PRAY BIG THINGS (week 2)

A HOUSE OF PRAYER

Mark 11:15–17 “And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.””

“Prayer is the key that unlocks all the storehouses of God’s infinite grace and power. All God is, and ….has, is at the disposal of prayer. Prayer can do anything that God can do, and as God can do anything, prayer is omnipotent.”

Prayer can do what political action cannot, what education cannot, what military might cannot, and what planning committees cannot. All these are impotent by comparison.

Prayer can move mountains. It can change human hearts, families, neighbourhoods, cities, nations, and churches. I feel that the biggest weakness in this country is the church, but let’s not get started on that> Prayer is the ultimate source of power, because it is the power of Almighty God.

This power is available to the humblest Christian.

It was a man “just like us” who prayed “that it would not rain”, and God stopped the rain in Israel for three and a half years. Where will the power of your prayers be felt today?

Yes, prayer does make a difference. As James 5:16 tells us, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. “

C. Samuel Storms (in Reaching God’s Ear) “ Prayer in and of itself possesses no power.” However, “Prayer is powerful because God is powerful, and prayer is the means through which that divine power is released and channelled into our lives.” In other words, all the power in prayer is really God’s power activated by prayer.

So when you pray for another person, there is nothing that flows from you to them – no vibes, no force, no energy.

Instead, your prayers go heavenward, and the power of God moves from Him to the ones you pray for.

When the Scriptures say that “prayer is ….powerful and effective”, it means that God acts powerfully and effectively through the prayers of His people.

Prayer is the instrument by which God has chosen to have His power directed in the universe. Ole Hallesby (in Prayer) provides something of a mental picture of how this works: “This power is so rich and so mobile that all we have to do when we pray is to point to the persons or things to which we desire to have this power applied, and He, the Lord of this power, will direct the necessary power to the desired place.” Isn’t that amazing! – God partnering with human beings to accomplish His purposes!

Colossians 4:2–4 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.”