Powerful prayer works! The original Greek of the Bible often uses a special word for power: dunamis – it signifies miraculous, wonder-working power. From it we get the words dynamo (which generates power), and dynamite (the explosive). If you want prayer to work, to change your circumstances, then it must generate power. Jesus never once in the four Gospels told His disciples to pray for the sick. He said, ‘HEAL the sick!’ (Luke 9&10). He was speaking with authority! Yes, in James 5:14 it says ‘the prayer of faith will save the sick’ – but this is in the church. There is a big difference between the call of the evangelist and ministry within the church.
Your words contain miracles
There are miracles in the words you speak. If you really believe what you say, you will speak – and the mountain will move! Whatever you say, if you speak with faith and authority, and don’t doubt, you will be healed, your family will be blessed, your financial burden will move – even if these things are mountains in your life! But let this be a warning – watch your tongue – the miracle is in your mouth!!
The Power in the Name of Jesus
I want to talk about the Power that is IN THE NAME OF JESUS. We learn so much from Philippians 2.4-9, “Look not every man on his own interests, but on the interest of others. Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God (one with Him), thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But he made himself of no reputation and took on the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men… He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even to death of the cross. Therefore – because he humbled Himself and was obedient to His Father, obedient even to death, this gave Him a position that nobody else can attain – therefore God has highly exalted Him and gave Him a NAME WHICH IS ABOVE EVERY NAME!
Walking on the waters of affliction
We all experience the waters of affliction. In your life and mine, there are many times when we need the power of God to deliver. God’s timing is perfect, coming at the darkest hour, when the storm is at its fiercest, and our need is the greatest. Jesus said, "I will be with you always." Every day, every hour, in the middle of every storm, in the middle of every sickness. There’s never a moment when He is not there.
Exceedingly, abundantly, above what you ask!
Prayer is not just ‘fellowship with the Lord’. We are encouraged to ASK for what we need and desire. And Paul says, God is able to give you ABOVE what you can ask. Too many Christians are afraid to ask, I don’t know why. I have no hesitation in asking. If there is something I need, I know the Scripture, so I ask! And the Lord answers me!
The Lord will answer your prayer
There are periods in our lives when it seems God is not answering. But that does not mean God is not there, that He’s not listening. My father always used to say, that in the laws of physics, every action has a reaction. Every wave is followed by a trough. And every tough is followed by a wave. He taught me, our emotions and experiences vary. But under pressure, we mustn’t think God is not listening to us. The communist prison was the worst time in my life – yet God used it to work one of the biggest miracles in my life! When I look back, I thank God for that time! Like Habakkuk, there are times when we have to go through the despair, “How long will I cry and You will not hear?!”
God has seen your affliction
The fullness of God's love
It’s a very lovely thing the Apostle Paul is saying in Ephesians 3.17-19, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length and depth and height of the love of God.”
This is really beautiful, it’s Paul being very expressive and very explicit. We’re so familiar with two dimensions, flat, and with three dimensions where there is some depth and perspective. But Paul’s description of the love of God is higher and greater, more enlightening, it’s wide, it’s long, it’s deep, and it’s high – four dimensions – the height AND the depth! I’m intrigued! God’s love is not just the length which encompasses the world, it’s not just the width, but it has a height – and it has a depth – it’s an almost unfathomable mystery of God. And yet Paul wants us to understand it.
The God of exceedingly abundantly
Let the faith of God come into YOU in such a way that YOU can expect MORE! Not less. With God, it’s not a partial fulfilment, it’s ABOVE what we can think! God is not only able to answer your prayers, whatever they are, but whatever you ask for, He is willing to give you MORE! And it is for His GLORY!
Our confidence is in Christ
Our confidence is in Christ! When we have faith in God, He takes away our fear. In Christ we have no fear of the past, the future, no fear of the virus, no fear of the devil – we have confidence in God! Scripture says, don’t throw away your confidence! Keep that confidence in the reconciliation we have with God – nothing can break our relationship with God, no evil can destroy what we have, we are one with God, reconciled in Christ – and that’s why Jesus Christ is so important in our lives!