THE SUPER POWER OF PRAYER
1-20-13 New Liberty Christian Church, Veedersburg, IN with Rich McQuinn
TEXT: MATTHEW 7:7-12
Ask, Seek, Knock
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Does God really answer your prayers? Do you beg, ask for winning numbers of the Lotto, and pray unselfishly for others. Do you pray for your weaknesses, your temptations, and your love for God? Do you challenge Him to give you more time to do His work and win the souls of men before your time is up? Do you pray for your ability to do the finest service you can at your vocation and present a great witness while you are doing it? Are you a prayerful person who prays each day or when you feel like it or like so many of us just when there is a need in your life and you are scared to death?
If you do not know God and talk to Him in the good times, you will have a difficult time knowing Him or talking to Him in the bad needy times.
I have tooooo many examples of answered prayer that I want to share with you today. My thoughts are to encourage you to pray, to pray more often, to believe in prayer, to have a set time to pray, to put more heart into your prayer life. My aim is to help you today to become a tougher but gentler Christian.
Please listen to some of these real and documented stories.
# 1
Bruce Vannatta was married for 17 years. He works of Semi trucks. On 11-16-06
He came to work as usual knowing that he was to finish the work on a transmission that one of his co-workers had begun. Bruce was excited that this was his last day before he was going deer hunting and that was 200 miles away the next day. He finished the work and the driver asked him to check for a leak, not to fix it just to check where it came from.
4000 pound truck had been on a jack for 3 days when Bruce crawled underneath the truck.
Since he had not been working on the truck he assumed the other workers had checked the jack. It wasn’t stable and it made a slight noise and fell on Bruce’s chest. Blood was rushing from his mouth and the full weight of the truck was on his body. In one second he knew this was his time to meet God.
The nearest ambulance was a half hour away, so a call went out to a first responder who was just minutes from the shop. The first responder could see instantly that this man was dead or soon to be dead. They rejacked up the truck and pulled Bruce out. He was not conscious but could feel himself praying to God to protect his family. He saw himself on the ceiling looking down on himself. He began having a conversation with God. Lord please help the man laying there. He saw Angels and could feel peace and quietness. Just then the dead mans body began coughing and talking and Bruce said his spirit returned to his body. 5 major arteries had been severed, major organs had been crushed. No hope to live through the night. Daddy was not going to come home.
In Mountain View Memorial Hospital he laid there dying. Again, in the spirit he could feel himself praying to God to save him and send him back to his family.
He woke up 10 days later. Several operations were preformed to put him back together.
In one year he had lost 100 pounds and it was because his small intestine had died and he now had a year to live at the most. He was back in the hospital wresting with God. Why did you save me, why send the angels to help me if I only have one year to live? I believe in you and I know that my purpose is to raise my children. A Chaplain came into the room and put his hand on his head and prayed. Bruce felt the electricity of the prayer go through his body and his spirit told him it was God working a miracle on him just as he had asked. Of course he lived and is still very much alive in Wisconsin………..
Our text tells us to ASK. Don’t be bashful. He wants to hear your hearts. He loves you and loves the moments YOU spend with Him. What ever you ask, believing, in MY NAME it shall be granted. It takes real faith to believe that statement. No fake jobs here, the real person who is seeking God and spending time with Him, shall receive His blessings.
#2
Emilia Shelt was having breakfast as usual on a school morning in March of 2001 in a small town in Alabama. She was a young 3rd grader who enjoyed going to school. Heather, Emilia’s mom turned on the TV to get the forecast. It was to be rainy with a severe weather warning for this small town. Heather told her little girl that she was not going to school that day and instead would be going to Grandma Carol’s house. Why? She asked of her mama. Because I love you and I want you safe in case there is a storm. I will be ok mama, remember Jesus loves me and will take care of all of us. How very important that testimony was from a sweet 8 year old girl. Emilia was delivered to grandma’s house and mom went on to work.
A half day went by and grandma and granddaughter were having fun with some projects, when Heather called her mom to tell her that a tornado had been spotted and it was coming their way. Mom you have 8 minutes, but in reality it was just 4 minutes. Carol went to the front door and opened it to see a monster of a storm swirling right for her house. The noise was tremendous. She cried out to God, What do I do, where do you want me to go to protect this little girl. A voice came within her to tell her to immediately go to the hallway and get down. She protected her granddaughter with her own body and tried to shelter her from any harm. Emilia could sense the danger and the fear of her grandmother. She prayed instantly to God, for Him to protect her grandmother and to encourage her that all things will be safe and sound. As Carol was covering Emilia and Emilia was praying she could see a bright man standing in the hall way telling me that grandma and I were going to be safe and sound and not a scratch to be placed on us.
