Power in Your Prayers

How to put Power in Your Prayers. A story is told of a fellow who always prayed the same prayer before going to bed. He became so bored with the prayer that he typed it out and tacked it to the wall. Then, each night when he crawled into bed he pointed to the prayer on the wall and said, "God, You can read it just as fast as I can say it."

Many people are like this man - they give up on prayer because of boredom or failure.

The Bible records the time when the Lord's disciples were unable to cast an evil spirit out of a boy. The child's father said to Jesus, "Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and ... oftimes he falleth into the fire .... and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him." Matthew 17:15, 16

Can you imagine the disciples' frustration as they gathered around the boy who tossed and writhed uncontrollably on the ground? They had prayed and rebuked the devil over and over again, but nothing had happened.

Then Jesus came and " ... rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour." Matthew 17:18. Afterward, the disciples took Jesus aside and asked, “... Why could not we cast him [the evil spirit] out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief.“ Matthew 17:19, 20.

Jesus reminded them of their need for faith in God. Then He added, "Howbeit, this kind (of devil) goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:21

Combine Fasting with Prayer

In difficult cases, you are wise to combine fasting with prayer. Fasting means to deny yourself pleasures and distractions such as food, drink and sex-in order to concentrate upon God.

As an example of this principle, the Apostle Paul instructs married couples, “... do not refuse these rights [of sexual intimacy] to each other. The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of both husband and wife to refrain from the rights of marriage for a limited time, so that they can give themselves more completely to prayer...." 1 Corinthians 7:5 (The Living Bible)

The moment you begin to pray about a great need, you enter into conflict with the dark forces of the spirit world. Remember that Paul says, “... we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world ...." Ephesians 6:12.

Fasting will give more power to your prayers. It will help you to be more alert spiritually because your heart, soul and body will be totally focused upon God.

During the days of Queen Esther, in 479 BC, King Ahasuerus' wicked adviser, Haman, plotted to destroy the Jews. Queen Esther, who was a Jewess, learned of Haman's plan and sent a message to all of her people to fast and pray for three days.

This was a great crisis and Esther wanted to be certain that their prayers had power!

Moses fasted 40 days and nights on Mount Sinai during the time when God gave him the Ten Commandments (Ex. 34:28).

Jesus fasted and prayed 40 days in the wilderness before He began His ministry. Notice verse 1 in Matthew 4: "Then was Jesus led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

Before launching into a period of protracted fasting, be sure you are being led by the Holy Spirit. Some people fast because they think it is a good way to diet or to show others how religious they are. These fasts don't win spiritual victories.

Power in Fasting