A clergyman from New
York
His eyes brimming with tears, Mr. Lincoln replied: "But
for those prayers, I should have faltered and perhaps failed long ago. Tell
every father and mother you know to keep on praying, and I will keep on
fighting, for I know God is on our side."
As the clergyman started to leave the room, Mr. Lincoln held
him by the hands and said: "I suppose I may consider this as sort of a
pastoral call?" "Yes,"
replied the clergyman.
"Out in our country," repliedLincoln
"Out in our country," replied
I don’t know how many times “I felt better” in my life after
getting up either from a personal or corporate prayer time! There is something
powerful that happens whenever we come into the closet of prayer, and get hold of
the almighty God. Let me talk about the power of prayer.
In the 21st century we are confronted with
skepticism and godlessness as it was predicted in 2 Tim 3: 1-4, “There will be
terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves…treacherous,
rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure than lovers of God. While skeptics deliberately deny the very
existence of God some politicians deliberate on whether or not to include the
words “God and Jerusalem
Where are the politicians who actively seek God to fix the enormous
problems our country is facing today? Where are the moms and dads who are not
only crying out to God for their own children’s salvation but that of the
emerging generation? Would God only act on behalf of a few people? Or all
people? God is ready to intervene in any situation and on any ones behalf as
long as they acknowledge Him to be powerful and seek his favor.
What does the
word prayer actually mean? Biblical writers used several verbs
for prayer throughout the New Testament. One is Aiteo which means "to want
something, to ask." It means the seeking by the inferior from the
superior, by a beggar from a giver, by the child from the parent.
Within that context Jesus uttered
these words to his disciples. “On that day you will ask in my name.... (John
16:26). In Matt 7:7-8 "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.”
An even stronger verb is “erotao”, which
means to ask or beg. This word was used by the Greek visitors who told Philip, “‘Sir,
we wish to see Jesus' " (John 12:21). In other words “Sir we beg you
please show us Jesus.” Paul used the same word when he prayed about his own
thorn in the flesh. "Three times I appealed (begged) to the Lord about
this..." (2Corinthians 12:8).
Another moving verb for prayer is
the Greek word “krazo” literally means "to cry" and conveys the idea
of crying for help. The Apostle Paul uses this word" And by him we cry
'Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s
Children.” (Romans 8:15, 16). Let this truth deeply sink into you. You are the
son and the daughter of the most powerful God in the universe for whom
absolutely nothing is impossible. What confidence that should give us; to come
boldly into the presence of our loving heavenly Father and tell him all our
desires and difficulties; struggles and challenges, fears and failures. As a
popular song suggests, “give them all to Jesus. Shattered dreams wounded hearts
broken toys. Give them all, give them all give them all to Jesus. And He will
turn your sorrow into joy.
Let me share two biblical and one
real life story where God’s children implored the father in prayer and have
seen the power of God at work in their lives.
I.
WHEN
SURROUNDED BY TROUBLE PRAY TO GOD.( 2 Kings 6:8-23)
The story of Elisha and his servant
Gehazi is a fascinating story. It is a war time story packed with action and
excitement. King Aram was at war with Israel . All his secret plans were
being revealed to the king of Israel
by the Prophet Elisha which annoyed the Arameans to no end. The king sent an
entire army to capture this single prophet of God. A strong army with horses
and chariots came and surrounded the city where Elisha was residing at night.
The next day when the servant got
up he had the shock of his life seeing this vast army. So he ran to the prophet
saying “Alas! My master! What shall we do? He said, “Don’t worry about it”
there are more on our side than on their side.” Elisha knew that there was
greater strength in the unseen reality of the hosts of heaven than in the visible
reality of the Aramean forces. Then Elisha prayed, Vs 16 “O God, open his eyes
and let him see. The eyes of the young man were opened and he saw. A Wonder!
The whole mountain side was full
of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha.” (The Message Bible) In
other words God opened the eyes of his servant to see the protecting power of
the heavenly hosts gathered around Elisha. Little boys, even grown up men would
get a kick out of the idea of flames pouring out of the chariots and huge
horses snorting and rearing to go. They would perhaps also enjoy the way how
Elisha tricked the enemy by asking God to strike them with blindness. But what
is more fascinating for me here is to see the absolute trust and faith Elisha
had in the incredible power of God. He expected God to do great things. He
expected those great accomplishments to bring glory to the Lord almighty.
