THE POWER OF PRAYER
John 15:7
In today’s powerful world that we live in,
There’s so much power right at our fingertips.
And most of us can’t even explain what happens when we flip on the light switch!!
We see the natural power of Niagra falls,
and We’ve heard about the great dams out West !!!!
And we even wonder how electricity goes out, and lights up large cities. This is electric power.
And I often look at the airports and wonder how the jet engines lift off such a pile of metal, and it really flies.!!!
And at Cape Kennedy there’s the space program and the rocket engine power lifting off the space shuttles and the powers of natural, and man made things, goes on and on and on!!!!!
And there’s a power right at Christian’s fingertips, and its called The Power of Prayer!!!!
Tonight Jesus tells us in our text
John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you!!!!!
And Jesus further tells us in
John 14:14:
If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it!!!!
But we as Christians don’t really realize the profit that’s at our fingertips!! This power that we have, just simply by asking!!!!
Of course we must have a clean heart and a pure life behind this prayer, and not to mention a surrendered will. I mean we have to surrender it all to God, But its there for the asking!!!! AMEN
We have to make sure this request is according to God’s will, and Our prayer must be asked in the name of Jesus, and it must be for God’s Glory!!!!!
We all already know that Jesus Christ set the example for us to follow. AMEN
So if every Christian wants to be Christ Like Then we have to pray without ceasing!!
Jesus Prayed from the cradle to the grave.
And He taught His disciples to pray.
His favorite place to pray was probably in the Garden of Gethsemane under the old olive trees!!!!
And on the night before the crucifixion, Judas wanted to find him, and turn him over.
And he knew where to find him.
So He led the mob to Jesus’ place of prayer.
And Look at all the different types of prayers that Jesus Prayed.
He prayed always for others. And He prayed that his works, and his words, would glorify His Heavenly Father.
Even on the Cross, bleeding his life away, his prayer was for others.
Most of the time our prayers consist of
OOOhhhh God Give me This and
OOOhhhh God Give me that,
And I’ve even heard people say they want you to pray for them to get a new car......
There was a little girl, and her Mom said; You didn’t say your prayers tonight, and the little girl said, well Mom I didn’t need anything.....
People this is just like us....We need to be praying to God whether we need anything or not.....We should be always thanking Him for getting us up this morning, and for allowing us to breathe this long today,,
and always giving him thanks for everything He does for us....And I guarantee that He does plenty for you and for me....AMEN
And Jesus prayed for His enemies just as well as for his friends.
All along the way he was praying for his disciples, and those who followed him and those who follow him now!!!
Even in his high - priestly prayer in John chapter 17; He prayed for all of those who would in years to come, follow Him, and believe on Him!!!!! And He’s still praying for us even in Heaven as we speak....
But remember when He was on the cross, He was suffering all the agonies of Hell, and not to mention suffering for your sins and for mine!!!!!
But did He put a curse on those that hung Him there??????
No He prayed for them as well!!!!!!
Luke 23:34 says:
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!!!!
Can you and me pray like that and mean it with all honesty???
Can we say Father they have wronged me, but will you please forgive them....
Lord they were wrong but please forgive them as I have forgave them already!!!!!
Matthew 5:44 Jesus says:
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Proverbs 25:21&22 says:
If thine enemy be hungry give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink;
For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee
People Jesus Christ has set this example for us because there’s a devil, satan is a person that’s cunning, and sly, and sneaky.
He stands in the path of every Christian tonight, he’s wanting you to fail in your walk with God so he can take you to hell!!!!!
The devil is always trying to trip us up and hurt Jesus’ influence in our hearts and minds.!!!!
In 1st peter He’s referred to as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
He delights himself by tempting us, and then there’s where he rejoices when we fall.
And there’s only one way to overcome the devil. We have to pray against him.
James 4:7 says:
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
People don’t flirt with disaster, and that’s what the devil is DISASTER!!!! AMEN
Don’t listen to him, His playground is our minds, So don’t allow him on the playground. Remember Resist him and He’ll flee from us!!!
If you want to make ole devil tremble, just fall on your knees, and begin to pray to your heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus.
And he will tremble and run from us!!!
Prayer is God’s way that he blesses us!!!!
The bible tells to ask and we shall receive.
God invites us to ask him for our needs.
God wants to see our souls grow by prayer.
We want to grow physically, (Not me)
I’ve already grown plenty physically.
And He wants us to grow mentally.
And especially He wants us to grow spiritually!!!!
If you’ll pray, you’ll see how much you grow in Grace!!!
Don’t you think that God is hurt if a borned again Christian, never grows spiritually.
And listen tonight The lack of spiritual growth people is the lack of prayer!!!!
Prayer is what keeps us in that close personal relationship with God.
The closer we get to God the better we grow as Christians, And we need to feel that power of the Holy Ghost,!!!!!
And prayer is what gets this power to the point, of where it needs to be!!!!!
If we don’t feel God’s presence tonight, then we’ll never be able to hear, and feel, his leadership, and guidance.
