The Mighty Tool of Prayer
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of
need.” – Hebrews 4:16
I owe a lot to Food Network.
I fear that if I had not received the instruction of many good cooks
from their shows, my family would have given up on the whole idea of eating to
survive by now. Thanks to some of the
shows there, I no longer am forced to make oiled hot dogs and boxed
mac-n-cheese for dinner. I’ve now added
a few better recipes to my collection.
I’ve also learned that to be a good cook, you have to learn
how to use certain tools, and which are really necessary. There are some tools that are completely unnecessary,
such as a strawberry slicer or an apple corer.
I try not to clutter my kitchen drawers and cabinets with all these
things. But when you learn to use one
tool, and use it very well, you can do so many things! Hear me well when I say that I LOVE my chef
knife. With it I can julienne a carrot, dice
an onion, slice a roast, mince garlic, and so many kitchen tasks. I’ve learned how to use it watching the great
chefs, and without it, I wouldn’t be able to cook at all! Finding the right tool, and learning how to
use it makes any job easier.
But there was a learning curve when I first got that
knife. OH MY! It was a painful
process. First, I took the sheath off of
the knife, and noticed on the side it said “do not touch the blade to your skin”. Of course, I had to touch it then! That’s when I learned that Band-Aids were
also an important kitchen tool. There is
a right and wrong way to handle a chef knife, a right and wrong way to use
it.
Prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of God’s child. You don’t need all those other tools, such as
self-help books, stones that are to provide you peace, St. Christopher metals
to offer you protection, and so forth.
Your words in God’s ear are sufficient!
With the opening of your heart with His Holy Spirit, the connection is
made, and Angels await God’s commands concerning you.
But not everyone understands the power of prayer or how to
use it. Perhaps “understand” isn’t the right
word, but maybe “faith” is. Without
having faith in your prayers, they’re like tiny little chimes against a might
gong. You make such a small noise in
heaven without faith in your prayers!
For prayer to be affective, James 1:5-7 says you must have faith,
otherwise you cannot expect that you will receive anything of the Lord.
There are three things I often hear said about prayer that
shows a lack of faith and confidence in prayer.
Imagine how God feels in hearing them said.
First, there are those that ask “say a little prayer for me”. How can we devalue prayer to a “little prayer”?
Any prayer spoken in faith is able to work great and mighty things! Then there
is “all we can do is pray”. Really? Is prayer so small a tool that it becomes a
last resort, a last ditch effort to control a situation? And finally, there’s “say
a quick prayer for me”. Why must it be
quick? Is it not worth God’s time or my
time?
When you choose to pray, you are choosing to unveil the
mighty tool of conversation with God.
You open a treasure chest of opportunities and blessings. You reach inside and unwrap it with faith in God’s
word, in His promises. You place that
tool in your hand, like the sword in the hand of a mighty warrior! You begin to change circumstances, pronounce
healing, prevent death, receive divine forgiveness, and change lives. Little prayer? Quick prayer? Last ditch effort
prayer? I don’t think so. One word spoken from a heart of faith to God’s
ear can change everything!
Matthew 16:19 says Jesus will give us the “keys of the kingdom of
heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever
you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The words “bind on earth will be bound in
heaven” come from the Jewish belief that sacrifices made on earth would also be
made in Heaven. They believed that a
lamb slain on earth in sacrifice would also cause a lamb to be slain in
sacrifice in Heaven. The words “bind”
and “bound” also mean bidding and forbidding, granting and
refusing, declaring lawful or unlawful. Prayer allows you
to change to course of Heaven, just as the town of Nineveh did hundreds of
years ago. Through prayer, the entire
town was saved from God’s wrath. Their
prayers changed God’s plans for them.
Prayer doesn’t have to be said with eyes closed and head
bowed. In fact, when Jesus taught the
disciples how to pray, He never told them to close their eyes and bow their
heads. It’s a conversation. Have it in a way that will drown out all
outside noise, which is why some bow their head and close their eyes. Some choose to have it in secret and to be
alone with God. Some choose to pray with
worship music tendering their hearts. Some
pray with tears, and some pray with loud voices. Others pray all day, without ever saying
Amen. It’s as simple as “Lord, Help Me!”
or “Jesus, please take over!” or “God, have mercy!” Prayer doesn’t have to be
an oration of great proportion made with elaborate lingual expertise and
sprinkled with thou’s and thee’s! God
speaks your language, dude!
Some folks believe you shouldn’t beg or nag God for
things. They believe you should ask
once, and stop praying about it. After
all, God heard you, right? Jesus talked
to the disciples in Luke 18:1-8 about praying without ceasing – praying until
your prayers are fully answered.
But Jesus gives the example of a woman who went before an
unjust judge. She pleaded with the judge
“Get justice for me from my adversary”. But the judge didn’t listen. She continually would plead “Get justice for me from my adversary”. And
the judge finally replied “Though I do
not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge
her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” Jesus goes on to says in
verse 6, “Hear what the unjust judge
said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him,
though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them SPEEDILY.
Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the
earth?”
Read that last part again - “will He really find faith on the earth?” If you cannot believe that God will answer
your prayers, you need to first pray for faith that He can and will. Yes, God will grant you faith and grow you
faith when your faith is not enough to move you from doubt to belief. Daily, we should all pray for more faith to
become powerful prayer warriors.
Hebrews 4:16 tells us “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Cry out to God! Be willing to give over to Him ALL your cares, ALL
your burdens, ALL your worries, ALL your needs, and then be ready to continue
in prayer until God answers. James 5:16
says “The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much.” How much more righteous
do you have to be than when you are covered in the righteous blood of
Jesus? Your prayers can make a
difference. Never take prayer for
granted. Never devalue its worth. A prayer from a heart filled with faith is a mighty tool.
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