Prayer No:3 (the power of prayer)

By Odon Bulamba (summary only - 2nd September 05)

Many people who serve God can organize an evangelism crusade and when they pray you will see miracles e.g. healings. We are also able to change situations through prayer the only difference between them and us is that they have the gift of miracles. When they pray you are healed immediately whereas for us, when we pray you are healed slowly.

If you want a situation to change you must first have a purpose, e.g. I want people to know how powerful You are God.

The power of prayer is always fought by the spirit of doubt, e.g. Ang prays for something and later she thinks, will it really happen. A lack of faith decreases the power of prayer.

James 5:16-18, first we are called to repent and after repenting we become righteous and that will give us access to God. Repentance is very important especially for those who want to feel God’s presence in their lives.

Mathew 17:20, after repenting you become righteous and when you pray with even a little faith, nothing will be impossible.

II Corinthians 10:4-5, the weapon we use is powerful and can change situations without us seeing, it comes from God and is very powerful; this weapon is prayer. The first thing we destroy with our prayer is fortresses (strongholds).

Fortresses are something hard to remove and impossible and can never be changed but through our prayer it can. The second thing prayer can do is to destroy arguments. Some people have that gift to argue, in every situation they must raise up arguments and no one can heal you from that. Only the power of prayer can do that (and if there is no power in the prayer then it will be impossible). The third thing is to make ‘every thought captive and make it obedient to God’. Bad thoughts are changed to thoughts that glorify God, e.g. I used to hate but now I love.

Ephesians 6:18, ask for God’s help, ask for the Holy Spirit to guide you and teach you how to pray. Sometimes we forget to pray with the Holy Spirit, e.g. when blessing the food. Once the Holy Spirit guides you, you will be victorious.

I John 5:14, 15, we have assurance that He is listening to us. If your prayer matches God’s will, it will be immediately responded to. God responds according to what is good for us and what is coming in the future. He knows if He responds to this right now, somewhere in the future there will be a problem. We have to be ready to accept God’s answer and if God doesn’t answer, don’t give up your faith or become angry.

If you want your prayer to be really powerful you have to be humble and accept God’s help. Tell God, ‘I’m here waiting, I have no where else I can go to get help, I’m sure you are listening to me.’

Mathew 6:7,8, you don’t have to use lots of words with perfect grammar like a speech. Many people use perfect grammar to impress others but these types of prayers do not glorify God but your self. We have to pray in a simple way. We also have to pray according to time; think of others. If you pray a long time (e.g. grace) people will become impatient and love will not exist anymore and they will lose their joy.

Psalm 107:28-30, when things are heavy, call upon God and He’ll do something. Behind every form of danger we can see death and when we cross such situations we must call upon God to intervene. Because God loves (even adores) glory, He’ll intervene so we will testify of God’s greatness and He’ll be proud of Himself.

Philippians 4:6-7, we don’t need to worry. When we are praying we are allowed to ask for everything (except evil things) and we must be thankful to God for all that He has done.

Psalm 6:9,10, When you cross hard situations, put panic aside and turn to God and you’ll see how your enemy will be ashamed.

SUMMARY

1. You must have a purpose for praying
2. You must pray with faith
3. You must repent
4. You must ask for God’s help and for the Holy Spirit to lead you (be humble)
5. Be assured He is listening
6. Pray simply (not with lots of words or to impress others)
7. Pray according to the time