“The Power of Prayer”

Introduction

One thing that is a part of human nature is something called worrying. Us as people, especially teenagers, worry a lot.

EX: We can worry about grades, about making it to the next grade, about relationships, we worry about fitting in, about failure, and a whole lot of other things. At times, it can seem that we worry so much that we become overwhelmed.

And sometimes worrying can lead to confusion. It can cause us to limit ourselves , it can cause us to doubt our own abilities, but it does not have to be this way, if we can talk to God. We have to understand that even as young people, we can talk to the Lord. We can come to God in faith and know that God will answer. We can tell him how we’re feeling. We can tell him that we’re frustrated, hurt, sick, tired, worried, and I want to encourage you to do this because there is power in prayer. Prayer changes things. In fact, we’re here today because someone was praying for us. There is a power in prayer, and that is what Paul tells us today,

Text Context

Philippians 4 is the last letter that Paul sends to the church in Philippi while he is in jail, which is a major city. The letter is said to be Paul’s most personal and affectionate letter. Paul fills this chapter with wisdom on being cheerful and living in the peace of God.

Paul focuses on rejoicing in the Lord. He tells the church that they should not be anxious about anything, but instead they should pray to the Lord. See, Paul was aware of the hardships that the people were facing. Those who wanted to become Christians were facing all kinds of mistreatment. Those who did not go to church and did not believe in God had a problem with those who did go to church and did believe in God, and Paul was aware of that. So in this chapter and this verse, he tell them not to worry or be discouraged, but to pray and depend on God, and this is the same thing for us even today. We cannot have hearts full of fear or anxiety or worry, but instead we have to pray to God and depend on him, like we know we can. Paul also encourages his readers to focus on things that are good.

The second part of this passage focuses on Paul being thankful for the church. Paul is thankful that the other believers were helping him and were concerned for him. He says that he had learned how to survive in all situations, because he could do all things through Christ, who gives him strength. The Philippians were near and dear to Paul’s heart. They were the only ones who gave him financial help when he was preaching to them about the good news. He then says that he had everything that he needs and more, and it is because of them.

Paul then ends this letter by telling the people to give his greetings to all who belong to God.

Message

In this part of this text we’re in today, Paul gives us the answer to all of our worries, which is prayer. The thing about prayer is that our prayer has to be personal, and sometimes private. Jesus says in Matthew 6:6 that we should not pray to that everybody could see us, but we should go away by ourselves, and pray to God. In essence, he says that we shouldn’t pray out in the open so that people would look at us and we would be the center of attention, but we should pray because we want to have a personal and private prayer life with God.

In the King James Version, Paul says “but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”. This suggests that when we go to God in prayer, we should tell him what we need, but at the same time we should thank him for what he has done. And it’s even the small things. We should thank God for the little things, like waking us up this morning, giving us the activity of our limbs, allowing us to have a roof over our heads, allowing us to have clothes on our back and shoes on our feet, thank him for keeping us. When we go to God in personal prayer, we should first just tell him thank you.

Our prayers should not only be personal and private, but they should be perpetual. They should never end. We should keep praying. Why…because prayer keeps us connected to God, and if we are not plugged into God, how are we able to function?

EX: Phone, iPads, MacBooks, devices need power in order to function. I remember one night before school, I put my phone on this charger. See, I have a charger where it charges my phone, watch, and AirPods all at once. So I put my phone on the charging pad, and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and my phone was dead. I was so confused. The thing is that it was on the pad, but the cord that is connected to the pad, was not fully in the wall. See, the wall outlet is the phone’s main source of power. The reason why my phone didn’t get any power is because it wasn't connected to its source. In order for us to function and get power, we have to stay connected to our power source, which is God, and we do this through prayer.

Even though we may think that we don’t have enough time, we have too many responsibilities, too much work, we just don’t want to. But despite the other things that are going on in our life, God still expects us to pray, because prayer is a way of how we stay connected to God.

And we can pray, have a personal and private prayer life, and talk to Lord about everything because of the power of prayer.

Body of Message

But we ask this question, what is the power of prayer? What makes prayer so special?

Prayer gives us power in difficult times.(v. 6)

The text says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Prayer is the answer for difficult times. Prayer the answer for difficult times because GOD UNDERSTANDS US!

EX: Sometimes when things are happening in our lives, there are times when we are scared to open up about them. At times, we don't want to tell anybody what’s going on, because we are sometimes afraid that they won't get it or they just won’t understand or we just don’t want to tell anybody. But when anybody else doesn’t not understand us, the one person that does is God. When I’m scared or angry or upset and I don’t want to go to my mom or dad about it, I just tell God that i’m scared and that I don’t know what to do. God made you in his form and fashion. God created you, and he knows everything about you. You may be able to hide it from mom and dad and brother and sister and friends, but we cannot hide it from God, because he knows us. He understands us. That’s why prayer is the answer for difficult times.

See, one thing that we have to realize is that nothing is too small for God or too big for him to handle. Don’t think something is to small or too pointless to bring to God in prayer. He cares about everything that is happening. Nothing is too big for God to handle, why…..because GOD IS BIGGER! He’s bigger than your problems, bigger than your issues, bigger than the negativity and the toxicity that is around us. God cares about the big and the small details of our lives.

