Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– John R. Mott
Prayer Accesses God’s Power
There are far too many examples of titanic movements of God by prayer than can be placed in one daily devotional, but once such case was when “about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened” (Acts 16:25-26). You have to wonder if the earthquake would have still happened and the jail doors would have been flung open if Paul and Silas had not been praying and praising God. I believe that prayer and praise moved the hand of God to intervene on Paul and Silas’s behalf. God will move on your behalf if it is in His will that we pray.
Prayer Accesses God’s Spirit
Are you like me in that you don’t always know how to pray and what to say? Sometimes I feel at a loss for words in praying because I am so overwhelmed, so it’s comforting to know that “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26). The Spirit knows what our words can’t express (too deep for words), and “he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because[a] the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27).
Prayer Accesses Change in Us
Prayer changes things, but most of all, I believe it changes us. It allows us to have an intimate relationship with the Father through our Mediator, Jesus Christ. It helps us to align our will with the will of the Father. And our prayers, if they are to be effective, must be in the will of the Father. If His will and our will are the same, we can have confidence in our prayers.
Conclusion
Praying in the Father’s will allows us to know God’s will, and that prayer alone will overcome the gigantic difficulties that we face in our lives. God wants us to pray to Him as any good father would seek to talk with his own children. So what are you waiting for?
