Prayer is powerful. There is no match for the power for prayer offered up to God from an authentic and seeking heart.
Prayer produces the change this world needs. It starts at an individual level. It starts in your heart. This should be so obvious, but, for some reason, it has taken me this long in life to even grasp a bit of the depth of the power of prayer.
What is prayer? Well, in the simplest way I can say it, it’s a conversation with our maker.
Two people meet in a park, they get along well and continue to talk every day. Before they know it they are in love, they know every thing about one another, they know the difficulties and pains of the other person’s heart and they know how to help. They know what makes the other person happy and how to provide that. They have a relationship.
Two different people meet in the same park. They talk a bit, but one is not so interested. They do not respond or converse much and the relationship has no fruit. There is no love, help, nurturing, or fulfillment. The conversations completely fade away and there is nothing left.
On a very surface and tangible level which scenario do we, as humans, prefer. The first, right?
Same with God! He wants to know us intimately. He desires to know the deepest desires of our hearts. He wants us to lift those up to him and allow him to have a tangible, real, fulfilling, and intimate relationship with us.
Jesus gave us the answer on how to do this and what it looks like. First of all, we have been given The Lords Prayer:
Matthew 6:7-13
“ And when you pray, do no heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray like this: Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
And, another example, as written in Luke 11:2-4 Jesus is asked by the crowd how to pray and he replies:
“When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”
Now, there is a lot of depth to the Lord’s prayer and I have heard entire sermons preaches on those few lines alone, but my objective today is not to delve into the depths of these lines, but simply to share with you both biblically and personally the power and importance of a prayer driven life.
In The Lords Prayer, Jesus has giving us an example of how to pray with a heart centered on God and seeking his will for our lives. When we come to the Lord in prayer it is important to come before the Lord with a heart that seeks his will in our lives first and foremost. This prayer will ALWAYS be honored and fulfilled. Ask him for your ‘daily bread’. Nothing more. Nothing less. He will provide for all your needs. Those needs you are aware of and those you are not aware of. Every time you ask to be forgiven of your sins and forgive others you are washed clean in the sight of God and start a fresh and undefiled intimate walk with him. If we pray for the Lord to put desires on our heart from him he will be faithful. He will not lead us into temptation, but rather fuel the fire we have in our hearts for his goodness, grace, mercy, and love.
Time and time again in scripture Jesus, himself, leaves the crowd and the spotlight to seek out his father in prayer. I love that in times of desperation Jesus fell on his knees in prayer fully knowing that his Father heard him and was weaving all things together for good.
In Luke 22: 39-46 it says about Jesus:
“And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. And when he came to the place he said to them “pray that you may not enter into temptation”. And he withdrew from them about a stones throw, and knelt down and prayed, saying “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” And then appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when he rose from praying, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, and he said to them “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
In time of need, not only does Jesus instruct others to enter into prayer, but he, himself, falls to his knees in prayer weeping and crying out to his heavenly Father, and what comes of these prayers? Well, to name just a few things: The resurrection, triumph over Satan, and offered salvation for us all.
God hears us. Have thankful hearts that we serve a great and loving God who longs to know us and who pays careful attention to each of our prayers.
A praying life is not only necessary for us as an individual, but it can make all the difference for those around us as well.
Jesus, who was always in close prayer and communication with the Father, was always laying hands on, praying over, and healing sick people, blind people, people who had been overtaken by demons, crippled people. Many many people with illnesses cried out to Jesus in faith and were healed. This is due to their faith and Jesus’ close communication and relationship with God. Jesus is God in human form, and, through this close communication and prayer, offered miracles to the tangible world.
Jesus was an example to his disciples of what they, too, are capable of if they earnestly seek God. Guess what?! We are those disciples. We have this same power through faith and prayer in God to heal those around us and we have to boldly speak out this truth.
Mark 16:15-18 says:
And Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
This certainly does not mean we are to test God in these things, but it means if we go boldly out on his behalf with the intention of spreading his kingdom and pray earnestly for his will to be done he will protect, heal, and perform miracles, through faith.
James 5:13-20 says:
Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on earth. Then he prayed again and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
Remember you serve a good and loving God whose greatest desire is for you, and me!
This year, I stepped boldly out in faith more so than I have ever done before. I left behind my loved ones, and my comfortable life to spread the gospel to many nations. I am far from perfect at this. Its really really hard and I will let you in on a little secret. This is the first time in the whole nine months I have been out here that I have written and delivered a sermon so I pray to God that I said something helpful for someone out there, but I have a strong testimony on the power of prayer.
I will share just one of many prayers I have seen answered while doing missions work.
It was our second month out on the field, so this past February, and my team and I were stationed in a remote village in Malawi, which is located in South Eastern Africa. The village had no electricity, no running water, and many of the people were starving. Their crops, which served as their only food, was suffering due to a drought and the children’s stomachs bulged out due to malnutrition. Upon arrival my team and I began to pray diligently and boldly for food, rain, and electricity for the village. We were there less than a month and with in that short amount of time a massive food truck arrived and delivered enough food to feed the village for weeks, it rained almost every day while we were there, and on our last day in the village a crew of work men were installing the villages first transformer in preparation for the village to have electricity. Our host told us the next missions team they hosted would have light at night to eat their dinner by.
Our God answers prayers both big and small. We just have to have the faith and diligence to seek him in prayer.
So, if you hear nothing else from me tonight hear this: Pray. For, the power to move mountains is contained in faith the size of a mustard seed. Pray in faith that God hears and answers. He does.
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