The Power Of Prayer

What is a prayer?

So the power of prayer in the bible will take effect depending on the one who prays.

James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight.

If we look at the comparison of the two people who are doing good things, when the wicked offers a sacrifice to the Lord it is abomination to him, while the prayer of the upright is his delight.

This is the characteristic of God when dealing with offerings and prayers, he is pleased more with even just the prayer of upright people than to the offerings and even sacrifices of the wicked.

The bible is teaching us a way or pattern of how we should pray, so since this is only a pattern, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to do exactly as it is.

We are only told to make it as our basis and pattern of how to pray, so our prayer could be shorter or longer, as long as we will do it with a clean heart, or a proper way.

Matthew 6:9-15 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

How long should we pray?

The God whom we are praying is a powerful, as long as you’re ready and prepared with your prayer, you can surely be heard by God, we don’t need to memorize the same words always,

but you need to compose your prayer based on your needs. We don’t need to repeat any words of prayers as God doesn’t like it:

Matthew 6:7-8 “When you are praying, don’t say meaningless things like the unbelievers do, because they think they will be heard by being so wordy.

8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

How do we pray?

If we have the chance of doing our prayer in private, it’s much better or else we will be compared to the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people.

So there is a proper way that God wants us to do when praying.

Matthew 6:5-6 “And whenever you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

6 But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees from the hidden place will reward you.

To whom we should pray?

If we go back to the pattern that God is telling us to do, like the one we can read in

Matthew 6:9-15 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

15 but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

So prayer is intended only for God and nobody else deserves prayer other than God. In the old testament during the time of Moses, angels were the mediator between God and men but on Christian era, angels are not anymore to be worshiped, as it is Jesus now who is the mediator and the way to the father.

Therefore, when John bowed down to the angel who showed him all the things which he wrote in the revelation, he was told to not to do it since he the angel is also his fellow servant, and he was told to worship only God.

Revelation 19:10 I bowed down at his feet to worship him, but he told me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who rely on what Jesus is saying. Worship God, because what Jesus is saying is the spirit of prophecy!”

So we should be careful on whom we pray so that our prayer can be heard, so the best prayer is to direct it to the father in heaven and through Jesus Christ as he is the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except by him.

John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

How many times we should pray?

Pray without ceasing is what is the best but the recommended one as what the people of God normally do is to pray night and day,

2 Timothy 1:3 I constantly thank my God—whom I serve with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you in my prayers night and day,

which also the perfect one to do, specially before going to sleep and after waking up in the morning.

To pray before going to sleep is very important because there is a long way of sleeping from night to day, and we don’t know what will happen while we are sleeping,

so it’s good that in our prayers we include all the wishes of waking up in the morning as many people have not waken up anymore.

Once we can wake up in the morning then that is the perfect time for us to thank God for letting him still see us the day, then we pray for guidance and protection against evil.

What should we do before we pray?

To pray to God is to come to his holy presence. If we have a schedule to meet some influential people like Mayors, Congressmen, Senators, or even President.

Of course if we meet them, we must prepare ourselves, like taking a shower, brushing our teeth, and wearing our best suits in order for us to be capable of facing those people.

So how much more when you schedule your self to meet your creator, you should also prepare yourself, but your preparation is different, God will not be looking at your outer clothes but of your inner self.

You should cleanse your heart, forgive those that have sinned against you, and stop all your evil deeds and ways. Then you can be assured that your prayer can be heard.

If God likes to hear your prayer he can do it, but if he doesn’t like, it can never reach to him for the bible said:

Lamentation 3:44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can get through.

I have a personal experience about prayer and I know how effective it is once God will listen to us.

Last 1994 I was hospitalized for my severe stomach pains, I was rushed to the Cebu Doctor’s hospital, then I was diagnosed to have appendicitis, my parents are poor and since it was an emergency they have to find a way just so that I can be operated from my appendicitis.

I was scheduled to be operated 7:00 am the next morning since it was night when I arrived to the hospital. I was crying the whole night for the pain, and worries about what will happen after my operation.

I remembered a verse that made me a little stronger,

Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

Matthew 10:31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

If the sparrows will not die without God’s will, how much more we, which are more important than sparrows, I said to myself if God will let me live I will live but if I will die, it is already according to his will.

But the pain was still very severe, I pressed the button for the doctor to come to me but nurse came and didn’t give me anything to ease the pain.

I felt very nervous about myself because they let me drink castor oil and for that I removed everything from my stomach, and then I vomited green color liquid. I remembered another verse of the bible:

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

I prayed to God to heal me with my sickness because I felt like I can’t bear the pain anymore after vomiting a lot of green liquids, I pressed the button for help but nobody came,

I continued to pray for the healing, until I didn’t realize that I fell asleep while praying, I was able to wake up only when the doctor came to me with nurses bringing the stretcher going to the operating room.

Before taking me there he touched my stomach and he wondered why I didn’t scream, because he expected me to do so after touching my stomach that’s why he asked me,

“have you not felt the pain? I said “yes, there is no pain doctor” he said that my appendicitis was gone, and I overheard them talking with my parents that there will be no operation to do and he even said,

among the 100’s of patients he diagnosed it was his first time making mistake. Whether it was a mistake or not I considered that as healing from the Lord, because I believe he is the one that heals us for all our sickness.

Exodus 15:26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

Luke 11:9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

 

We are being told by God to ask and it will be given to us, seek and we will find, knock and the door will be opened to us.

So all we have to do is with our prayer we have to ask God, and if the one we ask is by his will, we will surely receive if it’s according to his will.

God is a good giver, he will not give us the things we ask if it can make us bad, because knows everything which is good for us, and if he sees it’s not going to do you any good, he will never give you.

So if you ask and don’t receive, just think of it that it might not be good for you, It’s not yet the perfect time for you to have it.

What normally is the reason for not being able to receive what we ask is because we ask it with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on pleasures.

James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

I hope you learn something from this article regarding prayer, if you have any questions, comments, or maybe some suggestions, please feel free to write them below and I will be more than happy to hear it.

Francisco,

Founder of Bookworm Website