Annual Sermons: Vol. 5 No. 8
Text: Heb. 4:16; James 5:16
Concord Baptist Church: 1991 Bob Marcaurelle
Catalog of Sermons and Bible Studies
bmarcaurelle@charter.net
PRAYER’S MIGHTY POWER
Today (January 13, 1991) the armies of the world stand poised for war in what could be a nuclear holocaust of Armageddon. And in the light of it I call you and me to prayer for peace if peace is God’s will.
The most powerful weapon on earth is not found in our nuclear warheads but on our knees. Prayer moves the arm that rules the world. Prayer can do what God can do. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Prayer changes things and prayer changes people.
One hour of prayer can tear down what the devil has been building for years.
All these are quotes on prayer that I pulled from my notebook on prayer and all are true. Somebody summed it up like this. . .
“Prayer is the mightiest power upon
which men can lay hold in time of need.
Moses prayed and Amalek was beaten.
Hannah prayed and Samuel was born
some months later in answer to her
petition. Hezekiah prayed and the and
angel of the Lord slew 185,000 of the
enemies of Israel. Daniel prayed and
the mouths of ferocious, hungry lions
were stopped. Elijah prayed and a
great drought followed. The early
church assembled together and prayed,
and Peter was released from his jail cell
by an angel. Paul and Silas prayed and
the doors of the dungeon where they
were imprisoned were shaken open.
Prayer has divided seas, has stemmed the
tide of flowing rivers, has put to naught
the power of fire, has made harmless
the deadly venom of serpents, and stopped
the course of the sun and moon. Through
it God’s children have overcome demons
and the most dreaded of foes. Prayer
has quelled the wild powers of evil men,
and whole armies of proud, boasting
unbelievers have been put to flight. It
has brought a man from the depths of
the sea to dry land, and restored to life
those who had been clutched in the icy
grip of that gloomy specter called death.
What hath not prayer wrought?”
I. PRAYER AND OUR SCRIPTURE
This is why God in His word calls prayerlessness a sin (I Sam. 12:23) and commands and encourages us to pray.
(Read: ( Ch. 16:11; 2 Ch. 7:14; Ps. 56:9; Ps. 145:18; Mt. 7:7-8; Rom. 8:26; Phil. 4:6; Heb. 4:16 and Js. 5:16.)
This is why God in His word promises us He will hear and answer our prayers.
(Read: Ps. 91:15; Ps. 145:18-19; Isa. 58:9; Mt. 18:19-20; Mt. 21:22; I Jn. 5:14-15.)
When Gehazi was sent by Abraham to a far away land to find a wife for Isaac, he turned his face to heaven and asked for help. He said, “God, let the girl of your choice come to the town well and when I ask her for a drink, let her offer to water my camels also. Before he even finished his prayer, the beautiful virgin Rebekah walked up and did exactly what he said (Gen. 24).
Barren Hanna went to church year after year to weep over her barrenness but when she cried to the Lord in tears, Samuel was born (1 Sam. 1). When Solomon asked God for wisdom, he became the wisest man on earth (1 K. 3:9). The Bible says, “And men came from all nations to listen to the wisdom of Solomon” (1 Kn. 4:34). When a mighty coalition of warriors came up to ravage Jerusalem, King Jehoshaphat went to the house of God to pray.
God sent his preacher, Jahaziel to him with the answer, “Don’t be afraid to go out against them tomorrow, for the battle is not yours, but the Lord’s!” They went out, not with swords but with songs and God confused the armies so that they killed each other and all Judah had to do was gather the spoils that were left (2 Ch. 20).
One of the greatest examples of prayer under the clouds of war came during the time of Hezekiah and Isaiah. The strongest, bloodiest nation on earth, Assyria, under Sennacherib with 185,000 soldiers laid siege to Jerusalem. He called Hezekiah a trapped bird in a cage and in a letter to him promised to burn the city, kill the men and take the women and children captive.
Hezekiah took this letter to the house of the Lord and prayed for the help of heaven. He contacted his pastor, Isaiah, and Isaiah told him he had nothing to fear because Sennacherib would return home and die by the sword in his own land. And the army he left behind would be dealt with by the Lord.
Sennacherib heard a rumor of an invasion, returned home, and several years later was murdered by his own sons, according to the word of the Lord. And what about the 185,000 soldiers he left behind? The man on the watchtower cried out to Hezekiah, “The enemies sleep like dead men.” The angel of the Lord had swept through the Assyrian army and 185,000 were dead! One old time preacher said, “The only problem Israel had with these Assyrians was burying them.” God answers prayer.
II. PRAYER IN OUR SITUATION
The Word of God ended around 90 A.D. when John wrote the Revelation but the God of the Bible writers is the God of you and me and when we get to heaven, I believe it will astonish us, how many blessings we have missed because of prayerlessness. The Bible says, “You have not because you ask not” (Js. 4:2). I know we must ask in accordance with God’s will and often what we want is not what God wants.
But the main reason is we have not because we ask not. I know there are principles of prayer that we must learn and follow, but the main reason is we have not because we ask not! We have not tried prayer and found it wanting.
