Diana continues her conversation with Ronald Davis, husband of Shana Rattler Davis. Diana and Ronald delve into how prayer plays a crucial role in healing from abuse and trauma. Ronald shares his personal journey of overcoming anger towards God, learning to seek God's will through prayer, and finding restoration and transformation. He discusses the importance of consistency in prayer, the impact of long hours in prayer, and shares insights from his new book 'Thy Kingdom Come: The Purpose and Power of Prayer.' Diana resonates with...
Diana continues her conversation with Ronald Davis, husband of Shana Rattler Davis. Diana and Ronald delve into how prayer plays a crucial role in healing from abuse and trauma. Ronald shares his personal journey of overcoming anger towards God, learning to seek God's will through prayer, and finding restoration and transformation. He discusses the importance of consistency in prayer, the impact of long hours in prayer, and shares insights from his new book 'Thy Kingdom Come: The Purpose and Power of Prayer.' Diana resonates with Ronald's experiences and emphasizes the need for personal transformation through prayer rather than seeking changes in others. They both highlight that understanding and relying on the finished work of Jesus Christ can enhance intimacy with God and lead to a life of victory.
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
00:37 Recap of Previous Episode with Ronald Davis
01:34 The Role of Prayer in Healing from Abuse
03:44 Personal Testimonies and Experiences
07:20 The Power of Consistent Prayer
10:56 Writing the Book on Prayer
15:50 Encouragement and Final Thoughts
22:32 Closing Remarks and Contact Information
website: www.thykingdomcomebook.com
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Ronald Davis Part Two Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast, brought to you by DSW Ministries. Your host is singer songwriter, speaker and domestic violence advocate, Diana Winkler. She is passionate about helping survivors in the church heal from domestic violence and abuse and trauma. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counseling or qualified medical help.
Now here is Diana.
Hi everybody. Welcome back to the podcast.
I was talking with Ronald Davis last time on the podcast. He is Shana Rattler Davis' husband. She was on the show in episode 76. What is a God shift? I recommend you go back and listen to Shayna's interview with me. Would truly bless your heart talking about multiple topics, [00:01:00] particularly her journey with abuse and how she healed.
I'm not gonna go through the bio for Ronald for the sake of time, I wanna give him as much time as possible to deliver the rest of his message, what he has for us today on prayer. So be sure to listen to the first episode if you have not yet listened to it.
But we're going to carry on. Without further ado, my continuing conversation with Ronald Davis.
You said so many things that are absolutely true. And a lot of our listeners, they have trouble, like I did praying in the midst of the abuse or shortly after getting out of the abuse and trying to recover.
So tell us about how does prayer fit into your life when you're being abused? When you're angry with God, when you're don't understand what's [00:02:00] going on you're on the couch with God. What do we do with that?
Yeah, that's a great question. I was angry with God, I'm gonna be honest with you.
If I could be transparent, because at one point I thought God put me together. I thought this was a God thing, and God, why would you allow me to go through this just for it to end this way? Just for me not to be able to see my daughter? So I understand that place. I was also angry with God, but when you know the word of the Lord, you realize that I can't blame God for my own decision.
And a lot of times what I've discovered, especially now that I've really learned the way of prayer, is a lot of times we are making decisions and we're wanting God to bless our decision. Instead of praying and seeking God for his will. God's blessing, his grace will always follow his will. So sometimes we end up in situations that our flesh got us into, and then we blame God for it.
So we first have to forgive ourselves and once again, we do have to be word [00:03:00] based, not based on our emotions. So if every good and perfect gift comes from above , and I was in a bad marriage, then there may be an indication that maybe I chose wrongly and I have to own that.
To forgive myself, not to play the victim or, to be shameful about it, but own it. Forgive myself and understand that God forgave me. Even if I had to get a divorce, God still forgave me. Not that we condoning divorces or we are encouraging divorces. We always push marriage, we always push stay together.
Yes. But we understand that there's certain situations that do require for people to end, for marriages to end, because it's worse for them to stay together than it is for them to be apart. And in those situations, we have to trust God in that process. So what I learned to do is to go to God in my brokenness.
