The Power Of Prayer 2

And He spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; (Luke 18vs1)

 It is to be noted that prayer is a vital aspect and characteristic of anyone who wants to have a serious relationship with God. Folks, prayer is important and as in our opening scripture; the Bible tells us that we ought, that is, we are supposed to pray and not faint. The reason why people’s relationship with God is ever fluctuating is because

of fluctuating patterns of prayer. People are supposed to pray without ceasing. That means that your prayer routines and prayer life should not be fluctuating or unstable. There is power in prayer.

One thing that is certain is that a successful closet prayer warrior is always crowned in public. That is why Jesus said God who sees in secret will reward openly

 Revival cannot happen where there is no prayer. In Luke 2, we see two people who prayed for Jesus to come. One of them was Simeon, who ever prayed and it so was that he was not going to die unless he had seen Jesus. The other one was Prophetess Anna.

 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

²⁶ And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.²⁷ And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,²⁸ Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,²⁹ Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:³⁰ For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,³¹ Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;³² A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.³³ And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.³⁴ And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;³⁵ (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

³⁶ And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;³⁷ And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.³⁸ And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

 We see in this account that Prophetess Anna never departed from the temple until when Jesus had come. Whilst in the temple, we are told that she fasted and prayed. Prayer was the prerequisite for the salvation of God to come to the Gentiles. Real revival is preceded by prayer.

Folks, prayer brings you into fellowship with God. You commune with God at a personal and intimate level. I know of a man called David. When he was young, he did not go with his brothers to war. Rather, he stayed and herded his father’s sheep. Whilst at the pastures David spent his time fellowshipping with God, singing and making psalms. The book of Psalms is a result of fellowship with God. That kind of fellowship made David understand that he had the power to overcome anything. At one time a bear came to eat his father’s sheep and he singlehandedly killed it. At another time a lion came to eat the lambs but David stood up to the task and again singlehandedly killed the beast. Power is the ability to get results. The more you fellowship with God through prayer the more you are well able to stand up to anything that comes against you. A prayerful person cannot be a victim of circumstance, never!

David was so successful in his prayer life and that is the reason why he was able to singlehandedly kill the Giant Goliath who was feared by the WHOLE nation of Israel. There is something called closet prayer and there is something called battlefield prayer. Closet prayer is the one that Jesus talks about in Matthew 6vs 6 saying ”But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.“

The closet prayer is the primary prayer that we ought to go through. David went through it, Jesus went through it and the Apostle Paul went through it. David used to pray alone at the pastures; Jesus spent 40days and 40nights in closet prayer. Throughout His ministry we are told of how He would continue all night in prayer, and of how He would send His disciples away for Him to stay behind and pray. the Apostle Paul, when he was called by God to preach Christ he spent 3 years in Arabia and Damascus, away from other people. Then he spent 14 years in Syria and Cilicia, perfecting the closet prayer (Galatians 1vs15-2vs1).

You ought to understand that for you to be successful in battlefield you must first be successful in closet prayer. Jesus never struggled with casting out devils, with healing the sick or with raising the dead. He was ever ready to confront anything in the battlefield because He had perfected closet prayer. David was not afraid to confront the giant Goliath in front of people because he had perfected closet prayer whilst in the fields herding sheep. The Apostle Paul wrought miracles which the Bible calls “special miracles“ and these were performed in public, because for you to be successful in battlefield you need to be successful first in closet prayer. One thing that is certain is that a successful closet prayer warrior is always crowned in public. That is why Jesus said God who sees in secret will reward openly. Never try to start battlefield prayer without perfecting closet prayer because it will always cause humiliation.

There is a certain group of people in the Bible who tried to tackle battlefield prayer without perfecting closet prayer. These were the sons of Sceva in Acts 19. They did not have a personal relationship with God but they tried to confront evil spirits. As is the case always, they were humiliated. The Bible tells us that the evil spirit attacked all of them, beat them up and they ran out of the house into the streets naked. Numerous times the disciples of Jesus failed to heal the sick or perform various miracles that Jesus could do. They had not perfected closet prayer. They relied on Jesus, their mentor and man of God yet they never took that extra step of developing a personal and intimate relationship with God.

Find time everyday to pray and build a relationship with God that cannot be shaken by anything. Develop your closet prayer and when it becomes ripe, you will be bold enough to walk into the mortuary to raise the dead. No sickness will dare rear its ugly head in your household because it will know that there is a prayer general in you that will destroy it. Pray, pray, pray…again I say Pray!!!!!