Have we perhaps forgotten the
mighty power of the one we serve? Have we become timid about asking God
anything out of the ordinary? Let me share a true story of a little boy who
trusted God to do the impossible. This
little boy was suffering from leukemia. His parents lived in the outback of Australia
and he had never seen snow. They planned a holiday with another family near one
of the few mountains that ever received snow. They were all in a cabin on the
mountain. They were really disappointed to arrive without any snow in sight.
Just before bed time the little boy ran out with his toy dump truck and said to
his mother, “I am going to leave this outside tonight as I have asked God to
fill it with snow for tomorrow morning”
All the adults were filled with
dismay and we were trying to think of some way to prepare him for
disappointment in the morning. Probably God smiled at their lack of trust in
him because the next morning our little friend ran straight to the back door
and returned with his truck filled with snow. He was not surprised at all and
the adults had tears in their eyes and marveled at the mighty power of God.”[2] In Job 38: 22 we read, “God stores snow and
hail in storehouses.”
II.WHEN PERSECUTED
FOR YOUR FAITH PRAY TO GOD. (Acts 12:1-17)
Another story of a congregation
earnestly rallied together in prayer for the release of their leader from a prison.
This happened in the early church in the first century. The gospel was
spreading like wildfire in the region of Judea .
King Herod arrested some who belonged to
the Church including the main leader Peter. Peter was kept in prison until
Passover. He was chained to two soldiers and there was heavy security all
around the prison.
What was the congregation doing?
They were praying earnestly for the release of Peter. The scriptures tell us,
that night, suddenly and angel of the Lord appeared and the cell was filled
with bright light. Peter’s chains fell of. The angel lead Peter out of the
prison passing through the first and second guards and when they came to the
iron gate leading to the city, it opened for them by itself. When this was all
happening Peter thought he was perhaps watching a vision, but when the reality
struck him he realized that God had sent an angel and set him free from his
imprisonment.
What a powerful story? This
encourages us when persecuted and put in prison for our faith we must not panic
and loose hope instead pray to God who is powerful to deliver us. This reminds
us to intensify our prayers for the release of the Iranian Pastor Yousef
Nadarkhani; who has been in prison in Iran for the past three years for
the sake of His faith. God not only sets the real prisoners free from jail but
he also sets captives free, those who are bound by Satan through sin. Satan
imprisons those who knowingly and unknowingly follow him. However the
scriptures tell us that Christ came to set us free. If indeed the Son sets you
free you are free indeed.
Here is another 21st, century
story where a whole Church has earnestly prayed for their pastor’s daughter’s
chains to be broken and for her home coming. This was the story of the daughter
of a Pastor of a mega church in New
York . John Cymbala says, “Our oldest daughter,
Chrissy, had been a model child growing up. But around age sixteen she started
to stray.
Chrissy not only drew away from us
but from God and eventually left our home.” While all that was going on Pastor
Cymballa kept preaching, leading the church but was agonizing before God for
their daughter to come back home.
In one of the Tuesday prayer
meetings the whole congregation rallied around the pastor and the family and
earnestly began to cry to the Lord for Chrissy’s home coming. Thirty two hours
later on a Thursday morning, while the pastor was shaving; his wife told him to
go down Chrissy was waiting to see him. He wiped off the shaving foam and
headed down the stairs. In his own words, “My heart was pounding. As I came
around the corner, I saw my daughter on the kitchen floor, rocking on her hands
and knees, sobbing. Cautiously I spoke her name: Chrissy? She grabbed my pant
leg and began pouring out her anguish.
Daddy, Daddy I’ve sinned against God. I’ve sinned against myself. I’ve
sinned against you and Mommy please forgive me…Then she said, Daddy who was
praying for me on Tuesday night…she continued, “in the middle of the night, God
woke me and showed me I was heading toward this abyss. There was no bottom to
it- it scared me to death. I was so frightened. I realized how hard I’ve been,
how wrong, how rebellious. She asked again.. Daddy who was praying for me on
Tuesday Night? We know the answer! [3] The
Church has prevailed in prayer.
The two biblical stories and the story
of Chrissy are real stories that demonstrate the power of prayer. What trouble
are you facing today? Fear not! Cry out to the Lord! He wants you to call on
Him. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will Honor
me. Psalm 50: 15. Therefore 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. (Heb 4:16)Amen.
