The Power of Prayer!

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. - Mark 11:24

Sometimes we underestimate the power of prayer.

Think about this verse: "whatever things you ask"! In other words, you can have anything as long as you pray and believe! Of course this verse must be understood in the context of the Bible in which we see that this comes with faith in God and in who He says He is. 

But your prayers have power! Have you ever encountered a problem too big for you to address? Of course we all have and in these situations we tend to simply respond saying "What can I do?" However there is always something you can do...

You Can Pray!

In one of my recent posts, Faith and Confession, I discuss briefly why God needs us to pray and use our faith to bring things to pass on this earth. When creating the earth He gave us, through Adam and Eve, authority and dominion on this earth (Genesis 1:26). In other words, He tied His own hands when it comes to acting on this earth unless He is invited by mankind. That is why, in order to fix what we messed up, He had to come to earth as a man. But again Jesus said, after His resurrection, "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me, therefore go..." (Matthew 28:18). Through His death and resurrection He took back the authority and before His ascension He sent us out in it. To put it simply:

God gave mankind authority over the earth - Man, through Adam, handed that authority over to the enemy - Then Jesus took that authority back for mankind!

It is time for us to walk in our authority!

Our prayer is how we invite God's power to work on our behalf! It is through prayer that we can go beyond our own limits and possibilities and do the impossible (Matthew 19:26). Knowing this I think it is safe to say that none of us pray enough. Keep in mind that prayer, like faith, always needs to be coupled with action. As we pray we need to be always taking time to listen to the Spirit of God and allowing Him to direct us on what action we should be taking. I wrote about this recently as well in my post The Relationship Between Prayer and Action. 

Questions to think about:

  

What issue have you been ignoring because "there is nothing you can do"? 
 

Is there a family member or a friend that you should be praying for?

Where could you apply your authority in prayer to better affect your community?

I have always had a tendency to notice churches as I drive or walk through communities. Living in the United States it seems there are churches on every corner sometimes, but to me churches seem to stand out even more than to most. For example, I could name every church on my commute to work from memory. Recently I have felt it on my heart to pray for these churches. It is easy to say that my prayers are a waste of time. But I believe that as I pray for each of these churches I am inviting God to supernaturally encounter these pastors and congregations and in turn it will change the community that they are in. 

I believe we are about to see a revival in the Portland area and I believe that my prayers are going to help usher that revival in!