The Power of Prayer [Philippians 4:6-7]

We continue our Power series in Philippians 4:6-8. Last week we looked at the first part of verse 6 and discussed the power of a worry free mind. We saw how the worries of this life can leave us powerless, but that we can live a worry free life by trusting instead of trembling, forgiving instead of fuming, and releasing instead of retaining. The worry-free mind is ready for prayer, the worry-free mind can come to God in faith and expect God to answer. Like James says in we can ask in faith and expect God to answer, not being unstable or double minded. Now whether God answers how we think He should is another topic altogether, we won’t dive into that.

Today’s focus is on the prayer of faith, as one commentator put it, “prayer of faith makes the uplook good, the outlook bright, the inlook favorable and the future glorious.” The Power of Prayer is unlimited because the power of God is unlimited. Let’s look at our text today and see what it offers us in the way of the power of prayer.

Read Philippians 4:6-7

The largest radio receiver on earth is in New Mexico. Pilots call it “the mushroom patch.” Its real name is the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. The “VLA” is a series of 27 huge satellite disks on 28 miles of railways. Together the dishes mimic a single telescope the size of Washington DC.

Astronomers come from all over the world to analyze the optical images of the heavens composed by the VLA from the radio signals it receives from space. Why is such a giant apparatus needed, you may be wondering? Because the radio waves, often emitted from sources millions of light-years away, are very faint. The total energy of all radio waves ever recorded from this barely equals the force of a single snowflake hitting the ground.

As interesting as that is, you know what I find more interesting? The great lengths people will go to in search of a faint message from space even as God has spoken so clearly to us through His Son and His Word! Straining through the eyes of telescopes and the electronic ears of the VLA, they search the infinite darkness for a possible word from somewhere in the universe.

All the while, as 2 Peter 1:19 says, “ we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which we do well to pay attention to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

While God has spoken clearly to us through Christ and the scriptures, God also has, not a VLA but a VLE… “very large ear” that is continuously open to us. God will hear every prayer of His children, even if our prayers are weaker than a snowflake. We see then the importance of prayer, however most statistical studies show a very large percentage of professing Christians spend very little time in prayer. While they will offer a sentence or two throughout the day, rarely spend more than a few minutes in prayer to God.

While it’s easy to make people feel guilty about their lack of prayer, I do not want to do that, but instead I want to encourage you to make prayer a priority, There are many reasons why we should pray.

One prayer is expected of Christians, Jesus said in Matt. 6:5, “and when you pray...” Jesus repeatedly used this language…not if you pray, but when you pray…prayer is expected of the Christian.

Two, God’s word makes it clear that the Christian should pray continually. Colossians 4:2, “continue steadfastly in prayer.”; 1 Thess. 5:17, “pray without ceasing.” Praying without ceasing means you never really stop conversing with God; you simply have frequent interruptions. You may think, “I have too little time, too many responsibilities, too many kids, too much work, too little desire, too little experience…so many excuses keep us from praying. But God gives us seasons of life where priorities change as well as time availability…nevertheless…God expects Christians to pray.

Ask yourself this, “if Jesus needed to pray, then how much more do we need to pray?” We will not be like Jesus without prayer. Yet I hear so often believers say, “I don’t pray like I should.” The reality is the problem is a lack of discipline. You don’t wake up one day a great prayer warrior…prayer is planned and prayer is learned.

Two things to help us to be disciplined to pray:

1. Plan your prayer time. Lack of success in devoting time to prayer is due to the lack of preparation for prayer. Set apart times when you can pray without interruption, if you do intentionally do this you won’t do it. Don’t just wait till I have time to pray…make time to pray. Also plan you’re prayer, write out prayer needs, intercessions, requests, whatever it is you need to bring to God write it down.

2. Learn how to pray. Look at prayers in scripture, use the Psalms for your prayer time, many of the Psalms are written prayers. When you pray God’s word, your in God’s will. And also, read good books on prayer. I posted some great books on prayer..read how believers have prayed and suggestions for prayer. But nothing can teach us to pray as well as just pray. Just pray.

Why should we pray? From our text today three things.

Prayer provides power for difficult times [Philippians 4:6]

Paul says in verse 6, “in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Prayer is God’s remedy for troubling and difficult times. I’ve said it multiple times during this Corona virus pandemic…it is a time for us to pray! There’s power in prayer because through prayer we’re plugged into the power source…God. Your electronic devices need a power source to work, the believers power source is God, and we plug into Him through prayer.

Nothing is to small for God to care about or to big for Him to handle. Don’t think something is to small or insignificant to bring to God in prayer. He cares about every aspect of your life, we don’t hesitate to lift up the cancer to God in prayer, but seldom will we lift up the common cold to God in prayer. God cares for even the minor details of our lives. As we begin to see God answer small prayers we gain confidence in brings things to Him and our prayer life grows.

Just as nothing is to small for God to care about the same is nothing is to big for God to handle. For example, the coronavirus, it’s where we all live right now. Many people ask, and have been asking, what do we do, where do we go from here, when will things get back to normal??? Friends right now it’s this virus, but if it wasn’t this it would be any number of things just waiting to take us down at any moment, heart attack, cancer, natural disaster, or hundreds of other unforeseen things. That’s why I stand on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, that’s a present hope, a hope beyond the grace, a hope during present experiences, a hope that brings power to my life…and it’s through prayer that we’re connected to that power.