I went to God in my brokenness and I realized, God, I've made some decisions. I've settled for some things. I've said some things. I'm tired [00:04:00] of the life that I have produced. I want the life that you produce. Mm-hmm. So I would just sit in his presence. I will seek God and I would cry out to him until he began to really deal with my heart, really begin to deal with me.
I just began to love on Jesus. I stayed in worship, I stayed in prayer. And in that, you God, you begin to really experience God's love. And once you experience God's love, you'll realize that that was not his will for you. That was not his perfect plan for you. And even if he allows you to go through it, you'll begin to understand now how all things are working together for your good 'cause.
You're called to God and you love God and called according to his purpose. And even in that though, I, we say that scripture, all things work together for the good. I have this saying in my, yeah, all things work together for the good, but all things don't have to. That means I don't necessarily.
There's some things I go through because I made some bad decisions, but even in that God can get the good out of it, God can restore me. [00:05:00] God is not responsible for the abuse. God is not the one who did that, but God is the one that can heal me from that experience. God is the one that can restore me from going through such a thing.
So I will say this real quick. Mm-hmm. So in that process of the seeking God and praying, I remember I did nine hours of prayer for the first time. I pray for nine hours straight, our purpose. I said, I'm gonna worship and pray for nine hours. Ooh. About three and a half hours in, I can hear the spirit whisper to me so clearly that I'm gonna restore the past nine years of your life.
I kept worshiping and I kept praying, and I didn't think thing about it. I was on a 21 day fast. And then he said again, he said, I'm gonna restore the last nine years of your life. He said, what happened nine years ago? All right. I'm getting a little emotional now because I just, that's journey. He says, what happened nine years ago?
And I didn't realize that on this fast. The fast was ending right around what would've been my nine year anniversary. [00:06:00]
Oh,
so nine years prior to that is when I got married. Nine years prior to that is when that journey started, because that we separated at seven. So we already separated for a couple years when I had this encounter, right?
So he said, what happened nine years ago? And I said, and and I began it this week before because he said, I'm gonna restore the years. You gave me nine hours. I'm gonna restore nine years. So I remember having that conversation with the Holy Spirit, not thinking much about it.
Continue to pursue God. I wasn't seeking a spouse, I wasn't praying for a spouse. I just wanted Jesus. And in that pursuit, I tell people all the time, the life that I have now is the life that came out of prayer. Not necessarily that came because I asked for it. It's like God begins to reveal his will, his purpose, and he began to send his person, his, his people into my life.
And in the Holy Spirit, begin, your next wife will be the exact opposite. The exact opposite of what you've been through. [00:07:00] So apart the same year that I received that word is the same year that I met my wife.
Ooh, that's good. I love that.
So, sometime we think we lose time by withdrawing and some people think, well, I need to be out there dating.
No, you don't. Allow God to deal with you first. There's nothing more powerful when it comes to the transformation of the believer than spending time in his presence. There's nothing more empowering. There's nothing more enlightening. There's nothing more transformational. There's nothing more encouraging than spending time in his presence.
And unfortunately, we don't make the time to do that consistently. And we're wondering why we're not living that life of victory and transformation. It's something that happens when we just sell out to God completely and we become consistent in our pursuit of him.
Amen. That . I agree with [00:08:00] you and you say, we've made some decisions that weren't God's will. I did get red flags before when I was dating my now ex and my mother and my sister warned to me and I didn't listen.
And I don't know, maybe it was just 'cause I was 22 years old and naive. But I didn't listen to the red flags the Lord sent me. Yes. So I do own that for sure. And when I started dating after my divorce, that was a big mistake. Huge mistake. If I could take back by going on a time machine, I would not have done that because a lot of train wreck relationships, I was not ready.
I should have worked on my relationship with Jesus, like you said. And I was smart enough not to marry the guys on the dating websites that were just as abusive as my ex. But it wasn't until I gave up [00:09:00] on meeting anybody and, I'm just going to go to church and serve the Lord. And I didn't really wanna get married either.
And then God brought me my current husband when it was time, and it'll be 15 years in March, so, wow. Yeah. And our marriage isn't perfect, but it's built on love and respect and, Jesus is in charge of our marriage, not each other. And it is night and day.
Yeah, it is. Yeah. He is completely opposite.
