Power in Prayer

Tap Into the Power of Prayer

The power of prayer should not be underestimated. James 5:16 declares, “…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” 

Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three-and-a-half years. Again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops (1 Kings 17:1-7, 18:41-44; James 5:17-18).

God most definitely listens to prayers, answers prayers, and moves in response to prayers. But, how do we tap into the power of those prayers, in order to get an answer?

Jesus taught, “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible,” Matthew 17:20 (NLT). This is a metaphor using a mountain to represent your problems, meaning regardless of the size of your problem, you can move them when you pray, even with just a small amount of faith.

In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NLT), it tells us, “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.”

The Bible urges us, in Ephesians 6:18-20 (NLT), “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.”

These are but a few biblical references to help guide us into learning to tap into the power of prayer. However, the power of prayer is not the result of the person praying. Rather, the power resides in the God who is being prayed to

The Bible also reminds us in 1 John 5:14-15 (NLT) that we can have confidence in approaching God, “that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.”

When we pray passionately and purposefullyaccording to God’s will, God responds powerfully

Daddy!

Know to Whom You Are Praying

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father,” Romans 8:14-15 (NLT).

I love this verse, because often people want to make God more complex. Yet, Paul says we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba. This is a term in our modern language that is one of the first words a baby learns, Daddy

We get excited when our child learns to call us Daddy. How often, then, after your child began to call you Dad, did you correct them? Did I ever say, “That’s not really my name. My name is Jason E. McKinnies, son of Michael E. McKinnies, grandson of Cecil E. McKinnies!” No!

To this day, my girls call me Dad, or Daddy. They will continue to call me that because that is the relationship we have. It doesn’t need to get more complex than that. 

Why, then, in the spiritual sense, do we feel the need to graduate to the formal when talking with God? We are his children. He is our Father. It doesn’t need to change. 

Keep it simple. Enjoy the simplicity of Christ. 

“Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God,” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (NLT).

How was Eve seduced? Not by being offered a sip or a peek or a puff, but by the potential to be more spiritual. So, too, false teachers came into the Corinthian congregation, saying that Paul’s teaching was too simple, that there was something deeper they needed to explore and experience.

Many people present a picture of prayer as one of coming into God’s presence. Once we are in, or “have ushered in God presence,” we then spend a whole lot of time talking and trying to convince God of so much. 

Many folks won’t pray until we have gained access into His presence. 

That seems complex and downright tiring. We act as if we have to whip the church into a frenzy before we can pray. Gather the worshipers! Gather the praisers! We are going to usher in the presence of God! 

Let me ask you a simple question: If you have to usher in the presence of God, then where have you been living? Outside of His presence

God’s presence is not a destination, or a place that I go, or something that I have to usher in. God’s presence is where I live. I live in the presence of God. The absence of God would mean that I am separated from Him, and I am not separated from Him. 

As a matter of Scripture, we simply are in God’s presence. 

“For in him we live and move and exist,” Acts 17:28 (NLT). 

As children of God, we are in God’s presence. So speak to Him. Call on Him. 

Near the turn of the century, a little boy, walking along the Mississippi River, saw an old man on the bank and began to chat with him. Suddenly, the little boy saw the majestic riverboat, the River Queen, making her way down the river. As the boat drew closer, the little boy stood up and began to shout at the top of his lungs, “Let me ride! Let me ride!”

The old man looked at him, smiled, and said, “Sit down, sonny. That riverboat’s not going to stop for you.” Then, to the old man’s amazement, the mighty River Queen did indeed slow down and pull up to the bank. As the little boy ran up the gangplank into the arms of the awaiting captain, the old man heard him utter two words that explained it all: “Hi, Dad!”

That’s the way it is with us. “God’s not going to answer you,” say the old men in our lives. “He’s too busy. He’s got elections to oversee and famines to figure out.” Not true. Any of us who have little children know that the cry of our children has precedence over anything else we do. The same is true of God.

Know Who it is you’re talking to, praying to. God, your heavenly Dad. And you have access to Him at all times. Therefore, let’s just talk to our Dad, in simple terms. What a blessing to be able to speak to God in that way.  

After all, that’s what He wants.

What is Prayer For?

What is Prayer For?

All prayer is for the glory of the Lord. 

“Let them all praise the name of the LORD. For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven!” Psalm 148:13 (NLT)

Every prayer request and every situation you have ever encountered is a means by which God can reveal His glory. These situations are an opportunity for God to reveal Himself to you. When God answers your prayer request, He is revealing that part of Himself to you. You now know God in that measure. You, yourself, were even created for His glory.

“Bring all who claim me as their God, for I have made them for my glory. It was I who created them.” Isaiah 43:7 (NLT)

The word glory is often used, but in the Hebrew it’s a word that carries great weight. It carries the majesty and importance of God. As you read the Bible, you will see the “glory of the Lord” phrase used often. These are the moments when a glimpse of who God really is, has been revealed. These are also the moments when there is a visible awesomeness, and evidence, of the power of Almighty God. 

God has all power and authority. What we are describing is when we encounter a portion, just a miniscule amount of who He is we say, “the glory of the Lord was in that place.” 

When we say that God is revealing His glory, we are saying that God is unwrapping, unveiling a measure, or a part, of His holiness, purity, power, or His lovingkindness to us in that moment we pray for a distinct answer. 

You come to know Him as Healer (2 Kings 20:5, Hezekiah) when you are sick, have prayed, and God heals. 

You come to know Him as Sustainer (Psalm 54:4, David’s prayer of Deliverance) when you feel like you’re falling, and then God lifts you and holds you up. 

You come to know Him as Wise (1 Corinthians 1:25) when you need an answer and He provides that answer.

