Prayer is a powerful, and sometimes, dangerous exercise to engage in. Many of you have attended a Freedom Immersion and can attest to the transforming reality of your prayer time. I have been on the receiving end of many of those times but I also reflect fondly on another time. I remember when our three boys were young and approached my wife one morning and presented their unified case. “Mom, we all want a baby sister!” My Godly wife gives them the answer that every woman of God would give, “Ask Jesus for a baby sister.” This brief interaction is indelibly imprinted on my heart and mind because a few months later, July 4, 2008 to be exact, she had “the look” on her face. This is the look can only mean one thing, we have another little blessing on the way. What a great celebration and yet more proof of the power that resides in prayer.
Consider a few questions that I have had to tangle with over the years as it pertains to prayer. Why keep praying when we don’t see results? Does God have all power? Think about this, for Him to release that power, do we need to pray? Have you ever contemplated questions like this as it pertains to prayer? Here are three things we need to understand about prayer that breaks through. If we understand these three points, we will become a person of deep heart-felt prayer.
- Invested Power. The Word of God tells us that the Lord has deposited His power in us. This point cannot be overstated. If you are in Christ Jesus, He has invested His power in you. Consider what Luke tells us:
Luke 24:49 (ESV)
49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Acts 1:8 (ESV)
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
The first three chapters of Ephesians are written to the church reminding them that they have become saints. The last three chapters of Ephesians, Paul exhorts them to now live Godly lives. Right in the middle of these sections there are two verses that are structured by the Holy Spirit in a very strategic way. He says,
Ephesians 3:20–21 (ESV)
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
This is amazing how the Holy Spirit structured this verse. He uses these descriptive words because it adequately shows who the Father is and the inheritance the Father has given to us.
If the Lord is able to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine, then why don’t we see more of it? The answer to that lies with the key word “according”. According to the power at work within us. This word in the Greek means measurement…to measure out or distribute. It is a picture of a debit card that is attached to an account of immeasurable value. The cards true value is only seen when it is activated and the funds are distributed.
Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” The context of this passage is forgiveness. The Lord has forgiven you so now measure out and distribute this forgiveness to others. The same good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be used toward you that you use toward others.
This boils down to a stewardship issue. Stewards realize that they have been given something to manage and give away to the same degree they have received. So we are to give forgiveness as freely as we have received it. It is the same with our finances. We have been given the finances by God to manage and give God’s way. He gives us the finances to steward. He has also invested His spiritual gifts in us to minister to others. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all…(1 Cor 12:7).”
- We must release the power of God through prayer. There is no limit to what God can do in and through the saint. But the saint limits the working of God in and through him by the degree of his yieldedness to the Spirit. How much of God’s power are you measuring out to your family? Business? City? How much of God’s power are you distributing to the situation that you need God to work right now? Is it possible that God has done His part and now we distribute this power out? God’s unlimited power is limited to our prayers. God has all power but His unlimited power is limited by prayerlessness. Am I going to distribute His power? Am I going to measure it out to my situation?
Elijah prayed 7 times for something God already said He was going to do. Why? It is because he was releasing what God wanted to do in His life. Elijah’s fiery praying and God’s promise the rain. E.M. Bounds says, “Prayer carries the promise to its gracious fulfillment. It takes persistent and persevering prayer to give to the promise its largest and most gracious results.” Daniel prayed 21 days to see the fulfillment of his prayers. Per Daniel 10:2-3, 12-13, the first day Daniel prayed an angel of the Lord left heaven with the answer. There was spiritual warfare that was hindering the answer from reaching earth. Daniel continued to pray and bring this answer to earth and did not stop after 20 days. Has what you are praying for already been answered but we need to pray it from heaven to earth?
- Fill the Bowls. Per Revelation 5:8 and 8:1-5, the prayers of the saints are likened unto incense that fills the bowls of heaven. God adds His fire (power) to Our Prayers. Priests stood twice daily before the inner veil of the temple and burned incense so that the smoke would carry into the Holy of Holies and be swept into the nostrils of God. That symbolized the people’s prayers rising to Him. When the bowls get full with our prayers, there is an angel whose job it is to add fire to them and send the answer back to earth.
How full are your bowls for your family, future, church, city, business? How full is that bowl? Continue to pray until you see the full power of God released in your life and others around you. Don’t grow weary in doing good but press through the spiritual warfare declaring the victory of Jesus. His power lives inside you and is released through your prayers.