The Prayer Factor Part 2

Prayer is…

 

1.   Entreating Spiritual Power
Someone once said “Prayer is a cannon set at the gates of heaven to burst open its gates.” Now I know we have access anytime to God, but the power of prayer is no more or no less than the mighty power of God released through the life of a man or woman who stops being an obstacle to God.

The power of answered prayer is Gods alone; and that power is unlimited when we believe. I read a story of an elderly widow from the slums of New York who had never ventured far from her home. A person who was told of this woman’s life invited her to spend the weekend at their ocean side cottage. The lady who had never seen all the luxuries was awestruck by the beauty of the location. As the benefactor who invited this lady watched her, she stood and looked overwhelmed by the vast expanse of water and the beautiful surroundings. As she stood there tears began to flow down her cheeks. The benefactor asked her why she was crying. She simply replied, “Because it’s so wonderful to see something there is enough of.”

We can struggle in this area of enough in prayer. It’s not the…can God do it, but the…will God do it. If you have faith to believe in God, you will also believe there will always be enough! God has enough (unlimited) power to use on our behalf, anytime, anyplace, any situation. I’ve had to remind myself that a lot lately. God will never leave us begging when he has more than enough.

Many years ago when I was still single after I had just accepted Christ; I decided to hang with my cousin who was saved and one night her college group rented the gym out to have some fun. They were into volleyball I was into football, and when I realized they were into tackle volleyball, oh ya. One of the guys jumped to spike on me and my elbow accidently put a big gash into this guy’s forehead. Well he ran into my elbow. As he went to the ground and held his head, there was some blood. Like all over the place. So my initial reaction was just to pray. I was still a young Christian and my mentor Tom told me God answered prayer. So I got down and prayed for him. The blood stopped and as I was about to pray for healing, someone said “you don’t think God will actually heal him?” Yes I did.

But that question made me doubt for just a second. The bible tells me God answers prayer. Yes or no, he answers. Men and women throughout time have had to learn to rely and trust God knows what’s best.

Think about Elijah:

Elijah believed God answered prayer. But there was this constant struggle within himself and he even doubted God. In 1 Kings 18:36-38 he stood up in faith to do what God had called him to do…Elijah has prophesied against Ahab & Jezebel and has summoned the people for sacrifice. The people had turned their hearts away from God; Ahab & Jezebel where terrible evil people and rulers. So all the people and the prophets of Baal showed up; if you know the story he taunts the prophets to a dual basically. My God is better than your God type of thing. So Baal prophets build an altar and Elijah watches until about noon, and then begins to challenge them. Why hasn’t Baal answered your prayers yet? So Elijah tells the people to grab twelve stones, he builds an altar with trenches around it, and then tells them to pour water over everything.

In verse 36 he says… “At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: "LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again."

What was Elijah doing? He was entreating God to move with power to change the people’s hearts. The demonstration of power came by the “fire of the Lord. It burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the soil, and the water in the trench.” What a demonstration. Verse 39 says “when all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, the Lord he is God, the Lord he is God.”

We see another example in 1 Samuel 7:9-10, Samuel was offering a sacrifice on behalf of the nation of Israel because the people had assembled to contemplate turning back to God. The people for twenty years had turned their hearts away and worshipped the Ashtoreth’s and was now mourning doing so because they were being attacked again by an enemy; This time the philistines. In verse 9 it says… “Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel's behalf, and the LORD answered him.”

This is important; the only limits to prayer are the limits of God. As far as God goes, prayer goes. More tomorrow...

 

You are Loved!