The Power of Prayer

I believe it is time I begin a series of messages concerning prayer. Churches, the world over, are talking about revival. But Church history tells us that there is no revival without Christians praying for revival.

Jesus said to His disciples, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7, NKJV, emphasis added).

The Amplified Bible says, "If you live in Me - abide vitally united to Me - and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will and it shall be done to you" (Emphasis added).

The phrase "shall be done" in Greek means "shall be created", "shall be ordained", "shall be generated" or "shall be performed".

Before you can receive this incredicble promise of God, you have to meet the two conditions given by Jesus. For example if you desires a revival in your Church you have to do two things:

First, you must abide in Him and secondly, His Word must abide in you. Every member of the Local Church must do this, from Pastors, leaders to the most "insignificant" person sitting in the pew.

How do you abide in the Lord? To abide means you have to make a continuous contact, continuous communion and communication with the Lord. It has to do with prayer. It is impossible to communicate with Jesus without prayer.

How to have His words abide in you? you must study His Words; you must put Bible study as the top priority in your life. And you must also apply His words in your daily living without compromise. Notice also that if His words abide in you, you will always pray according to the will of God.

The above two statements, abide in Him and have His words abide in us, are fundamentals to a successful Christian life. If you have a consistent prayer life, in constant presence of the Lord, and maintain an understanding of the Scripture, Jesus said, you can ask whatever you will and it shall be done unto you.

However, the above Scriptures have not been fully explored because we find it difficult to constantly abiding in Him. I believe the only person ever have explored to the fullest is the Lord Jesus. The secret of His Power comes from the fact that He was in constant unbroken communion with the Father.

The blessings of prayer

All of us desire a revival visitation of the Lord to our family, to our Church and to our nation so that the Lord can raise up God-fearing matured Christians. The answer to our desire for revival is not in the preaching of powerful sermons, not in Bible schools, not in better programs. The answer is closer relationship between us and the Lord. Where that relationship is unbroken but continuous, there is a release of Holy Ghost power to give us victory over all circumstances and situations in our life. The Bible is full of wonderful results and blessings that come from prayer - prayed according to the will of God (1 John 5:14, 15).

Think of the tremendous blessing when Joshua fought against the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8 - 10). Moses stood on top of a hill and as long as his hands were raised (an aspect of prayer) Joshua won the battle. But the moment when Moses got weary and let down his hands, Amalek prevailed. and so Aaron and Hur supported Moses' hands until Israel defeated the Amalekites.

Think of the amazing prayer of king Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:6 - 12) when the enemies were coming against him and out numbered him more that 10 to 1. When Jehoshaphat sent out singers to praise and worship the Lord, God wonderfully stepped in and set ambushes against the enemies.

You should read the tremendous effective prayer and intercession of Nehemiah (Neh. 1:4 - 11). His prayer consists of confession of individual and national sins and pleading that God would remember His promises of mercy upon His people turning to Him. You should also read the prayers of Daniel and Esther.

The power of prayer

Prayer is an incredible powerful force from the human mind led by the human spirit. When you pray according to the will of God, you can touch the hands of God. It has been said by many prayerful men-of-God that the thoughts of men speak louder in heaven than the shouts of men on earth.

Revival and prayer

There can be no revival without prayer. Revival is actually the demonstration of the true power of God. Any demonstration of the true power of God must always be associated with prayer and our constant communion with the Lord. It is not just the case of speaking the right words; it is not just the case of positive confession; it is not just the case of doing exactly what Jesus did - laying hand on the sick and command the sickness to leave. There has to be a fervent prayer behind every case of those things in order for God to get the glory! And because there is a price to pay to get that kind of power, we are inclined to find easy ways out, like substituting the genuine power of God with psychology and the gimmicks of men. God will not be glorified in this way and any revival must glorify God.


Proverbs concerning today's complacent prayer-less Church


No man is greater than his prayer life. A man with a great prayer life is a great man. A sinning man will stop praying and the praying man will stop sinning. The secret of praying is praying in secret. A Pastor who is not praying is playing; the people who are not praying are straying.


We have too many organizers but few agonizers; we have many players and many payers but few prayers. We have many singers but few clingers; we have many Pastors but few wrestlers. We have many fears but few tears; we have many interferers but few intercessors. We have many actors but few fighters; we have many volunteers but few overcomers!

Shouldn't we set our house in order first, before we even think of revival?


Praying without ceasing


In the Old Testament we find David and Daniel prayed 3 times a day:


Concerning Daniel - "And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and give thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days" (Daniel 6:10).


