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.
I've experienced the Power of God
How will you see miracles in your life and ministry? By faith in the name of Jesus. It is through power of the name of Jesus and the faith which comes through and from Him, that will work miracles. I've experienced the Power of God all my life; I was baptised in the Holy Spirit when I was 13, now 77 years later, the Power of the Holy Spirit is stronger in me now than it was back then.
Are you in a valley?
'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures... Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me...' The 'valley of the shadow' is more literally translated as, where the light of the sun is cut off. I want to tell you: wherever you are, whatever your trial, no matter the problem - even if you feel the light of the sun is cut off - God will not fail you.
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!
Jesus prays for you!
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?!”
How to grow your faith to see miracles
If you want your faith to grow, you’ve got to nurture it, practice it, act on it – and it will grow! That’s what has happened in my life. How did I have the boldness in the prison to pray, “Lord, 2000 years ago when Paul and Silas were in prison, You worked a miracle, broke down the prison walls and set them free. If You could do it for them, You can do it for me, get me out!”?!! I prayed like this, not just because I knew the Scripture, but because, in the back of my mind, it was only 8 years after my throat cancer had been miraculously healed! Because of this I could say, “Lord, You delivered Paul and Silas, You healed my throat cancer – and You can get me out of prison!” You see, my faith grew – experimentally!
Jesus is our healer!
I love to see God heal people that the doctors cannot help! To me, the real miracles of healing are when doctors have tried to heal and failed, then God takes over and by a miracle does what the most expert of doctors cannot do. I have seen many people healed of broken bones and the effects of accidents, especially young people, and many other young ones born blind, deaf, crippled, where medical science can do nothing.