“The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity…
If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure, and disappointment,lets answer Gods standing challenge, call unto me, and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” Wrote Hudson Taylor.
Every time I remember my first visit to the ‘glory to glory ministries’ Sunday fellowship, one thing comes in mind: PRAYER.
It was deep calling unto deep as Pastor Samuel .M. O., the founder of glory to glory ministries shared on the dimensions of prayer. All he seemed to be saying can be summed up in one sentence; “The secret code to power is (******)”. It was as if he was echoing the words of Sidlow Baxter who once said “men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers”. To put it in Elizabeth Eliots words, “Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth.”….it is the lifeline between us and God. It is clear in the bible
Prayers were the arteries of the early church. Through them, life-sustaining power was derived.
Sadly, we are living in days when prayer has become secondary; incidental. Having lost the light that God shines to his people when they ask in prayer, we grope in the darkness of powerlessness and weaknesses. The fervent groaning of the saints in what used to be called ‘power houses’ – prayer closet – have ceased, the saints are instead heard lamenting how the mountains have stood on their way, how big the giants are; ‘look at us, poor grasshoppers’. You can almost hear them say.
We have closed our secret prayer closets from the outside, to the advantage of our enemy.
As praying stops, the ministrations of the pastor become unfruitful, the preaching of the word fail to convert sinners and promote holiness in the professors of religion. We need to see it as Leonard Ravenhills’ did. “If weak in prayer, we are weak everywhere”
From the prayer chambers come men baptized of the Holy Ghost, prophesying and others having seen visions, known their purpose in God and their lives having new godly meaning. As Samuel Chadwick said. “Prayer gives vision in the secret place, intelligence in work, sense in judgment, courage in temptation, tenacity in adversity, and joyous assurance in the will of God.” William Cowper reminds us, “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest of Christians on their knees.” Prayer is the atmosphere of revelation, in the strict and central sense of that word. It is the climate in which God’s manifestation bursts open into inspiration. Burdens burst into songs of victory when we choose to pray. Seemingly impossible situations turn into ‘it’s possible’ in the prayer closet.
Guy H. King was right when he said. “No one is a firmer believer in prayer than the devil: not that he practices it but he suffers from it”. Every punch that the devil throws at you doesn’t have sent you spinning. Every fiery dart of the enemy doesn’t have to hit its target. You can shape your world and that of others through prayer! E.M Andross commented. “…..The man on his knees has leverage underneath the mountain which can cast it into the sea if necessary, and can force all earth and heaven to recognize the power there is in ‘His name’ ”. Charles Spurgeon understood this power. “I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach”. A prayerful person is dynamite on two feet! Nothing stands on their way, even mountains give them way! Great revival is first born from behind the closed doors of the prayer closet, and then manifested in the open. Every great move of God can be traced back to a kneeling figure.
Men and Women who astounded the world were people of prayer. Martin Luther King is quoted to have said: “Work, work from morning until late at night, in fact I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer”. John Wesley, a famous evangelist spent two hours in prayer everyday. It was Billy Graham who said. “To get nations back on their feet, we must get down on our knees”. A. W. Tozer commented. “To desire revival and at the same time reject (personal) prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another”. “Everything starts with prayer. Love to pray–feel the need to pray often during the day and take the trouble to pray. If you want to pray better, you must pray more. The more you pray, the easier it becomes. Perfect prayer does not consist of many words but in the fervor of the desire which raises the heart to Jesus.” (Mother Teresa). The great people of the earth today are people who pray, not those who talk about prayer, (or those who write about prayer), nor those who can explain about prayer…….but men and women who take time and pray.
. In his Web Blog, under the subject, ‘confessions of carnality’,’ Pastor Clack of revival centre, Bellsouth wrote. “ …… I, the Pastor, confessed last night to my church that I don’t pray enough. I do not want to be a powerless Pastor who pastors a powerless church because we are all too busy to pray. God forgive us for our selfishness, laziness and complacency!”
“A holy life does not live in the closet, but it cannot live without the closet.” Commented E. M. Bounds. He who is too busy to pray will be too busy to live a holy life.
Prayer is the soil on which talents, gifts and our varied callings grow to fruitfulness, impacting the world. It breaks the ground for sowing seeds of love, patience, endurance, faith, self control, character……Making us more like God. Those who often walk the path to their prayer closet will reach far and wide. Those whose path to their prayer closet is overgrown with grass will leave no marks in their path of life. Leonard Ravenhill wrote, “…a man who kneels before God will stand before men.” The prophetic word over your life will come to pass through prayer. Visions and dreams are brought to reality through prayer. When we pray, we dig out the rich deposits from the mine which is our lives, to get the precious elements deposited in us by the Lord and with them worship Him, reaching the world. In prayer we get the blueprint for our lives, allowing our lives to be led of Him who is omnipotent. We activate and sustain who we really are in God.
Our weapons of warfare being spiritual, men and women who pray attack before they are attacked and pounce before they are punched, aborting satans schemes. A praying posture is one of victory, a full life, an assured life, an orderly life, a productive life, a godly life, a holy life.
This code is a secret everyone should know
‘P-r-a-y-e-r’