Concerning David - "Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice" (Ps. 55:17).


The New Testamnet, however, teaches that Christians should not just have a quiet time now and then, should not just pray 3 times or more a day, but teaches that Christians should pray without ceasing!


"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thess. 5:17, emphasis added).


"... rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer" (Romans 12:12, emphasis added).


"Then He (Jesus) spoke a parable to them (disciples), that men always ought to pray and not lose heart" (Luke 18:1, emphasis added).


When the Bible makes statements like that, we can be sure that praying without ceasing is not such a demanding exercise that it is impossible to achieve. Furthermore, to pray without ceasing is the will of God! We should note that prayer does not mean that we have to kneel, does not mean that we have to stand, seated, close eyes, open eyes, and so on. Payer is an attitude. It is very much like breathing or the beating of our hearts - unceasingly, constantly and continuingly. We can therefore pray anytime and anywhere even while doing other things. We can pray while walking, running, driving a car, having a shower and so on. When we are doing other things, our spirit prays.


We need to be conscious of the Christ within us - the Holy Spirit, the second Person of the Godhead, taking the place of Jesus in our heart (our spirit).


Paul talked about the "inner man" (Eph. 3:16 - 21), and "Christ is formed" in us (Gal. 4:19), and "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). And as we have seen earlier, Jesus talked about "If you abide in Me" (John 15:7) which means constant and continuous communication with Him.


That is the reason when we pray we don't have to shout or scream to get God's attention. That is the reason why baptism in the Holy Spirit is so important. Among other benefits, it gives us the consciousness of our inner man where Christ dwells.


Ways of praying


There are many ways we can pray or communicate with the Lord - let me mention just a few:


1. Silent mental communication - indication of a sorrowful spirit. Hannah's prayer is a good example:


"Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk" (1 Sam. 1:13).


Hannah said, "I am a woman of sorrowful spirit, I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord" (1 Sam. 1:15).


2. Praying (or singing) with understanding - common tye of prayer. Paul said, "I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding" (1 Cor. 14:15).


3. Praying (or singing) with the spirit - or praying in tongue. Paul said, "For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful" (1 Cor. 13:14).


You pray in tongues whenever you don't know how to pray because you don't know what the problem you are facing. For example, when you are asked to pray for a very sick and old person and you don't know whether you should pray for healing (or deliverance) or pray that the Lord would take him home. There is release in your spirit when you pray in tongues as you pray according to the will of God.


4. Groaning in the spirit - we groan within our spirit when we fell despondent and depressed seeing the seemingly hopeless circumstances and situation around us. We cry out to the Lord from our inner man. Paul said we "groan within ourselves" eagerly waiting for the redemption of our body (Romans 8:23).


When Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus He "groaned in the spirit and was troubled" (John 11:33). It was not because He could not raise Lazaruos from the dead, but because of his compassion for him and for his sisters, Mary and Martha.

5. Praying with tears -sometimes tears do move the hands of God. God heard the prayer of Hezekiah and saw his tears and added 15 years to his life (Isaiah 38:5).


David prayed with tears in many occasions - Ps. 6:6; Ps. 39:12. And in Ps. 56:8 David cried out to the Lord:


"You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book"?


God has a bottle to hold our tears and a book to record our prayers!


God's Measuring Rod for His Church


We are living in the last of the last days and John was asked by an angel to measure three things - the Temple (God's sancturay), the altar of Incense and the number of worshippers there:


"The I (John) was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, 'Rise and measure the temple of God. the altar, and those who worship there" (Rev. 11:1).


God is putting His measuring rod in the Church today and He is shaking the Church to the very foundation. God is measuring the type of prayers that is coming from the Church at the altar of incense. In Scripture, incense always speaks to us of the prayers and intercession of the saints (believers) which ascent unto God (Ps. 141:2 and Rev. 8:3, 4).



Referring to the Tabernacle of Moses, someone said, "Martin Luther took us to the Brazen Altar; the Baptist took us to the Brazen Laver; the Pentecostals took us to the Golden Candlestick; the mighty moving of the Holy Spirit (Charismatic Churches) brought us to the Goldern Altar of Incense. And God is measuring the prayers of the worshippers at our prayer meetings!


We are now standing at the Altar of Incense, immediately before the Inner Veil (or the Second Viel) which leads us to the final move of God - into the Holy of Holies!


There is no easy road in prayer. It start with discipline, and then becomes a duty, and after that it becomes a desire. And if you keep at it, it becomes a delight! How do I know? All because of what Jesus said, "If you abide in Me and My words abide in you ...." (John 15:7)!