Three Truths About Powerful Prayer

George Mueller was known for his powerful prayer. In the course of his ministry to the orphans of England, he never asked for financial assistance from men - only God... and he constantly received what was needed to the penny.

Once while on his way to speak in Quebec for a engagement. On the deck of the ship that was to carry him to his destination, he informed the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon.

As the captain related the story, he said "’It is impossible,’ I said. ’Do you know how dense this fog is?’"

"’No,’ he replied, ’my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of life. I have never broken an engagement in 57 years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.’

He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ’As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need for you whatever for you to pray about it.’

"I looked at him and George Mueller said, ’Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 yrs. and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find that the fog has gone.’

"I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement."

Wow! How cool would it be to be a person of prayer like George Mueller was? When we hear of that kind of powerful prayer it seems like results like that are reserved for Heaven’s superheroes. In our text this evening we see Jesus teaching some powerful yet simple things to help us understand and practice powerful prayer.

Importunity Works When A Relationship Doesn’t

Sometimes a need goes beyond normal friendship.

Luke 11:5–8 KJV

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

Sometimes we have not developed an intimacy with God where we feel comfortable expressing some needs.

Importunity bridges the gap of incomplete relationships.

Luke 11:8 KJV

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

(importunity wheel)

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words Importunity

anaidia (or anaideia) (ἀναίδεια, 335), denotes “shamelessness, importunity” (a, negative, n, euphonic, and aidos, “shame, modesty”), and is used in the Lord’s illustration concerning the need of earnestness and perseverance in prayer,

ALWAYS PRAY AND DON’T GIVE UP

Jesus taught that we should “always pray and not give up”

· Not because God is hard of hearing

· Not because God needs to be pestered into answering

our requests

· Not because God doesn’t want to answer us

NO… Jesus taught us always pray and not give up because, when we pray, our prayers carry weight. EVERY TIME you and I pray we unleash more and more power from the throne of God

· Are you praying for someone in your family to become a Christian?

Every prayer you pray puts more and more pressure on that person to listen to God…

· Do you pray for your friends in their daily struggles

Every prayer you pray imparts to them more and more power from God

· Do you have difficulties with someone at work

Every prayer you lift up to God’s throne brings God’s power to bear on difficult people and situations.

Prayer is not a passive act on our part

Prayer is AN AGGRESSIVE, ACTIVE MINISTRY. You are putting your shoulder to the wheel and moving the forces of heaven.

SOURCE: Jeff Strite in "The Power of Persistent Prayer" on www.sermoncentral.com.

Actions Lead to Results

Luke 11:9–10 KJV

And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Ask more than once

Seek in more than one place

Knock more than one timid rap on the door.

"Prayer is surrender-surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boat hook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God."

SOURCE: E. Stanley Jones, in Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome, K Hughes, Tyndale, 1988, p. 73

Daddy Loves You!

Luke 11:11–13 KJV

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Matthew 7:11 KJV

If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

James 1:17 KJV

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

During the height of the Depression, Hill’s real mother, who had five children of her own, didn’t have enough food to go around, so she sent four-year-old Ed to live with a friend in a small country town called Sweet Home. Ed just called her Mama. As he was growing up in Sweet Home, Mama displayed remarkable faith which led her to have big plans for young Ed. Against nearly insurmountable obstacles, Mama helped Ed graduate from high school (the only student to graduate that year from the country school) and even insisted that he go to college.

She took Ed to the bus station, handed him the ticket and five dollars and said, "Now, go off to Prairie View College, and Mama is going to be praying for you." Hill claims that he didn’t know much about prayer, but he knew Mama did. When he arrived at the college with a dollar and ninety cents in his pocket, they told him he needed eighty dollars in cash in order to register. Here’s how Hill describes what happened next:

I got in line...and the devil said to get out of line...but I heard my Mama saying in my ear, "I’ll be praying for you." I stood in line on Mama’s prayer. Soon there was [another new student ahead of me], and I began to get nervous, but I stayed in line...Just about the time [the other student] got all of her stuff and turned away, Dr. Drew touched me on the shoulder, and he said, "Are you Ed Hill?"

I said, "Yes."

"Are you Ed Hill from Sweet Home?"

"Yes."

"Have you paid yet?"

"Not quite."

"We’ve been looking for you all this morning," [he said].

I said, "Well, what do [you] want with me?"

"We have a four-year scholarship that will pay your room and board, your tuition, and give you thirty dollars a month to spend."

And I heard Mama say, "I will be praying for you!"