The Power of Prayer...

Matthew 18:20

"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Mark 11:24

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

If we truly understood the power of prayer, we would be on our knees 24/7 praying and reaping the consequences. We can pray to the Father anywhere and anytime, and as long as we are sincere and we are not asking for things out of selfishness, God will give us the desires of our hearts.

James 4:2-3 "You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."

Matthew 6:5-8 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."

Jeremiah 33:2-3 "This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it - the LORD is his name: "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

After we pray, we need to trust God and wait patiently for His response. God's timing is not the same as ours; His timing is always perfect! See what the angel told Daniel after he prayed:

Daniel 10:10-12 "... then a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, "Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you." And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come."

Satan wants us to believe that God does not hear our prayers, does not care or love us. But it's Satan who wants to steal our joy, kill our hope and destroy our relationship with Jesus. When we wait long enough and our prayers do not get answered, we start doubting God and we distance ourselves from Him. Precisely what the devil wants! He wants to destroy our trust in God! During that period of delay, we should not get angry with God; instead, we should continue to pray and we should rebuke doubt and unbelief in Jesus name.

God knows what we need before even we ask Him, but when we ask Him through prayers, He rejoices to know that we are fully depending on Him. Our faith, obedience and trust in God always brings Him honor and glory.

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

John 14:12-14 "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

If we truly believe in Jesus with all our heart, mind and soul, what's to stop us from doing the miracles that Jesus and His disciples did in the Bible days? All we need is a little bit of faith! Jesus said, if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains.

With true faith and obedience, we can carry on His mission until His glorious return. God wants us to go to Him with all our needs. Wouldn't we want the same from our children? We want them to come to us whenever they need something because they know they can trust us and they can depend on us, but most of all they know we love them.

Matthew 7:7-11 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"'

Don't let the enemy, who comes in the form of many different things, deceive you into unbelief. Our afflictions in this world are for a short period. We need to look above and beyond our earthly circumstances. God says to store up our treasures in heaven. We only see the things of this world which are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

We need to build a strong and honest relationship with the Lord before it's too late. We cannot say "I'll start praying tomorrow" or "I'll give my life to Jesus when I get older." Today should be the day of our salvation because we don't know how long we have on this earth and tomorrow belongs to the Lord!

Matthew 25:13 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 "...therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For momentary light troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Hebrews 13:5 "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

God has not changed. God of the Bible is the same yesterday and today! We focus too much on earthly success and status and become arrogant or self-righteous. Our fame, financial security and material possessions give us false sense of security and we somehow forget about our Maker; the Creator of all good things.

When we pray and we don't hear from God, we give up too quick and turn to worldly sources for quick answers and we start losing our faith and give up on God althogether. Some turn to horoscopes, visit physics or get involved in witchcraft. The devil is not stupid! As a matter of fact, he knows very well who God is and that Jesus is the only way to God. He also knows about us to give just enough information to these entities so they can mislead us and destroy our faith.

These entities may give us instant answers to make us believe they know the future. Slowly, we start depending more and more on these sources and denounce our God. However, we need to remind ourselves that only God knows our future and only God should be our source. And in order to do that, we need to be praying constantly so we can strengthen our relationship with God. God's silence to our prayers does not mean He doesn't care or doesn't love us. Of course sometimes His delay could be because we are still sinning and we are not aligned with His will, but if that's not the case, then God is waiting for the 'perfect time' to answer our prayers because He loves us and knows what's best for us. God's timing never fails!

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you."

Isaiah 45:6 "I am the Lord and there is no other".

We need to rely on God at all times. He is Jehovah Jireh; our Provider! Prayer refreshes, restores and energizes us. Prayer also keeps us in close relationship with God. Prayer gives us confidence to face anything that comes our way and it takes away our anxieties and fears.

Psalm 91:4 "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."

If necessary, God will move heaven and earth to show us His will and He assumes full responsibility for our needs as long as we are obedient to Him. Here's a story about what God does when we pray:

It was a week before Christmas when I decided to drive to the mall during my lunch hour to buy a couple of presents. After I finished shopping and was trying to get out of the parking lot, I found myself stuck behind a line of non-moving cars. People were honking, gesturing obscenities with their hands and getting real impatient. We watched 3 green lights come and go and still not moving. It was obvious that there was either a car accident or some construction work ahead of us. Instead of getting frustrated, I decided to turn on a contemporary Christian radio station to listen to uplifting songs. I also mumbled a prayer "Please God, let me get to work safe and sound and don't let me be too late."

Finally at the 4th geen light, the cars started moving slowly at which time it had also started raining and traffic was turning to a big mess. I was trying to make a U-turn under a very busy overpass when my car started skidding. I got very scared and said a quick prayer "Jesus, please help me", then I let go of the steering wheel and took my foot off the brake. My car made 360 degree turn and stopped facing in the direction I wanted to go. I was very shaken and my heart was beating so fast that I thought I was going to pass out. I was wondering how much damage I had caused. However, when I looked around, I noticed I was the only car under there and had not hit anything. I was expecting the worst and here I was sitting in my car without a single scratch. It puzzled me as I thought "this is lunch time and this road gets very busy, how come there are no other cars here?" I looked around again just to make sure, but there were no damages.

On my way back to work is when it dawned on me that this was the hand of God. He knew what was ahead and He delayed my exit at the mall to create the perfect timing so no one would be under the overpass when my car started skidding. My little prayers made the difference! Heaven reacts when we pray! My God had turned what would have been an ugly, messy and even fatal situation to a minor incident. What a great God we serve! I took a moment to thank my God and give Him all the glory and honor. I had never been so scared, but my Father was right there with me protecting and watching over me. Some people may read this and say "it was just a coincidence", but I know better! I don't believe in coincidence - I believe in devine interventions!

Philippians 4:6 "Do not be anxious over anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Isaiah 55:6-9 "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

We need to pray constantly. No matter how busy we are, we need to make time to pray! God should be our #1 focus throughout the day! When we have a genuine relationship with the Lord, we will wake up thinking about Jesus and we will go to bed thinking about Jesus. And when we do that, we will experience the most restful and peaceful sleep we've ever had.

2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Jesus said "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart - I have overcome the world." Jesus has the Victory already! Therefore, until that glorious day of His second coming, we need to stand vigilant in the fight for Truth by being obedient to His Word and by praying constantly - not just praying for ourselves and our loved ones, but also for our country, government officials, our soldiers, neighbors, friends, co-workers and even our enemies! And when we pray and do it in Christ-like love, then God will do His part to bless us above and beyond our expectations!

God Bless,
Lucine