And the problem is, a lot of times what we don't realize is when we come out of something, what we came out of needs to get out of us. Because if what we came out of doesn't get out of us, it would attract the same thing. It would attract the same person into your life.
It would attract the abuser. It's like a magnetic pulling force. So you gotta allow you to yourself to be delivered [00:10:00] from the victim that you have become, and start seeing yourself differently. Start loving yourself again, valuing yourself again, and therefore you'll have a low tolerance from anything
that looks anything like yesterday. And you would know that God has something better for you and you're willing to wait for it. And when it comes, like, it's God. Because like I said, it's the exact opposite. It's like God smiles on you and that's when the restoration comes in because God will now give you someone that will help you get to a place in life that the years of abuse have taken from you.
You know what I'm saying? Like where you probably should have been further along the line, but now you got the right person in your life and now there's an acceleration. There's a grace upon your life for speed and in production, and now you're thriving in ministry and everything you want now is coming to pass.
It's because God put the right people around you.
Amen. Yeah. Now, when did you decide to write this book? Tell us what's [00:11:00] in the book and how did God tell you, Hey, you need to write this book about prayer.
Yeah. So this prayer, like, the prayer journey that started so much for me, it started up the ministry that I have now kingdom True global.
We do prayer revivals in different regions. We have 365 days of prayer where we pray every single day. We have intercessors praying every single day. We have times where we schedule long prayers that we have a lot going on in the area of prayer, and we'll also be doing a church plant starting this year.
So we're excited about that. But, when God began to take me deep in prayer, he began to gimme so much wisdom and revelation. It's like he just began to unlock. And a lot of it was because I began to experience a lot of things in the place of prayer. So in that, I started teaching at this place called Eagle Institute.
It's a Bible Institute friend of mine, she's a leader of, and I taught a course on prayer. And it was after that course that the Lord was like, you need to put this in a book, so I talked about the 12 [00:12:00] language, the prayer, the four stages of transformation, the purpose and power of prayer, which is to see his kingdom coming as will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
And foundational, the prayer is our intimacy and identity. So all of these truths begin to come out of my encounters with God and my experience with him, and he began to show me why most people don't thrive in prayer. Most people don't thrive in prayer. It's because prayer is about what they want.
It's not about what you do.
You're calling me out, brother.
So the purpose of power of prayer, thy kingdom come is to challenge the body of Christ. Not just to engage prayer on a consistent basis, but to engage prayer with spiritual understanding. To build with the right foundation, building on the foundation of intimacy.
Make prayer more about knowing God and communing with God and growing in your identity in Christ than you do with what you want. Because the more we grow in our identity and the more we understand that he's our father, then we [00:13:00] will come to grips with the fact that he knows what we have need of, and then we have the grace to seek versus kingdom and watch all things beyond it to our life.
So there, there's prerequisites, and like, and the more we grow in, in identity. The more we grow and provision, the more we grow in identity, the more we grow in power. The more we grow in identity, the more we grow in holiness. So God begins to continue to allow you to grow in the place of prayer that the promises of God will begin to find expression in your life.
But most of us, we don't stay in prayer long enough to experience those dimensions. Because the moment we ask for something and it's not happening in the timeframe that we want, we would think either it's not God's will or God is not hearing me. And no God is hearing you. And then maybe God is molding you and shaping you into a person that he wants to respond to.
And that's what happens in a place of prayer, consistent prayer. God molds and shapes us into a vessel that he's eager to respond to. Therefore, whatsoever we ask in prayer, believing we shall receive whatsoever, we ask in accordance as will [00:14:00] should be done unto us. Why we become the person. He that he answers, we become that person in prayer, so prayer is a journey. It really is a journey with God as a journey into God. And when you commit to that journey, God will begin to reveal himself first. And as He reveals himself, he transforms you. And as he transforms you, he transforms your life. And as he transforms his life, then you become an agent of transformation.
And it all happens in the place of prayer. So this book, thy Kingdom Come the purpose its power and prayer, like I said, it is igniting. I'm getting so many testimonies already, how this book is this impacting and changing lives. But it really gives you a clear understanding of the kingdom agenda and the purpose and power of prayer and understanding the benefits of prayer.
