Power of Prayer

I’m going to share with you “the most powerful tool” in your arsenal: PRAYER. 

I’m talking about earnest, subservient supplication in the name of Jesus (Yeshua – Hebrew translation).  By no means, am I dishonoring the blessing prayer before a meal or the safety prayer when we get in our car and all the other moments that we seek Heavenly Father’s love and protection.  However, what I am talking about is the “down” on your knees (I know… not everyone can get down on their knees) displaying honest humbleness before the Lord as we rejoice in His presence and take the time to listen for His answer to our prayer.  We should spend time in prayer every day; it takes putting aside the world to feel at one with or be in touch with and get to know our Father in Heaven!

Find someplace to pray where you won’t be interrupted so you can truly focus on your time spent with God!  If you’ve seen the movie “War Room”, you will have an idea of what I’m referring to… Matt 6:6 (HCSB) Jesus said, “But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

1. Prepare yourself for prayer, like David said in Psalm 66:18, God will NOT listen if we’re cherishing our sins.  When we read our Bible daily, we learn what God abhors: lying, thieving, adultery etc.  Once we have Christ’s blood covering us as a result of our enduring faith, we are saved, but that doesn’t mean that God likes our sin any more than he did before we found faith in Jesus.  Romans 8:1-8 (HCSB) Therefore, no condemnation now exists for those in Christ Jesus, ²because the Spirit’s law of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³ What the law could not do since it was limited by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending His own Son in flesh like ours under sin’s domain, and as a sin offering, ⁴ in order that the law’s requirement would be accomplished in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh think about the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, about the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For the mind-set of the flesh is death, but the mind-set of the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God’s law, for it is unable to do so. ⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
2. Don’t forget that Satan will do everything in his arsenal to keep us from praying: the phone will ring, the kids will need something, unexpected company, worries about our jobs, not enough time, random thoughts that flutter around in our minds to distract us from our attempt to spend time with God!  Satan knows how powerful we are when we’re in prayer and that God listens to our every prayer.  Personal thought…I’m quite certain that every prayer we’ve ever spoken has been heard and remembered by God.
3. Always pray “that HIS will be done” and then submit to it!  When we can’t put into words what we need to say, the spirit will speak for us.  Luke 12:12 (HCSB) For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.
4. Realize that God can and will say NO!  Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane “Father, if You are willing, take this cup away from Me–nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:42 (HCSB) God said NO to Jesus so He willingly went to the cross and suffered for our sins.  God said NO to David when he lay prostrate in prayer for the life of his child with Bathsheba.  God said NO to Elijah when he asked God to strike him dead.  God said NO to the people who built the Golden Calf and didn’t allow them to go to the Promise Land. God said NO to Moses for striking the rock twice instead of speaking to it, so Moses was allowed to see the Promised Land, but he didn’t enter in.  God said NO to Paul when he asked Him to remove the thorn in his flesh.  Our Father’s will not ours will be done; He has a plan and He knows what’s best for each and every one of us!