Prayer Makes A Difference
“Don’t be anxious for
anything but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving makes your requests
known to God…” (Philippians 4:6,7)
Years ago, Dr.
Nathaniel Van Cleave, author of Foundations
of Pentecostal Theology, and many other books, touched countless lives of
which I was one. I spent many hours with him as he shared wisdom, was a
great encouragement, and spoke many messages from his many decades of life in
the Word. He went to be with the Lord on Christmas Eve during his 96th
year and spoke right up to the day he
was ushered home. His life was a tribute
of faithfulness to the Lord. One of the
messages had the following thoughts on prayer that are worth remembering on
frequent occasions:
1. Prayer makes a difference: (Acts 12:1-7)
We live in a day of constant anxiety, but the Bible tells us
to “be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God…we have not because we
ask not.” (Philippians 4:6; James 4:2). Instead of finding a way, through God’s
power, to solve a problem, we worry about it.
Why pray, after all, when we can worry?
2. Prayer makes a big difference
Peter was kept in prison--but prayer was made without
ceasing…by the church…unto God…for him (verse 5). “Without ceasing” means
literally to pray with intense and continuous prayer. We are living in a day of spiritual
warfare. The enemy will do everything he
can to discourage us, to cause us to minimize that which God wants us to
maximize. But God is with us to the
extent that prayer makes a great difference in everything.
3. Prayer makes a detailed difference
Sixteen guards were put around Peter because even the devil
knows about the power of prayer.
Imagine, sixteen guards to keep a man who was asleep! But the devil had seen an angel deliver the
apostles once before (Acts 5:17-30). Would you be able to sleep if James (another
apostle) had just been executed and you were next in line? How is this possible? Peter couldn’t lose. As the Apostle Paul said, to live is Christ,
and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
Notice, too, that Peter still had a small responsibility in
his deliverance. God typically requires
some actions from us whenever He works mightily.
4. Prayer makes a difference even with
apparently faulty faith
The church prayed intensely for Peter during the whole week
he was in prison. They probably had
ample faith but were mistaken by what seemed to be the circumstances. Weak faith must not hinder obedient
prayer. God answers the prayer of faith,
but not always in ways we expect. Pray
as best we understand, but we let God work it out in the way that pleases Him.
5. Prayer makes a strategic difference
The Lord had another James.
Jesus’ own brother, who was ready not to be the leader of the Jerusalem Church and early Christianity. We can be sure that God balances all
things. King Herod didn’t have the last
word, God did. God’s Word multiplied as
people encountered Jesus Christ and were delivered from sin and transferred
into God’s Kingdom.
Reflections:
1) Why do we struggle to
persist in prayer?
2) Can you recall a time God
revealed an answer in prayer?
Consider reading the Word today:
Copyright 2014- Terry Risser
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