Heroes of the faith prayed during tough times. David prayed and the Lord saved him from his troubles [Ps. 34:6, “This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles” this was a Psalm written by David when he was running for his life from King Saul, 1 Samuel 21. Spurgeon said of this passage, “indeed this man was poor and friendless, his life was in great jeopardy, and he cried out to the protector of his people....God delivered and saved David from his troubles…prayer can clear us of troubles as easily as the Lord made a riddance of the frogs and flies of Egypt.”

Daniel prayed and survived the den of lions [Dan. 6] We’re familiar with Daniel’s story, being thrown into the lions den and he prayed and the Lord shut the mouth’s of the lions. The interesting things is he was thrown into the lion’s den for praying. King Darius signed a decree that no one could bow and pray, other than to the king himself, but Daniel continued to pray three times a day in the midst of tough times and persecution.

Jonah prayed and was delivered from the belly of the great fish [Jonah 2]. Jonah was running from what God wanted him to do, so God sent a great fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish where he prayed to God and God delivered him.

Peter prayed in jail and was freed by an angel [Acts 12]. Peter had been thrown in jail for preaching the gospel, Peter prayed and the church prayed… Acts 12:5, “constant prayer was offered to God for Peter by the church.” Peter was freed.

Paul and Silas prayed in prison and were rescued by an earthquake [Acts 16]. Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, everyone in the prison was listening when an earthquake opened the doors and loosed the chains. The guard thought the prisoners escaped so he was going to take his own life when Paul cried out to him, “we’re all still here.” The jailor was saved in that moment.

Prayer provided the power needed for these heroes of the faith, prayer provides us with that same power. Thus, Prayer is vital to everyday life because we need the power to navigate everyday, especially during tough times.

Prayer provides peace in troubled times [Philippians 4:7]

“and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Now there are three dimensions of biblical peace.

That is peace with God comes through faith [Romans 5:1]

The peace of God comes through the power of prayer [Philippians 4:6-7]

Peace on earth will come when Christ returns to reign [Revelation 19-20]

The command Paul gives us in Philippians is “don’t worry about anything.” The method to keep this command is prayer. The solution for worry is prayer…in everything, in every situation, in every circumstance, in any kind of need, instead of worry, we should take our concerns to God. This is done by means of prayer and petition [supplication].

Prayer [Greek proseuche] general prayer; petition or supplication [Greek deesis] request. Such praying should be done along with thanksgiving. Being thankful for the things one has received at God’s hand will contribute to one’s peace of mind for two reasons. One, gratitude itself will tend to displace worry. Another, remembering what God has done before tends to reassure one about how God meets needs.

The peace that God gives is beyond our understanding, experiencing the peace of mind that only faith in God can give…gives us that peace that passes understanding. Peace, true peace with God, the peace of God can not be understood in our natural ability. What Paul is getting at is the peace that God gives is more effective for removing anxiety and worry than any intellectual effort or power or reasoning. The peace of God will keep or guard your hearts and minds…protects. The term he uses for guards is often used in a military context…which leads right into out last point.

Prayer provides protection from attacks of the enemy

Christians are at war with powerful enemies [Eph. 6:11-12] 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Paul reminds us that we are at war against some powerful foes. Principalities and powers means rulers and authorities of darkness…Satan and those under his leadership are our enemies in whom we are at war against. Spiritual hosts of wickedness means powers of evil which work in the unseen order…you get the idea, powerful enemies. To fight powerful enemies we need to be equipped with powerful weapons…and we are.

Paul gives us a list of the armor of God.

The belt of truth: the belt held weapons in place and secured the outer garment. to put on the belt of truth can be understood as arming oneself with the truth of the bible. The truth of God’s word open’s eyes and set’s free.

The breastplate of righteousness: metal armor which protected the torso of a soldier. By comparison, the Christian needs righteousness as spiritual apparel and protection. The idea being believers are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, therefore right conduct, upright character and behavior is one’s defense against spiritual attacks.

The shoes of the gospel of peace: These shoes or sandals are the very foundation the soldier stands on…the gospel itself is that foundation believers stand on… which gives us peace even in the midst of warfare.

The shield of faith: faith is trust or confident reliance on God and His word. Faith is always in one way or another, responding to the word of God. Confidence in God’s word is a resource of strength and protection which protects us from the enemies attacks.

The helmet of salvation: The helmet protected the soldiers head. Christians security is in salvation, the assurance or hope of salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. such confidence helps our doubts.

The sword of the Spirit: which is the word of God. We attack the enemy with the word of God, but we do not wield the sword in our own strength…God’s own Spirit gives us the ability to thrust this sword. By the Spirit-empowered Word of God, we attack Satan’s strongholds, slaying the enemies of God. The word of God brings conviction, then faith. It delivers men from darkness and deception. It exposes error and establishes truth. Helps us resist temptation.

Notice how this armor is put on…by prayer. Prayer provides the ability to put on the armor of God and the power to over come the enemy. [Eph. 6:18] praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Friends, rest daily in the powerful protection prayer provides. We can expect to face difficult days, we will experience troubled times, we will be attacked by the enemy, but prayer provides power for difficult days, peace in troubled times and protection from the enemy.