The Power of Prayer

by | Jun 11, 2012

Luke 1:8-13

Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.

Somehow I believe that if we really had a clue and totally believed in how powerful prayer is we would do more of it!  You look throughout scripture and see just how powerful prayer has been over the years;  people’s lives were saved, for example Lot and his family because of Abrahams prayers, there were multiple women who conceived children because of their prayers, like Samuel’s Mom, The Israelites were saved over and over through prayer! Our sins are forgiven and we are given the opportunity to spend eternity with God through prayer.  The possibilities are endless.

If you look at the whole chapter of Luke 1 you can see that Zechariah’s prayer wasn’t answered because he was a great man of faith.  I believe his prayers were answered because he and his wife Elisabeth lived lives of obedience.  They weren’t perfect, but they were daily striving to do the will of God and to be obedient above all else. Did they make mistakes, of course they did, they are human. Prayer is really not a complicated thing and God moving on our behalf isn’t really either. God will first and foremost do what is best for us but he does want to give us the desires of our hearts, whatever that may be but obedience comes first.

In the Old Testament when Saul disobeyed God, God had Samuel tell him that to obey was better than sacrifice. (1 Samuel 15:22)  Quite obviously obedience is a big deal to God, so start today; in what area of your life is God speaking to your heart that you need to be obedient in?  Now begin your day by asking God to take your obedience and prayer life to a whole new level.

Quote:  “Love doesn’t make the world go round, Love is what makes the ride worth

while.”  Franklin P. Jones

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