The Power of Prayer

Prayer is essential to our spiritual growth because it’s how we communicate with God, and communication is key to maintaining the health of any relationship, especially your relationship with God. In today’s video, learn the 3 powerful and life-changing benefits of prayer to encourage you to make prayer a natural part of your everyday life. 

Martin Luther is quoted saying: “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”

Prayer is essential because it’s how we communicate with God, and communication is key to maintaining the health of any relationship, especially your relationship with God. So prayer connects us to God and since God is our source of life, prayer is the sustaining discipline that keeps our spirits alive and well. 

WHAT IS PRAYER?

As we look at the definition of prayer, we can clearly see why it’s so important. Based on what scripture tells us about prayer:

Prayer is God’s purpose and command for believers to communicate with Him to receive power from Him, victory through Him, and access to Him. 

First, let’s look at the truth that prayer is God’s purpose. Prayer is God’s idea because He wants to have a relationship with us. He wants us to know Him and know that we are known by Him. Prayer is the intimate communication between us and God. In Mark 11:17, Jesus calls His church a house of prayer because prayer is the foundation of our relationship with Him. 

Second, prayer is God’s command to us. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray without ceasing.” For the Christian, prayer is not optional and it is not a suggestion. It is a command from God because He knows we need prayer for our spiritual survival. God does not call us to pray to make Himself feel good; He commands us to pray because He knows we need prayer.

When Jesus gives instruction on how to pray in Matthew 6, He says “when you pray” not “if you pray.”  Too often, we treat prayer like an option and not a necessity. Unfortunately, we then miss out on all the benefits of prayer.  If we look back at our definition of prayer, we see those benefits are that prayer enables believers to first, receive power from God. Second victory through God, and third, access to God. 

THREE BENEFITS OF PRAYER

Let’s look at each one of these benefits to truly understand how powerful prayer is.

1. Prayer grants us power from God.

Second, prayer is God’s command to us. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray without ceasing.” For the Christian, prayer is not optional and it is not a suggestion. It is a command from God because He knows we need prayer for our spiritual survival. God does not call us to pray to make Himself feel good; He commands us to pray because He knows we need prayer.

When Jesus gives instruction on how to pray in Matthew 6, He says “when you pray” not “if you pray.”  Too often, we treat prayer like an option and not a necessity. Unfortunately, we then miss out on all the benefits of prayer.  If we look back at our definition of prayer, we see those benefits are that prayer enables believers to first, receive power from God. Second victory through God, and third, access to God. 

THREE BENEFITS OF PRAYER

Let’s look at each one of these benefits to truly understand how powerful prayer is. 

1. Prayer grants us power from God.

We can see how prayer grants us power from God as we look at the words of Jesus in Mark 11:23-24. He says:

 “Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:23-24 ESV)

Prayer is our connection to heaven that enables us to realize heaven here on earth. It is our access to receive God’s power to do things we never could have imagined possible had we not asked Him. James 5:16 says: 

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:15 ESV) 

Prayer is powerful because it works! Prayer connects us to the greatest source of power there is. God is infinite and will never run out of power and grants that same power to those who ask in prayer.

  2.  Prayer grants us victory through God.

As we look at the scriptures, we can also see that prayer grants Christians victory through God.

Philippians 4:6-7 shows the connection between prayer and victory from anxiety. Matthew 26:41 shows the connection between prayer and victory from temptation. Matthew 17:21-22 shows the connection between prayer and victory over spiritual warfare.

I saw a quote the other day on social media that said “The devil saw me with my head down and thought he won, until I said ‘amen.’”

Prayer is one of the greatest weapons God has given believers to combat the enemy. If you look at Ephesians 6:10- 20, the Apostle Paul outlines for the believer the armor of God and how it protects against spiritual attack. There is the breastplate of righteousness, feet fitted with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit. But in Ephesians 6:18, he concludes this list of armor by encouraging believers to:

“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:18 NIV)

Paul wants believers to put on the armor of God, but it’s to be sealed in prayer. If you think of the armor of God, it consists mostly of protective or defensive items. There are only two offensive weapons God gives to believers to battle spiritual attack. One, the sword of the spirit, which is His word, and two, prayer, which is our connection to Him.

Do you remember that scene in the Lion King where cub Simba finds himself surrounded by hyenas who were about to attack him? As Simba roars, the hyenas just laugh at him because Simba’s little cub roar is not threatening at all. But then out of nowhere, he lets out a deep, bold, loud, and veracious roar. The hyenas become visibly afraid and run away. Simba thinks he scared them away until he turns around and sees his father, King Mufasa standing behind him. The hyenas were never afraid of the little cub Simba, but you know who they were afraid of? King Mufasa who not only had the authority of a King to destroy them, but more importantly, he had the passionate love of a father to carry it out. The hyenas knew they were not going to win that battle and quickly ran away.

When we aren’t praying, we’re like cub Simba. The enemy is not threatened by us, on our own. But when we pray and we call on our heavenly Father, and we are continually connected to Him in prayer, we have accessed the authority and power and love of the King and not even the enemy will come against that. 

    3. Prayer Grants us Access to God. 

We’ve discussed that prayer is God’s purpose and command for believers to receive power from God and victory through God. Now let’s talk about how prayer gives us access to God.

Christian author and theologian Timothy Keller once said this: “The only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access.”

As children of God, we have access to God. We can talk to Him, we can ask Him for what we need, we can hear from Him, all through prayer.

Hebrews 4:16 encourages us: 

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16 ESV)

Not only do we have access to God, but we can approach Him confidently.

We never have to let thoughts like this stop us from praying: “God’s got more important prayers to answer, I don’t want to bother God with my little issues, I’m afraid God won’t answer my prayer.” In Matthew 7:7 Jesus says: 

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7 ESV)

God tells us in Jeremiah to: 

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (Jeremiah 33:3 ESV)

God is desperate for you to come to Him in prayer. He wants to talk to you and hear from you. He wants to connect and communicate to you more than you know. What a blessing that we have full access to the God of the universe whenever we want. Prayer is not a gift you want to overlook or under utilize. It is our lifeline and one of the greatest blessings we will ever receive.

If you are interested in learning more about prayer and how prayer can become a natural, consistent, and and fruitful part of your everyday life, I want to give you my free 5-day prayer guide that walks you through the Lord’s prayer to unlock the power of prayer in your life today. Click the link in the description of this video to download today for free. 

Now I’d love to hear from you! What is your favorite benefit of prayer? Let’s encourage one another in the comments. 

If today’s video was an encouragement to you, please be sure to like and share today’s video because you just never know who may need some Beloved encouragement today.

As always, thank you so much for watching and until next time, be beautiful, be blessed, and be loved.

Content from today's video originally appeared on LifeAudio here: https://www.lifeaudio.com/teach-us-to-pray/episode-1-what-is-prayer