And people He is in all our hearts if we truly believe.
And I’ve heard people say; so and so has more power than I do, well I can’t understand why???
People its because they are living closer to God, in their prayer life!!!!
Jesus promised the Holy Ghost to all those who prayed for his power in their lives.
So Are you satisfied where you are in your Christian life??
Are you satisfied that you pray enough on a daily basis??
When we pray we should pray always submitting ourselves to God.
A human father doesn’t respond to the whine of a disobedient child.
Well neither does our heavenly Father.
And if God has called you to do something, and you refused, then you better not expect no answers to your prayers.
It’s when we are abiding in Him, and
It’s when we are carrying out all of His wishes, and its when, We are trying to stay in His perfect will!!!!
That’s when he answers our prayers.
AMEN
God may not call you to be a missionary, or a preacher to occupy some high up position in some large organization.
He may send you to some remote, unknown place, where there’s only 20 or 30 people, But always remember God knows where you need to be and when you need to be there!!!!!AMEN
You might just be called to go next door and witness the wonderful news about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and win that neighbor over to God’s Kingdom.
Before it’s everlasting to late!!!
Or you could be another Billy Graham!!!
But God knows which is best!!!!
God may be calling you to go and preach and sing to the nursing homes in your area, and bring some sunshine to a person that’s a shut in, and can’t get out, or maybe He wants you to anoint a bedridden person with oil and pray a healing prayer with them!!!!
And remember if you will stay in His perfect will,
That’s where your prayers will begin to be answered!!!!!AMEN!!!
We are to always pray with thanksgiving to our Lord.
And I’m certain that there’s not any of us here that don’t have something to thank God for today, or yesterday, or last week!!!!
All of our lives and all of the future lives and all its joys, are ours because of the love and the goodness of God.
We should always be in thanks, and always looking up to Him who is the giver of every good and perfect gift.
The Apostle Paul tells us to make our requests known to God, with WHAT?
THANKSGIVING!!!
The thoughtful heart is the thankful heart.
And when we pray, we should pray expecting!!!
Jesus said that we could move mountains if we had faith as large as a mustard seed.
It’s a good time to tell the mountain moving story!!!!!!!
Mustard seed faith that’s all it takes AMEN
What we ask with faith, BELIEVING He will give to us people!!!!!!
And again the Apostle PAUL said we are to pray without ceasing.
Of course that don’t mean that we’re to go around mumbling some petition to God all the time.
But it does mean that we are to live with a prayer on our hearts always!!!!
We should be ready at any time to reach out and touch the hem of his garment!!!
And I also believe that this means that we should keep on praying.
God doesn’t always say yes, the first time we ask Him for something. And maybe we ain’t quite ready yet to receive what we’re asking for.....
Here’s something for you to think about when you think you’re ready to ask for something major from God!!!
Even Jesus Christ didn’t receive the answer the first time He prayed in the garden of Gethsemine.
Three times he prayed in agony and heaviness and blood.
Then His answer came and he could say:
Not my will, but thine be done. I will drink the cup of separation, and suffering, right down to the last part of it!!!!!
The bible says: The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,
Not the lukewarm prayer!!!!
Let me give you three quick Conditions of prayer and I’ll close.
First of all when you pray you must make sure you have a good connection with God!!
You must be borned again, and you must have a relationship with God.
God hasn’t promised His blessings and power to the sinner.
Even Jesus spoke in Parables so that only the Holy Spirit will help us to discern
what every word means.
And Second your channel of Life must be pure!!!!!
You have to do more than just say you’re a Christian. You have to be prayed up and continuously be asking for forgiveness for your sins, And you do sin!!!!!!!!
You may fool your pastor, or your husband, wife, or best friends, But you can’t fool God.
He knows our every move and our every thought even before we think them!!!!!
Its called OMNIPOWERFUL!!!
We Have to Remain Pure and Honest
And Third;
Our prayers must be targeted at being for the Glory of God!!!!!
Jesus even stressed the fact that we are to ask for everything in His Name!!!!
And then you’ll say, well that’s fine, I’ll ask for a Cadillac or a new home, or a million dollars.
But when we seal it in the name of Jesus
that does away with the foolish requests.
We have to ask for those things that will glorify him and not something that would please our own selfishness!!!!!
Maybe some of you remember when you used to talk things over with your mother or father, And now their gone on to be with Jesus.
You can’t talk to them face to face anymore.
But listen to me tonight people.
There’s someone who will never die, He’s always at your side, If you allow Him to be.
And He wants you to talk things over with Him!!!
You can give Him all your troubles tonight!!!
People the mighty power of prayer is marvelous.
And its wonderful. God has made all these beautiful promises to us in His Word!!!
How glorious God has answered our prayers in the past!!!!
Why won’t you just come on forward and claim these promises tonight.
And won’t you put this power to work in your life, Starting right now?????
Come quickly, Jesus is knocking tonight
Please let Him in!!!!!
Won’t you come tonight and un-leash
the Mighty Power of Prayer!!!!
