003 The power of Prayer Lk. 11:8-13
003 The power of Prayer
Ten Men In A Row
Back of our home in the Philippines during World War II was the place where the Japanese tortured and killed their victims. We could hear the screams of the tortured day and night. They liked to throw the babies in the air and catch them on the point of a sword, and the things they devised to torture adults were unthinkable.
Twice my father had been taken by enemy officers and had been returned to us as a result of my mother’s prayers.
The third time the officer said, “He has been returned to you two times—but don’t you ever think he will be spared the third time. This time he dies.”
“If you don’t believe in prayer, get out of here,” Mother told him.
The officer left, taking my father with him.
Mother put us five children to bed on our grass mats. Then she began her prayer vigil in behalf of our father. At four a.m., she woke us saying, “The burden has become so heavy I cannot bear it alone. Get up and help me pray for your father.”
We gathered in a circle around Mother, with the two-month-old baby on the floor in the centre. While we were praying we heard footsteps. We were sure the officer was coming for us, and Mother threw her arms around us as far as she could reach.
Suddenly she said, “Those are your father’s footsteps!”
“Are you safe?” he asked, pulling the bamboo door back. We lit the lamp and saw his white shirt splattered with blood from those who had stood near him.
“I understand now why they let me go,” he said soberly. “You were praying.”
He told us that he had been the last in a row of ten men. A man had gone down the row, slashing off the heads of each with a sword.
“He raised his sword when he came to me, and just as he was ready to bring it down the officer in charge suddenly screamed, “Stop!” Then that officer roared at me, “Go home. Quick, get out of here. Go home.”
“Then he dived at me, grabbed my arm and propelled me toward the gate and past the guard as fast as he could—and here I am.”
That had been what was happening at the time Mother was so burdened that she got us up to pray.
We do not know what the officer experienced to make him change the order—but we do know why.
One Sunday night in April 1912, an American woman was very weary, yet could not sleep because of an oppression of fear. At last she felt a burden of prayer, and with tremendous earnestness began to pray for her husband then in mid-Atlantic, homeward-bound on the Titanic. As the hours went by she could get no assurance, and kept on praying in an agony, until about five o’clock in the morning when a great peace possessed her, and she slept.
Meanwhile her husband, Colonel Gracie, was among the doomed hundreds who were trying frantically to launch the lifeboats from the great ship whose vitals had been torn out by an iceberg. He had given up all hope of being saved himself, and was doing his best to help the women and children. He wished that he could get a last message through to his wife, and cried from his heart, “Good-by, my darling.” Then as the ship plunged to her watery grave, he was sucked down in the giant whirlpool. Instinctively he began to swim under water, ice-cold as it was, crying in his heart.
Suddenly he came to the surface and found himself near an overturned lifeboat. Along with several others he climbed aboard, and was picked up by another lifeboat, about five in the morning, the very time that peace came to his praying wife! Supplication! The prayer that will not take No for an answer, that storms the battlements of Heaven, and brings confusion and defeat to all the powers of hell, even death itself!
Tavern Keeper Believed That Prayer
The story is told of a small town in which there were no liquor stores. Eventually, however, a nightclub was built right on Main Street. Members of one of the churches in the area were so disturbed that they conducted several all-night prayer meetings, and asked the Lord to burn down that den of iniquity. Lightning struck the tavern a short time later, and it was completely destroyed by fire.
The owner, knowing how the church people had prayed, sued them for the damages. His attorney claimed that their prayers had caused the loss. The congregation, on the other hand, hired a lawyer and fought the charges. After much deliberation the judge declared, “It’s the opinion of this court that wherever the guilt may lie, the tavern keeper is the one who really believes in prayer while the church members do not!”
1. The Bible makes great claims for the power of prayer.
a. Abraham prayed and God healed Abimelech.
b. Hannah prayed and she received a child.
c. Elijah prayed and it did not rain.
d. Hezekiah prayed and his life was extended fifteen years
e. The disciples prayed and Peter was released from prison.
how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?