The Power of Prayer, Faith, and Praise
2 Chronicles 20:4-12
Prayer
Introduction
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.
Prayer is our way of communicating with God. We have a direct phone line to Him and we rarely use that phone line unless we are in a dire situation. But I want to tell you there is power in prayer. Many saints have found that power. Much power comes to those who spend much time in knee work. Charles Spurgeon the great Preacher of the 18th century was once asked how he could deliver such great sermons and his reply was by being on my knees.
Prayer is not something that you do because people expect it of you prayer is something that you do because you want to talk with your father, to have that close personal relationship with Him. Prayer is answered sometimes the answer is no, others it is wait, and still others it is answered powerfully right then. For instance I want to share with you this true story.
50 Christian truckers got together to pray to pray that somehow the
sniper terrorizing the Washington, DC area would be caught. Ron Lantz
would be retiring as a driver in a few days and didn’t even live in the
area, but he felt sure that God would answer their prayers. In fact, he
told the others there that God was going to use him to catch the sniper.
A few days later he was listening to the radio as he was driving again
through the region and felt compelled to pull off the highway to a rest
stop. It was just a couple of miles from where the prayer meeting had
taken place. As he pulled in, he was shocked to see a car similar to
what was being described on the radio right there before his eyes.
Carefully trying to read the license plate, a chill went up his back as
the numbers matched. He quickly called 911 and remained there for what
he said were the longest 15 minutes of his life until the police
arrived. He even pulled his truck across the exit, there would now be no
escape for these elusive murderers. The rest is now history-the snipers
were taken into custody without incident.
Ron’s testimony is being beamed around the world today. It shows the
power of prayer. And in a class act, showing his true character, when
asked what he would do with the award money, he said the half million
dollars would simply be given to the victims’ families.
The snipers killed 10 and wounded 3 around our nation’s capital over a three week period, leaving the entire region in a state of terror. Yet
out of the great darkness has also come a great beam of light as the
world has heard a clear testimony of the power of prayer.
I. When we are beset by problems or temptations what are we to do?
a. We are to turn to God
i. Instead of solving problems ourselves we are to turn to for the answer.
ii. We are to call on God to bear our problems
iii. We are to depend on God to get us through our problems and temptations.
II. How are we to pray
a. We are to pray with faith
b. We are to pray as if it has already happened
c. We are to tell God what we want
d. We are to praise God for what He has already done, what He is about to do and what He will do in the future
e. We are to pray without ceasing.
III. Why are we to pray
a. We are to pray because as Christians we are to be dependent on God. We are to trust Him in all things
i. If we don’t turn to God in pray we come to depend on our selves and we fail. God never fails.
ii. Prayer allows us to communicate with God and develop a personal relationships with Him.
iii. As we talk to God about our problems and temptations we begin to realize that our problems really are not that big when God is handling them.
iv. We pray to praise and honor Him.
IV. Conclusion
a. Yes there is power in Prayer. I believe and the Bible teaches this. For those who believe in the power of prayer, they enjoy a life of triumph and joy. For others who do not believe in the power of prayer they can only suffer through without hope and in fear. I read about a small Oklahoma town that had two churches and one distillery. Members of both churches complained that the distillery was giving the community a bad imagine. And to make matters worse the owner of the distillery was an out spoken atheist. He didn’t believe in God one bit. The church people had tried unsuccessfully for years to shut down the distillery. So finally they decided to hold a joint Saturday night prayer meeting. They were going to ask God to intervene and settle the matter.
The church folks gathered on Saturday night and there was a horrible thunderstorm raging outside and to the delight of the church members lightening hit that old brewery and it burned to the ground.
The next morning the sermons in both churches was on the power of prayer.
But the insurance adjusters promptly notified the distillery owner that they were not going to pay for the damages because the fire was an act of God and that was an exclusion in the policy.
The distillery owner was furious and he sued both churches claiming that they had conspired with God to destroy his business. But the churches denied that they had anything to do with the cause of the fire.
The presiding judge opened the trial with theses words: “ I find one thing in this cause most perplexing-we have a situation here where the plaintiff, an atheist is professing his belief in the power of prayer, and the defendants all faithful church members are denying the very same power.”
b. What about you do you believe in the power of prayer or are you like these church member who deny the power of prayer. If you believe in the power of prayer then I ask that you come forward to the alter and pray for someone who is lost, maybe for someone who has lost his or her way, maybe you know of someone who needs prayer to help them through a tough time. Maybe you are here this morning and you are the lost soul then come forward and pray for salvation come and let me show you the road to heaven. But come and pray for someone today if you believe that God answers your prayers.
