The Power of Prayer

Psalm 55:16-19 But I will call on God, and the L ord will rescue me. Morning, noon, and night I cry out in my distress, and the L ord hears my voice. He ransoms me and keeps me safe from the battle waged against me, though many still oppose me. God, who has ruled forever, will hear me and humble them. (NLT)

It seems sometimes in vogue to downplay the power of prayer. I do not mean just from believers but from leadership in the modern American church. I have seen and heard well intended leaders refer to prayer as almost a passing thing; "Of course we tell our congregations to pray, but..."

There is no "but!" Prayer is what moves the heart of God. Instead we can fall for the notion that somehow we play a greater part in the grand design. This may come as blow to some egos, but we do not. The Bible actually warns us:

Trust in the L ord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the L ord and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3: 5-7 (NLT)

If you want to know which direction to go, in anything, the Lord is instructing us here very clearly. We are NOT to depend on our own understanding or be impressed with our own wisdom. What we are supposed to do is seek the will of God in EVERYTHING, trust Him with all our heart, fear the Lord, and turn from evil. Yet we can forget these instructions. The thinking of the world can infiltrate our thinking and we can start rationalizing that God somehow needs our help. Maybe we think He needs our help in spreading morality, representing politics, or judging the lost. We get overly impressed with our own wisdom because we fail to seek His in prayer. The Bible promises us though:

The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:16

Powerful and effective. Want proof? Peter was imprisoned and facing trial. The Bible tells us:

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Acts 12: 5

The result was God sent an angel to Peter to deliver him from his prison cell. In the Old Testament King Jehoshaphat was facing enumerable odds, as multiple countries were advancing against him and Israel. He could have fought through with his own understanding. He could have believed that he had the answer. Instead he prayed to God and God delivered Israel that day. Hanna prayed because she was barren and God answered and she gave birth to Samuel. God had decided that King Hezekiah would die but the King prayed to God and God added 15 years to His life.

Jesus prayed. He prayed all of the time. His prayer life shows the depth that ours needs to be as well. Jesus prayed early:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. - Mark 1:35 NIV

Starting your day with prayer connects your day with God from the beginning. Before the distractions of the world can invade our minds and thinking. Jesus also prayed late:

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. Luke 6:12

Spent the night! We need to stretch the limits of our personal prayer life, not seek to place limitations on it. Jesus also prayed alone:

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. - Luke 5:16 NIV

The prayer closet can be a place of great joy and peace; where you can connect with God without the noise that usually clutters up our lives. Just make sure you don't leave Jesus in the closet because He also prayed corporately with His disciples!

To me, if Jesus did it, that is a good enough reason to do it but there are more reasons than that supporting a robust prayer life. First of all, prayer gives us direct access to God:

In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. Ephesians 3:12

Prayer keeps God near to us:

The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. Psalm 145: 18-19

God knows the correct answer!

We can make our own plans, but the L ord gives the right answer. Proverbs 16:1 (NLT)

Prayer moves God to action!

I will answer them before they even call to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will go ahead and answer their prayers! Isaiah 65:24

Prayer is the secret to peace in our lives:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 6-7

Prayer is the key to finding mercy and grace:

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16

There is no question that prayer is powerful. It is one of the weapons of our warfare, divine in power to the pulling down of strongholds. Yet somehow we can overlook the importance of prayer. We can seek the answers of this world or of our own wisdom before bringing our situations to God Himself. David understood the importance of prayer in our key verses from Psalm 55.

First David understands the fundamental relationship he has with God through prayer. If we call on God, the Lord will rescue us:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. 1John 5: 14-15

Moving through the key verses, we see that David also understands the persistent nature prayer must possess. David says he cries out morning, noon, and night in his distress. Sometimes we can give up too easily in prayer. We operate in our temporal understanding and forget that God is above all time:

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. 2Peter 3: 8-9

The key in these verses is "as some understand slowness." To our finite minds, God may appear to be "slow" in answering but He does not view time the same way. He holds all time in His hands. He is never early and never late. We serve an on-time God. David understood this and cries out to God persistently. Note that he acknowledges that God hears his voice, yet still David prays. We need to emulate David. Our prayer life cannot be hit and run.

Continuing in the key verses we see that David understood that through prayer, God becomes bigger than his circumstances. David acknowledges that many still oppose him. Prayer may not remove all of the enemies or struggles we face but it assures us that He has ransomed us and will protect us. As Christians we have been purchased at a price. Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins and because of it; we now are no longer slaves to this world. We are no longer slaves to the fear of our enemies or the struggles we face. God is bigger than them all. He hears our prayers, will sustain us, and will deliver us. This is the confidence in which David prays.

This is only the tip of the prayer iceberg. God desires relationship, not mere religion. Why? Because religion is a creation of man but relationship is of God. It is religion that can begin to rely on itself and its own understanding and relegate prayer to some abstract idea. Sure we can take real action in our lives, our communities and our country but if it is not undergirded with prayer, we will be trying to accomplish it in our own strength and we will not know if we are even in the perfect will of God.

Prayer is found throughout the Bible. It is the connection between God and His people and still is today. It is more valuable than any ritual of man; any opinions or solutions of this world. God is not some abstract concept in a far away galaxy. He resides within those who believe in Him. He is at our right hand. He is the fourth person in the fiery furnace. He is the sole set of footprints in the sand. When the answers of the world leave you empty and wandering, call out to God and He will lift you up in your time of need. He does not change and He does not move. Pray morning, noon and night beloved. Pray alone and in the congregation. Pray so His peace may rest upon you and so you can find His great grace and mercy. Remember, God knows the correct answer and holds all time in His hands. I leave you with a prayer the Apostle Paul prayed to the church at Ephesus that still applies to us today as believers:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3: 14-21

Amen indeed.

Reverend Anthony Wade November 6, 2009