Brethren, the theme of our lecture is the efficacy of prayers.
Your greatest problem in life is that many of you do not believe in the power
of prayers. You do not understand that prayer is the only medium through which
your request can be made to God, and it is only by prayers that God can grant
your requests, of course through intercession by Our Lord Jesus Christ.
What Is Prayer?
Prayer is the expression of man's dependence upon God for all
things.
It is a means of grace that has a large value, for it affords the privilege of
close communion with God especially when one is alone with Him in supplication.
In Matthew 16:18, Our Lord Jesus Christ said to Peter:
"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I shall built my church, and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it, and I will give unto you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven." The keys purported to have been handed over to
Peter was a symbol of Prayers, and that is why it is parabolically said
that: "Prayer is the key of heaven, and Faith unlocks the door."
As a child of God, whatever are the circumstances confronting you,
do not quarrel or fight with, abuse or curse any person. Do not murmur or
blaspheme against God. But tell God your desires. "Let your moderation be
known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in
everything by Prayer and Supplication, with Thanksgiving let your requests be
known unto God." Phil 4:5-6. St. Matthew in his gospel directs:
"And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing you will
receive." (Matt 21:22). Once you make your requests known to God,
the God of peace who passes all understanding, will grant all your requests.
Is there any of you who believes fervently in the power of prayer?
Your greatest handicap is that you do not pray always. You either feign shy or
feel too lazy to pray. Realizing that prayer affords you the privilege of close
communication with God, you should pray always. St. Paul in his First
Epistle to the Thessalonians 5:17 confirms that people should pray
unceasingly.
This is further confirmed by Acts 6:4, when the Apostles
declared: "We will give ourselves continually to prayers," and Luke
18:1: "Men ought always to pray and not to faint." Wherever you
find yourself kneel, knock your head on the ground, and give thanks to God,
requesting Him to do what you wish, and He will not fail to do it for you. No
matter your difficulties and problems, never be worried. Do not quarrel at all.
Simply communicate with your Father. He will readily solve your problems and
difficulties. If you are hungry, He will fill you abundantly. Whether you are
poor and wretched, sick and helpless, have a difficult case in the court, do
not tell any person but communicate your problems to the Father in prayers. He
will enrich you, heal you, discharge and acquit you.
If you are a hardened criminal, whether you are a thief, a liar, a
fornicator, a murderer, place it before your Father and ask that He should
change you and cause you to forsake these vices. He will graciously do it.
If you consider that you cannot be socialized with the attributes
of the kingdom, whether love, truth, honesty, patience, humility, self-control,
simply kneel down and commune with the Father, and He will endow you with these
attributes. If you are recalcitrant, or always annoyed, do not worry yourself,
just tell your Father in prayers, and He will take them away.
It is the height of stupidity and dishonor to testify that you
have refrained from fornication and theft, not knowing you are exposing
yourself to danger. Simply confess to the Father and He will right all wrongs.
Illustration
I want to use an earthly situation to illustrate a heavenly
situation for you. There was a certain village which was always invaded by
thieves and robbers who molested the villagers. Before visiting any person's
house for the purpose of plundering, they would send a letter informing the
person of their intention to visit on a scheduled date. Everything was done to
stop their activities but there was no success. The government could not
legislate against them, the Police could not control them because they had
their own police and army.
On one fine night a wealthy woman, realizing the situation of
things knelt down and started to pray that God should provide employment for
all the thieves and robbers because it was not their pleasure to steal but
because of lack of employment. As she was praying, little did she know that the
thieves had already taken positions in the compound and even inside her rooms.
The spies among them had already hidden under the bed. She did not quite end
her prayer before the robbers started coming out one by one, masked to hide
their identity. They all expressed surprise at the type of prayer she offered,
and that they thought she would abuse and curse them for their actions. They
told her that since she did not utter disgraceful and abusive words, they would
go back without taking anything from her house, and that no robbers will ever
break into her house and steal. They confirmed in their confession that it was
not their pleasure to continue to molest innocent people but that they had
neither jobs nor any form of livelihood to maintain their families, some of
which had a numerical strength of twelve. They could not feed and clothe them.