Prayer gives us power for difficult times. Nehemiah prayed when he was getting bullied, and because of that, he was able to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Daniel prayed when he was in the lion’s den, and because of that, he survived. Jonah prayed when he was in the belly of the whale, and because of that, he was delivered. Peter prayed when he was in jail, and because of that, God sent an angel to free him. Paul and Silas prayed when they were in jail, and because of that, God sent an earthquake that freed them. When we’re in difficult times, we tend to worry, fear, doubt, and become concerned, but when you know that God is bigger, when you know that you can talk to him about anything, when you know that he understands you, you will come to realize that you don’t have to be worried, but you can take courage in the fact that PRAYER IS THE ANSWER! It gives us power for difficult times.

Prayer gives us peace in troubling times.(v. 7)

Verse 7 says, “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

The peace that God gives is beyond our understanding. What does this mean?? What did Paul mean when he said that the peace of God “exceeds anything we can understand”. This is the type of peace that only God can give. The peace that God gives is more powerful and effective for removing your anxiety and your worries and your overwhelming than anything else. Let me break it down: When you’re in a situation nor a challenge, and you should be worried or nervous, but you’re not. You know you have that one class that keeps tripping you up, but you say to yourself “I ain’t worried”. You know you have that one person that will not stop messing with you, but you say to yourself “I ain’t worried”. That is because you have the peace of God.

We might not be able to describe this peace, but see that’s just God’s power and gifts……..indescribable. 2 Corinthians 9:15 says, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” His power and his gifts and his peace is just too wonderful for words. We might not be able to explain it, but we know that the peace of God is a whole ‘nother level of peace.

But notice something friends. Notice in the text, Paul says “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul relates God’s peace to a soldier, it will guard our hearts and minds. We not only have the peace that is there for troubling times, but we have the peace that will protect our hearts and our minds. It protects our hearts and minds from becoming filled with discouragement, anxiety, fear, worry etc.

The peace that comes from God is not the same peace that comes from the world. The world’s peace depends on everything going well. If things are good, then we feel peaceful and everything is good, when things go wrong, we are back to worrying. We shut down. The peace that Jesus gives us is peace for all times. Peace for the good times and the bad times. God gives us peace for all times.

Paul tells us that we shouldn’t worry, but we should pray to God, and when we do, we can have this perfect peace from him.

Peace comes as a result of prayer. When we pray to God about our worries, cares, and concerns, not only does he hear us, but he gives us peace, and that’s a reason to be glad. We don’t have to worry and be afraid, because when we pray, we can have the peace of God. No matter whatever the problem is, we have the peace of God, and because we pray and talk to God, this gives us peace in troubling times.

Prayer gives us protection from the enemy.

We are at war against an enemy. Paul just told the church in Philippians 3:2 to “beware of dogs and of evil doers”. That means the real enemy is not the one bully, it's not that teacher, but the real enemy is the devil. Sometimes, it may seem like this dark cloud is over you, and it is putting a whole damper on your mood. You don’t want to talk to nobody, be fooled with nobody, just put your head down, and not be associated with anybody. Things are happening like family problems, that one class that keeps tripping you up, that one person just won’t leave you alone, etc. But let me tell you why the devil keeps attacking you and why it is some people that don’t like you now: HE SEES THE FAVOR THAT IS ON YOU!

EX: I was scrolling on Instagram on day, and I saw this quote that was posted by Shaquille O’Neal, and it said “They’re not mad at you, they’re mad it’s you.”

EX: Nehemiah, one of my favorite characters in the Bible, wasn’t getting bullied because the two men were mad at him, the two men bullied him because they were mad that he was chosen. That’s why the devil keeps messing with you. That’s why your haters keep messing with you. They see that you have God in you, they see that you’re chosen, they see that you have all of these talents, they see your intelligence, they see your ability to change the world. In fact, the devil look around and he sees young doctors, lawyers, preachers, teachers, scientists, nurses, D1 athletes, etc., and he gets mad because he sees that you are chosen. People are mad at you, uncomfortable around you, talk bad about you, bully you because they see that God has put something on you.

But we have something that will protect us. We have the armor of God. And the thing about this armor is that one of the ways we put it on is by prayer. Prayer provides the ability to put on the armor of God and the power to overcome the enemy. We have to ask God to allow us to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. And when we put this on, we can stand boldly in the face of our enemies. When we know who is greater than our problems, we can stand 10 toes down on the fact that we have somebody who is greater. When we know WHO we are and WHOSE we are, we can stand against our enemies.

We oughta take comfort in the protection that prayer gives us. We will have some haters, we will be attacked, we will be bullied, but the protection that we have doesn’t come from a gun, it doesn’t come from a gang, but it comes from prayer.

Conclusion

So what is the power of prayer. Prayer gives us power in difficult times. It enables us to talk to God about anything, and know that we hear and understand. Prayer gives us peace in troubling times. The peace that we might not be able to understand, but it is the peace that protects our hearts and minds. The peace that is for all times. Prayer gives us protection from the enemy. It allows to out on the full armor of God. And with this armor, we can stand against the enemy and against any challenge or obstacle. That is the power of prayer.