We have tried it and found it difficult and given it up. Jesus said, “Men ought always to pray and not become discouraged. Keep on asking” (Lk. 18:1; 11:9). In the shadow of possible war I want to show you what God has done in the past, since the Bible ended, so we will call upon Him to do it today.
1. Go Back To 1588.
The Pope wanted to conquer England because he knew that with her navy ruling the sea, she was invincible. He persuaded King Phillip of Spain to send his Spanish Armada against England. The mighty armada sailed toward England. England at that time had a Christian queen and she called her country to prayer.
As English ships sailed to meet the Spanish navy and English Christians prayed, a mighty storm hit the channel and the Spanish ships were either sunk or confused. England sailed in and conquered them with ease. I once heard Dr. R.G. Lee say, “God sneezed and said ‘ACHOO’ and the whole Spanish Armada went down to the bottom of the sea!”
2. Go Back to World War I.
Kaiser Wilhelm, seemingly unstoppable, boasted that he would eat Christmas dinner in Paris. The Premier of France knew he could and would do it. England knew that when he did, they would be next and would crumble before his power. Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, the pastor of Westminster Chapel in London, went to bed the night that threat was broadcast. He could not sleep. Being unusual for him, he could not figure what to do in the middle of the night. He could not get the threat of Kaiser Wilhelm off his mind, and suddenly he was impressed to go to his church and pray.
He did so, and as he walked up, he was surprised to see the church lights on. Thinking it was the mistake of the custodian, he walked inside. Walking into the vestibule he was surprised even more to hear the low rumble of voices coming from the sanctuary. What he found was almost 200 of his members inside. They were kneeling all around the altar and in various parts of the auditorium.
Morgan knelt and prayed until they were finished and then he began to ask them why they were there. To his amazement, he found that they, like him, had not come in a group, but one by one and two by two. Some had stopped to get friends and relatives to go with them. But they all came to turn their faces and lift their voices to heaven because of the proud boast of the invincible Kaiser Wilhelm. After Wilhelm was soundly defeated, Morgan wrote about this and said you could date the turning point of World War I from that night.
3. Go Back to World War II.
At Dunkirk, 105,000 English soldiers were at the mercy of the Messier-Schmidt German bombers. Rommell and his tanks had been routed but he was not on his way back with his fierce panzer divisions. What the bombers left alive he could easily annihilate. The call went out all through England for Christians to pray. Even the radio stations, knowing the grimness of the situation, urged prayer. England again went to her knees and cried out to God to save their boys from certain death.
And what happened? A great, dense fog settled over the English Channel, a perfect cover from the sight of the bombers. The military commandeered every battleship they had and every private yacht. Everything that floated was used and those 105,000 boys crossed the Channel under the umbrella of God’s fog. Later, when they asked Hitler why he delayed the attack upon Dunkirk, he said he thought it was a trap.
There was another miracle. General Bernard Montgomery, a preacher’s son, went up against Rommell, fighting for the Suez Canal. The canal was the strategic jugular vein that led to the heart of England. Montgomery’s troops had been driven back to the canal and were ready to launch a counter attack.
Before the battle Montgomery took out his Bible and unashamedly said to his staff, “I believe in the God of this book. This was my Presbyterian preacher father’s Bible and I want to read from it and have prayer.” Then going out he ordered a massive barrage. More ammunition from land guns was expended in that steady barrage than during any part of the war. The shells were true to their mark, Rommell was routed and driven all the way back to Germany. The Suez Canal was saved in answer to the prayers of a tent full of soldiers and a general not ashamed to admit his need of God and faith in God.
God never commanded us to sing without ceasing, to praise without ceasing, to work without ceasing, or to preach without ceasing (I Thess. 5:17). When Solomon built the temple, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, God did not say He would be listening to the marvelous hymns of the Hebrew choir. He did not say He would be watching the smoke rise from the altar. He did not say he would be listening to the mighty preaching of the priests and the prophets. What He did say was,
“Now my eyes will be open and my ears will attune to the prayer that is made in this place” (2 Ch. 7:15).
That’s why God through Isaiah (56:7) ane Jesus (Mt. 21:13) called His temple “a house of prayer.”
If God commands and encourages us to pray, then let us pray! If we can’t pray as we ought, then let us pray as we can. If we can’t pray with faith, let us pray until we have faith. If we can’t pray because of sin in our lives, let us pray the sin out of our lives. Let us pray at set times in the day and at odd moments during the day. Let us get up in the sunshine of prayer, go to sleep in the arms of prayer and walk all day on the feet of prayer.
We serve a prayer hearing God. Let us see what HE can do. Let us pray for the nations poised for war, for they are only a drop in a bucket to Him (Is. 40:15). Let us pray for the individuals we know in the Persian Gulf because the very hairs of their heads are numbered.
Prayer is the simplest form
of speech, that infant lips can try.
Prayer is the sublimest phrase,
that reach His throne on high.
Oh Thou to whom we come,
the life, the truth, the way,
The path of prayer thyself hath trod,
O, God, teach us to pray.
-Author Unknown