They were only forced by circumstances to steal.
Their explanation evoked a deep sympathy from the woman who was
moved to give them money, but they maintained that they would not take anything
from her since she had prayed God to provide them with jobs. Having been
impressed by the woman's action they went away with the hope that God would
provide them with employment. The woman's prayer worked like magic. That same
week all of them gained employment in fulfillment of the woman's request, and
the activities of invasion and piracy ended automatically. That is the Efficacy
of Prayer.
God Is Your Only Hope
How many of you believe in the moral of this story? As a result of
your lack of patience, you beat up people, thrash your children, take others to
court in order to compel compliance instead of taking everything to God in
prayer. You can force a horse to the stream, but you cannot force it to drink.
Why do you not take your requests to your Father? Whenever you are faced with
any situation you cannot solve, just go into your room, kneel down, knock your
head on the ground and give thanks to God mentioning the problem. If you have
no money, ask Him and He will give you. But if you rather go to people to
assist you in your penury, no person will be ready to help you.
If You Have Trails And Temptation, Take It To God In Prayers
It is not advisable to report your problems to your fellow man.
Tell them to the Father who has the answer for everything. Do not lobby or
bribe your boss to promote you, for he will not be able to do it. Pray to God,
and He will promote you. If your house is on fire, do not invite the fire
brigade, for they may delay; but pray to the Father, and He will extinguish the
fire when you least expected.
Pray to Avert Temptation
At any moment of your life, prayer is very efficacious. Our Lord
Jesus Christ realized this fact; and that was why during the time of His trial,
the most critical period of His life, advised His disciples to watch and pray
lest they enter into temptation. Matthew 26:36-41 "Then cometh
Jesus with them into a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples,
Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two
sons of Zebedee, and began to be very sorrowful and very heavy.
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even
unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed
saying, O, my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:
nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and
saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me for one hour?
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
You do not appear to believe the power of prayers because when you
are asked to pray unceasingly, you want to do everything by the promptings of
the flesh. But you do not start to serve God yet. A similar key given to
Peter has been given to you in this age, that you should pray unceasingly and
that you should make your requests known to God by prayer and supplication.
Pray Without Ceasing
If you read Acts 4 you will discover what happened to the
Apostles and how they were saved through prayers. When they had been
threatened, the Apostles lifted up their voices in prayer:
Acts 4:29: "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings; and grant unto
thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word." Acts
4:31:"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were
assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they
spake the word of God with boldness."
You who lament, cry and weep, stop crying and tell your Father all
your requests. Pray any moment of your life. That is why he advises that you
should refrain from sin because if you begrudge any person, your prayers will
be hindered. You can solve all you problems with prayers. That was why
Peter and John answered and said unto them, in Acts 4:19-21:"Whether
it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than God, judge ye.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they
had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might
punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which
was done."
It is through prayer that the Gospel came down, and through the
Gospel everything is calmed down. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans
15:30-31 said: "Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus
Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me
in your prayers to God for me; That I may be delivered from them that do not
believe in Judea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be
accepted of the saints."
In everything with prayer and supplication let you request be
known to God, and the God of peace who passes all understanding shall keep your
heart and mind through Christ Jesus.
Paul knew the efficacy of prayer that was why he always asked that
he should be prayed for. Prayer solves all sorts of problems. There is
nothing that prayer cannot accomplish. James in his general epistle
5:16-18, bears eloquent testimony when he said:
"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he
prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the
space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave
rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit."
I have taught you everything but you do not want to understand and
experiment if prayer can or cannot do anything at all. When you read Isaiah
37:1-36, you will discover the real power of prayer. From the distant past,
there was nothing prayers could not do. At any state of your life, pray to God
to guide you. When you are undertaking a journey, pray to God. If you are
serving, pray to God first. A spiritual chorus says those who pray will have life.
Always remember the efficacy of prayers.
Here endeth our short lecture. Amen
Thank You Father.
No comments:
Post a Comment