What happens when you begin to pray? And most people pray for revival, right? And we look at the history of the church. We pray for revival. What happens? Revival comes. [00:15:00] We no longer pray. Revival dies. See the same level of .Intensity that brings revival is the same level of intensity that sustains revival.
It's not that we keep praying for revival. No. We just keep praying with the same level of intensity. And most of what we call revival is simply the Christian life, normal Christian living, finding expression in a believer. That's how we're supposed to be living. We just got so powered, right, right Earth.
But with the secret to that lifestyle of constantly walking in the newness of life and walking in the abundance of life is to be constant in prayer, to be consistent in prayer, to be steadfast in prayer, to be earnest in prayer. And when prayer becomes not just something we do to receive, but something we do to live, that's when we really begin to see the benefits of prayer.
Yeah. I'll admit that it is not something I'm good at. I am much, much better at Bible study than I am at prayer. I [00:16:00] think transition that I'm going through right now, instead of having a list of, pray for so and so, pray for this. And, and lately God's been telling me because I'll say, I'm praying for my husband to change this, or I'm praying for my coworker, my coworkers on my last nerve or whatever, change my coworker, whatever.
And I'm now hearing God saying, no, you need to pray and work on yourself, for love and tolerance and changing yourself instead of praying for the other person to change, you need to change yourself and give them more grace. You were mentioning forgiveness. So yeah, it's definitely a journey and it's not easy.
Yeah. And it's one of the things that the devil fights the church the most. Because if you think about it's, most people, sometimes it's a struggle to study, but you find more people that study than you do that pray, it is [00:17:00] something about prayer that the enemy doesn't want the believer to do it.
Yeah. Because if we really look at it, what does the Bible teach us as much as we study the Bible said, pray without ceasing. Be constant in prayer. Be instant in prayer. Continue on prayer watching the same way Thanksgiving. Be anxious for nothing, but with prayer. Suffocation, with thanksgiving, make your request known unto God.
Men are always to pray and faint not. Pray that you enter not into temptation. So the Bible has much to say about prayer, but our lives often don't exemplify the level of importance that the Bible stresses about prayer. And then the question is then must be asked, is it possible? The reason why we're not living in the fullness of Christ is because we're not living the way of prayer, because we've done the Bible study thing.
We got degrees for days. Some of us, we can break down the text. Yes. But, and one thing I'd say, I say in the book, it's in the place of prayer where your theology becomes your reality. Your revelation becomes your experience, and the truth, becomes the truth you do. So that's [00:18:00] what prayer does for us.
So no matter how hard it is, the challenge is just to commit to being consistent and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. The more you pray, the more you can pray. The less you pray, the less you can pray. It's just that simple. So when you make that commitment, I don't care if it's 15 minutes a day where you say every single day, I don't want ask God for anything.
Prayer. You'll see prayer not just as a time of request. See, it is time with God. So for 15 minutes, I'm gonna commune with God for a hour, I'm gonna commune with God, and I'm going to pray thy kingdom come thy, will be done. I'm gonna pray. Father let you, perfect will be done. Father, let your life be revealed in me.
You pray His word over your life. You pray his word over your family, and you keep it simple and you keep it consistent. And you'll be surprised over time how now you will develop a hunger for more of God and you'll develop a hunger for more of [00:19:00] prayer, mm-hmm. So I challenge anyone listening to this interview, no matter where you are, are you pray every so often or you don't pray at all?
Decide today. That God is gonna be first. I was reading a book. I recommend this book actually , plus my book, of course, that came to Color, purpose of Power, but is a book. The guy's last name is Eastman. Dick Eastman, the Hour That Changed the World. And he talks about how he decided to be consistent in prayer, where he prayed for just one hour. He broke it down to 12 different things that he gave five minutes to, and he developed a real basic way of developing consistency and prayer, so when it boils down to it, we just gotta commit to that consistency and know and be in there for the long run.
Don't think everything's gonna change overnight. See it as a place where you can commune in fellowship with God every single day.
I've found that the Psalms help a lot. Yeah. Because when you're like, I don't know what to pray for. I don't know how to do this. [00:20:00] Boy this, the Psalms really help because it even talks about when you're depressed and you're feel abandoned, you feel, far away from God.
