, must come to pass first, the destruction of Israel is not over until the end of the 7 year treaty is finished.

In Mat 24:29 is proof, Jesus is speaking; ” Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:” The restoration of Israel will be after the end of the 7 year tribulation period.

In Rev 11:13, the earthquake opens up a valley between the two parts and gives the Children an avenue of escape. The mount of Olives will split in half.

(Zec 14:3-4 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east = (Toward Bet Shemesh) and toward the west = ( Toward the Jordan River), and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north = (Toward Al Birah), and half of it toward the south = (Toward The Hebron Valley.)

(References;. his feet: Zec.14:7; Eze.11:23, Eze.43:2; cleave: Zec.4:7; Isa.64:1, Isa.64:2; Mic.1:3, Mic.1:4; Nah.1:5, Nah.1:6; Hab.3:6;)
And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
The speed of the anti-christ and his army will be great, not allowing time to retrieve any thing.

Mat 24:17-22; Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be ( This tribulation is still directed toward Israel, being allowed by God. His mercy for His Children gives them a chance to escape.)
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase ( The Dead) is, there will the eagles ( Scavengers, Meat Eaters.) be gathered together.

Mat 24:30 And then ( The word,”Then” is very important here, it is signifying the time of Christ return to destroy the enemies of Israel. Mat. 24:29 must be fulfilled first.)

Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Rev 22:3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (Rev.21:4; Deu.27:26; Zec.14:11; Mat.25:41)

Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. “there shall be no more curse.” Finally the curse that Israel has been under from the time of Moses will be lifted and Israel shall be prosperous for ever, with Jesus as King.

(Act.17:26; Deu.29:29; Dan.2:21; Mat.24:36; Mar.13:32; Luke 21:24; Eph.1:10; 1Th.5:1, 1Th.5:2; 1Ti.6:15; 2Ti.3:1)

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Effective prayer is a goal that most Christians aim for in their daily life, and unfortunately this is a goal that few reach. Why would prayer be so hard to achieve, and to get results on a daily bases? The problem lies in our approach to prayer. For many of us, we have been taught that to pray we must “beg and plead” with God, and just maybe He will move on our behalf. I have also seen people think that they are exactly where God wants them, so they just pray “Lord if it be thy will” like that will do the trick for them, and what every results happen with that prayer then that is exactly what God would have them to do. Then you have my personal favorite kind of prayer, the “lets make a deal” prayer. We agree to do something for God, if He in return will do something for us. As a result of all these types of prayers, it’s no wonder why so many Christians have a very weak prayer life, and are defeated by Satan. So let us begin our study of how to pray effectively.

Fist let us take the time to see what the Bible says about prayer. Jesus said in
Mark 11:24
“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

Here is the interesting thing about this scripture, there is actually two things going on in this verse. First is “pray”, and the second is “ask”. At first this seems like the same thing.

Well first let’s see that the word “pray” means.

The Greek word is proseuchomai: to pray to God, supplicate, worship, and make prayer – Strong’s 4336 reference number.

What is unique about this word is that it is the primary word Jesus used when he was talking about pray in the Bible. The word in itself gives us the meaning of pray. It means to worship the Lord. But how does worship tie to prayer? Easy, the second part of the scripture finishes it for us.

To ask, this is the only thing most of us knows about prayer, is to ask, yet as you can see asking is only the second part of praying. So some would say now “O I get it; I just worship God and then ask. Then I will understand prayer.” I would say no. That’s not the point Jesus was trying to tell us about prayer. Let’s dig deeper into this.

We have exposed the first part of Mark 11:24, let’s look at the second part. Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

Here is the true key to effective prayer, Believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. Jesus has just giving us the key to prayer. Here again, we have a two parts. First is believe, and the second part is receive.

The Bible gives us many verses that tells us to believe, but for me the most compelling of them is Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

We as believers must believe that God is a rewarder, not a condemner. Most believers just believe that God will do what he wants, yet the Bible tells us, that if we come to God, we must believe that God will reward those who seek Him. So there is faith in God that these prayers will be answered.

If faith is a part of prayer, we have to figure out how I can have faith in this problem or situation, which I have been asking God to move in. That is simple, Faith comes by hearing the word of God, and the Word of God will show you what God’s will is for that situation.

