Praying With Power

1. JOKE. I heard about one minister who went to an attorney because there was some issue between his church and the city. After explaining the problem to the attorney, the Pastor asked how much it would cost to hire his services. The price the attorney named was exorbitant. The Pastor, after thinking said,

"Thank you, sir, but I believe I’ll just pray this one through."

2. Paul told us that “we wrestle NOT against principalities and powers, but against the forces of evil in high places.” Instead of depending on earthly resources for help, why don’t we go to our Heavenly Resource – God? What we really need is to pray through!

3. When we receive an answer from God, we still must persevere. The writer of Hebrews said, “You have need of patience that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise” (10:36). We need to do like the 10 lepers who, though NOT YET healed, began walking to the priests as if they had been healed. And “as they went,” trusting in God, they WERE healed.

4. The Bible says, “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed...Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead...and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised” Rom. 4:18-21.

5. When God created the universe, He “called those things that be not as though they were” Rom. 4:17. Once we have prayed through and touched the hem of His garment, it still remains that we hold fast and wait until the promise arrives.

6. You may feel unworthy, but IT’S AN HONOR FOR GOD TO GIVE LARGE GIFTS! Once when Caesar Augustus had bestowed a princely gift upon one whom he especially wished to honor, the recipient was so overcome with the gift’s magnitude that he exclaimed, “This is too great a gift for me to receive!” Caesar answered, “But it’s not too great a gift for me to give!” He was pleased with his own bounty [Paul Tan, Encyclo. Of 7700 Illus., # 2053].

B. ILLUS.: GOD REBUKED MOTHER IN A DREAM IN ANSWER TO PRAYER

1. A young Chinese man, Ling Wei, felt called by God to be an evangelist. His heart was burning with love for God and a desire for the salvation of his people. But his mother wasn’t a Christian and often persecuted him.

2. One night on his return home she met him at the door and told him that he could not go to church anymore & threatened him with severe punishments if he opposed her (in that culture, you can’t defy your parent’s wishes).

3. Poor Ling Wei was in trouble. He went to his room and lay down on his hard mat. "What shall I do?" he moaned. "My pastor will think I’ve gone back to my idols if I don’t go to church." Just then the door opened and Cheng, his friend in Christ, entered. "Why, what is the matter, Ling Wei?" he whispered. "You look so sad." "I am sad," Ling Wei answered. "My mother has told me I must give up the Jesus religion and she’s hidden my clothes so I cannot go to church tomorrow!"