You just pray those psalms and, mm-hmm. That's a great, jumping off point.
Yeah. Yeah. And one of the things we talk about in the book too, it's like, and it is really seeking God for his will, and then understanding the power of just those simple words. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. With that.
If that word alone found the expression in every believer's life, we will see what revival looks like. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If you have nothing else to pray, pray that. Put that on repetition. Say it over and over again until it becomes your reality, till you start seeing that word begin to manifest in your life.
I have two prayer points, believe it or not, as much as I pray, I still only have two main prayer points. My two main prayer points. Number one, thy kingdom thy [00:21:00] will be done on earth as it is in heaven. My second prayer point is, father, let Christ be exalted. Let Christ be revealed. Let Christ be glorified in and through my life.
So prayer , you're not heard by much saying, even though we should spend a lot of time with God, because I believe in long prayer. I believe in consistent prayer, but you gotta start somewhere. I've grown to that place. But most importantly, it's doesn't necessarily have to be full of a bunch of words.
Even that thy kingdom come that alone, that could be pray, thy kingdom come, that will be done in my region. Thy kingdom come. That will be done in my city. Thy kingdom come, that will be done in my finances. Thy kingdom come. That will be done in my body. Father, that your kingdom come, will be done in my marriage.
Your kingdom come, will be done in my loved ones. You know what I'm saying? So you take that and you make that a prayer point for everybody you know, and you start there and say, now what happens is over time that you unlock the grace to pray. The Holy Spirit will begin to quicken [00:22:00] your prayer life. And from there it's like you would, you begin, you become a major intercession for the Lord.
Amen to that. Yeah. Boy, that's, it is so profound and such a blessing, what you said today. It's gold. It really is helpful hearing those things, to get us back into prayer if we've been absent for a while or to strengthen the prayer life we have. I know I've got some things to work on just listening to you.
Where can the folks listening get your book?
Yeah, so you could get the book at thy kingdom come book.com and you can, follow me on Facebook at Kingdom Truth, global.
All right, so we got your Facebook and I have an Amazon link in there 'cause everybody's on Amazon.
Yeah.
Thank you. Is, is there anything else that you didn't get to say today that you wanted to [00:23:00] leave the listeners with?
I would say this, there's no other access has been granted thrown by the blood of Jesus Christ. So no matter what happened to you, no matter what you've done, we have the grounds of prayer is not how long we can pray. The grounds of prayer is not how often we can pray. The grounds of prayer
is the finished work of Jesus Christ and understanding that through the blood of Jesus, we have access. We have been forgiven, we have been redeemed, we have been washed, we have been purified. And now Jesus is the door. Prayer is life inside the door. Prayer the blood of Jesus. The finished work of the cross is God's commitment to you.
Prayer is your commitment to God, and you have access. Now, the life sacrifice of Jesus makes our lives sacrifice acceptable. So I encourage all of us to present our bodies, to present our lives as a living sacrifice and a [00:24:00] place of prayer, holy and acceptable to God which is our reasonable service. Give yourself the prayer.
I just wanna encourage everybody, to give yourself the prayer as much as, as often as prayer comes to mind. You don't have to know what to say, just do it. You to talk to God. Love him, worship. Praise him, speak his word. So I just wanna encourage everybody with that, know that you have access.
And that's one of the reasons why a lot of people don't pray. Where the combination it says, this is the confidence that we have in him, that our hearts condemn us. Not we have confidence towards God, but if our hearts condemn us, right? So God is greater than our heart. So realize God is greater than your heart.
The blood sacrifice of Jesus was enough. We have access. Let's pray.
You have been such a blessing Ronald to me, and I know the listeners, and God bless you. I hope that you stay in touch. Yes. And I hope the listeners reach out too with any questions or to get the book. And say hi to Shayna for me.[00:25:00]
I sure will. Yes, indeed.
All right. Take care of yourself. Thanks so much for being on the show.
Thank you for listening to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast. If this episode has been helpful to you, please hit the subscribe button and tell a friend. You could connect with us at DSW Ministries dot org where you'll find our blog, along with our Facebook, Twitter, and our YouTube channel links. Hope to see you next week.