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

We need start to basing our prayers on the Word of God, and not our feelings, nor our religious teachings, and then we will start to see results. We have only one part left and that is to understanding the receiving part.

James 1:5-8 “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. [6] But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. [7] For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, [8] being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

It says very plainly that if a man will not believe that he received what he asked, then let that man expect not to receive anything from the Lord. That is very clear if you ask me. If you will not act as if you have already received what you have asked for then do not think that you will receive it from God. That is a major problem for most people, how do we ask as if we have received, when he have not received yet? That is where faith plays into it.

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Substance of things hoped for. What is substance? In the Greek it means “confident”, so we could read it as this, “Now faith is confidence of things hoped for. The confidence is the results of hearing the word of God. As you can see, that all this is starting to fall into place, and every part of the 4 parts are staring to work together. Now, on to the last part “the evidence of things not seen.” Again let’s look at “evidence” in the Greek to get the meaning of it. Evidence means “proof”. Let’s re-read this verse with our study definitions in place.

Now Faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen. So in short, your confidence in God will result on your hearing of the Word of God. As you grow in the Word your Faith will grow as well, and that will bring confidence that God will do what He says He will do. You will be able to believe what you ask, and in doing so you will also be able to have proof through your faith, (the Proof will come through knowing the promises of God.) so you will not be a flip flopper and you will be in the right position and open to receive from God, for you will already be acting as if you have already received.

Now that we understand the second part of Mark 11:24, let’s return back to the first part.

Mark 11:24 “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

We have learned in this study, pray means to worship and that Jesus told us to pray and ask. How can these two things be together in what we call prayer?

Matthew 6:8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. This verse is used by many as a means of just praying Gods will on everything. For if he knows what I need before I ask, then why bother studying the word of God, and applying my faith, if He knows then, just let him do it. That kind of thinking will get you no where fast with God. Yes God does know what you need before you ask, but that doesn’t mean you will get it. You have a role to play in this as well.”

To ask for something is our part; we need to know what the Bible says about our situation in order to be able to be in the right position to believe and receive from God. That’s not that hard to figure out, but how about the worship part for the pray part of Mark 11:24?

Here is the best part and I have saved it for last. When you go into prayer with God, He already knows what you need, right. So, the worship part is just thanking God for what he has done for you. Can you see it tie together? We come to God worshiping him and giving him thanks, for what He as already done for us. Prayer should be in the past tense. Let me give you an example. Prayer for healing: Father in the name of Jesus Christ, Lord I thank you that you are a God of healing. Lord your word says in 1 Peter 2:24 “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” Father I believe that you have done this in Jesus, and Lord that you have healed me through Jesus, and now Father I receive my healing of ( what ever ). Lord you said I was healed, and Father, I will not speak another word that is against what you have said I was. The Doctors might say it, my Family might say it, and my body might show signs of it, yet Lord you said I’m healed and I believe your report. Father I give you thanks. Lord I praise and worship you, and I give you glory for my victory. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Can you see how that prayer is in Past tense? The prayer was as if it was already done. In that prayer you worshiped God (pray), you asked (my healing) and you believed and received from God. All in the same matter as Mark 11:24.

Prayer is not a five minute thing, if you truly want to be effective in prayer, you will need to take time and study the word of God. I know this sounds funny, yet as Believers the Word of God is God’s Will for our life. We need to know what it says, and when we pray, we ask God to do what He said He would in the Word. But if we do not know the Word, we get all these different kinds of noise to God, trying to con God, trying to make a deal with God, and trying to just tell God “you handle it.” Well my friends those prayers will not work. You have to show your self approved in the Word.

What if you are new to Christ, well God is a loving God and he will meet you where you are. But even a new Christian will be reading his or her Bible. And God will be able to show you what you need for prayer. As always I pray that this study has and will continue to increase your personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Daryl Frisbee Covenant Ministries: I have started this Ministry to help the children of God, to understand who they are in Christ. I have studied the topic of “Covenant” for over 4 years. I will show you, how to apply this covenant you have with God, in your everyday life. Topics of Prayer, Healing, Faith, Covenant, The Authority of the Believer, and more can be found on my website. These topics are in written Text Lessons, Audio Sermons, and Video Feeds. So come and learn your wonderful Covenant you have with your God.

http://www.dfcm.org