You come to know Him as He is, based on what requests you have made, due to the situations you have encountered. Therefore, to know Him, and to have His glory revealed, comes through the experiences of your life. 

I believe that’s the why the old timers would say, “He gets sweeter, as the days go by.” It’s through their lives, and the trials and tribulations of their lives, that God was revealed more and more. The more that was revealed, the more they loved Him. 

God reveals Himself in ways that we can handle. We couldn’t handle all His glory, so He reveals Himself in part. God unveils Himself, showing you who He is.

Look at Abraham. God told him to offer his only son Isaac (Gen 22). At this point, Abraham knew God as Creator, as a Guide, and as a Faithful Promise Keeper. 

Now, in the request, Abraham is about to have more of God revealed. We have rehearsed, even in the last few days, Abraham’s obedience to God’s request. 

In Abraham’s response to His servants, we can see that he had faith that they both would return down the mountain. Abraham, no doubt, trusted that God would resurrect his son of promise (Hebrews 11:9). However, God was revealing something else. 

When the Angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son, and the ram was in the thicket, God revealed Himself as the Provider

God had kept this part of Himself back from Abraham, but in the perfect moment God shows up and reveals Himself to Abraham in a new way. He is Jehovah Jireh; God, our Provider. 

Throughout the trials, prayers, and turbulence of your life, what is God trying to reveal to you? 

Maybe the question is, what do you need God to reveal to you? 

The prayer is, “Lord, show me Your glory!”

When God answered Abraham, we are shown the proper response to an answered prayer, or God’s glory being revealed: It’s worship.

In Psalm 138:5 (NLT), David instructed us, “Yes, they will sing about the LORD’s ways, for the glory of the LORD is very great.”

The apostle Paul told us, “All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grave reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory” 2 Corinthians 4:15 (NLT).

When God answers prayers, we should not only tell others, we should also worship. In doing so, we not only receive blessings… we also show more of His glory.

The Formula for Prayer

The Formula for Prayer

The main reason we don’t have answered prayer is, we haven’t prayed. Now to be fair,

prayer has become so complex that many people won’t even attempt it. Yet, a lot of people don’t understand how to pray. 

Over the years, there have been many “formulas” for prayer, which were written to help people understand, and learn a more effective way to pray. Some came in the form of acronyms. For instance: 

ACTS

Adoration 

Confession 

Thanksgiving 

Supplication

Supplication is the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly; “he fell to his knees in supplication.”

There is also the PUSH prayer: Pray Until Something Happens. 

I am all for teaching people things about how to pray. Reminders, acronyms, etc. are all helpful. However, let us not make it so complex that prayer is left for only a select few, and the rest are deprived of this amazing privilege of communicating with God. And, to me, prayer is a privilege. 

I am reminded of the story of a Prayer Team member becoming distraught. After having prayed a simple prayer for someone at the altar, they watched as that person went to another Prayer Team member for prayer, as if the first team member wasn’t effective because their prayer was not flowery. 

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ,” 2 Corinthians 11:3 (NKJV).

There is such simplicity in all things Jesus Christ. It is religion and religious people who want to make “spiritual” things seem complex and even cumbersome. The reality of taking away the simplicity of Christ is that we institute a spiritual bondage upon people. 

This is not a spirit of bondage that we have received from Christ. Christ set us free. This is what happens when we begin to believe that faith, prayer, and other “spiritual” things are more complex or deeper than the reality of what Christ gave. 

 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again,” Matthew 6:7 (NLT).

Jesus encourages us to be short and concise in our prayers. To me, this is fantastically liberating because I fall prey to thinking, the longer I pray, the more impressed God will be.

In Ecclesiastes 5, Solomon says that God is in heaven. You are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few.

We cannot access powerful prayer by using “magic formulas.” We don’t have to use certain words or phrases to get God to answer our prayers. Our prayers being answered is not based on the eloquence of our prayers. In other words, there is no magic formula for prayer.

Instead, we just need to keep it simple. Pray a simple, yet to-the-point prayer. Tell God what’s on your mind and your heart. Make your requests known to Him. Be honest and open. God will honor that. He will hear you, He will listen, and He will answer.

What is Prayer?

The Purpose of Prayer – What Is It?

Recently, it was found that the phrase “how to pray” has been searched 20,000 times on YouTube. However, not one of the first five results are by a church or pastor. Sadly, people are not searching for answers in church. They’re searching on YouTube. Yet, it seems people are searching, they are hungry, and they want answers.

The word prayer is found 673 times in the Bible. The Greek word means, “to wish, offer a request, comprising a vow.” Webster Dictionary says, “To make a request with earnestness or zeal, as for something desired; to make entreaty or supplication. The Bible says, we have not because we ask not (James 4:2).

Simply put, prayer is communicating with God. It is literally having a conversation with Him. But, how do we do that? It’s very simple. All you have to do is talk to Him. Ask God for His help.

Psalm 142 says we can tell God everything. There is nothing He doesn’t already know, so why not talk to Him about it? You may say, ‘if God knows everything, then why should I also have to tell Him?’ I would tell you, because He wants to hear from you.

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14 (NKJV)

“I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.” Psalm 142:2 (NLT, emphasis is mine)

Psalm 107:28-30 (NLT) reminds us of the power which is in prayer:

            “LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into the harbor!” So, He also guides people to their desired haven.

We can rest assured that, when we pray, when we talk to God, He does hear us and He answers us. He even proves it in His Word again, and again.

“I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me. He freed me from all my fears… In my desperation I prayed, and the LORD listened; he saved me from all my troubles.” Psalm 34:4, 6 (NLT)

There is power in prayer!