200 mph winds descended upon the house. It was destroyed in 5 seconds. The roof caved in, the walls were gone. There was a lot of rain and hail, and the wind was about to take us away when all of a sudden the wind let go of us and we were wet but ok. The hall way was the only part of the house still standing. No roof, but still standing. Grandma, did you see the man who answered my prayer? The house was completely destroyed and was replaced. Valuables were destroyed and replaced. Grandma Carol will never forget that day, not for the tornado, but for answered prayer of hers and that of a little sweet girl.
Suffer the little children to come to me.
All of you who are scared and worried, come to me, I will ease your burdens and give you rest.
# 3
Ron DeFransico had just moved from Toronto, Canada to a new job in New York City. He and his family were thankful for a new country, new neighbors, new job and more security. Things were going perfect. The day was blue skies and little wind. A simply clear beautiful day. Ron was at his job early that day and eager to do his work honestly and with purpose. He was a servant of God Almighty and he gave credit to Him when ever the timing was right. It was 8 o’clock in the morning on the 84th floor of the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.
Every one of us knows exactly where we were on that day and time.
Ron was on the phone talking to clients when he heard a loud boom at 8:28 AM. The first of two planes to hit the twin towers. He started to go down stairs but waited and sat back down and continued to work. He did not know, really, about terrorist and about the bombing of that same building several years before this date. Over the intercom came the announcement that a small plane had hit the tower and everything was alright. People were coming back up the stairs. Ron called his wife, Mary, to let her know that he was alright. But she screamed at him to Get OUT NOW before it was too late. He immediately left his desk at 9:00 only to be knocked to the floor by another passenger plane smashing into his building. Had he been sitting at his desk he would have been killed instantly.
The smoke was everywhere. The heat was extreme and the air was hard to breathe. He made his way by himself to the stairway and began to descend only to be met with people coming back up the stairs. They told him to turn around and go back up, that there was fire everywhere and he would surely die. They all climbed as far as they could above the spot where the plane and crashed and there was no place to go. They hid in a stairwell. Many went to sleep waiting to be rescued. Ron was praying unselfishly for his wife Mary and their children to have faith and endurance. Ron did not think he would last more than 5 more minutes.
He prayed for assistance. There wasn’t anything else he could do. Lord I am in your hands. I am either going to be with you, and that is ok, or you and I are going to get out of here. Please show me the way. Immediately through the smoke and heat he saw a shadow and heard a voice to follow. He followed the shadow until there was a wall of fire. He stopped and the shadowed person said to him again to follow. Ron put up his suit coat and ran into the burning flames, clear through the tower to the other side to get down that other stair way.
After the building collapsed and he was found and taken to the hospital did we know that Ron was only one of 4 people that survived above the site where the plane struck. He was burnt over 80% of his body and was in a coma for 3 days and spent 2 weeks in the hospital. When he awoke Mary was by his side. He thanked her for telling him to GET OUT NOW and how it saved his life along with the power of God. He shared with his wife, that all he could remember was the loud boom, the fire and the nice shadow of a man who told him to follow. He said that while he was in a coma he could feel the presence of God and that his own spirit was talking to God in his behalf.
Ron is still in New York, in a different building and still witnessing for the Lord.
When you are down and out and you can’t seem to pray, the spirit of God who lives inside you will pray for you. Now that is a miracle!
Intercessory prayer is when you unselfishly pray deeply for those who do not know to pray, do not know how to pray, or are in such a state of harm that they can not pray for themselves. Jesus prayed for Peter even when Peter deigns Jesus three times.
You get this?
If you can’t pray, Jesus will be praying for you. God’s SPIRIT that is given to every believer in Christ will be in prayer for YOU.
You have to have a Saviour or you won’t have a chance in this world or the next. What are you waiting on? Now is the time to quit putting off your decision to come and follow Jesus. He only wants you to take the first step toward Him.
Do you believe in prayer? Do you believe that prayer is answered?
When you are all alone, naked so to speak, down on your luck and your friends and family have forsaken you and you turn to the last person and say to Him, you have made a mess of your life, you have nothing to offer Him, you do not deserve any blessings or attention or even that your prayer should even be listened to, then…………….that is when He can do the most good for you.
Please get down on your knees, humble yourself in the eyes of the Lord and stand back and watch.
Pray without ceasing
AMEN AND AMEN
