The power of prayer
“Can we reject the power of prayer today?” Prayer can be purely emotional, sentimental, or it can take a more scientific approach. It all depends on how you see praying. The correct prayer is the ‘Lord’s Prayer’ and the scriptures tell us how to pray. Proverbs 7 talks about the beginning of Wisdom and the fear of God (humility) and the Torah is the ‘Way’ to life, an instruction manual on how we should live our lives.
Not being a student of quantum physics, it can be difficult to understand the ‘science of God’. We read in Genesis, that in the beginning God spoke the Word and thus the Earth was born. When Christ spoke the Word, it was like that. We understand that the Scriptures are Spirit and that the holy men of God were moved by the Holy Spirit when they wrote with the pen of Inspiration. So if the scriptures are alive and of the Spirit, then shouldn’t one pray that they be of ‘Life and Spirit’? When we commune with Christ, is he not with us every part of the day?
In the book “The Power of Positive Thinking” the author ‘Norman Vincent Peale’ talks in one of his chapters about a gym owner who is explaining the letters APRPBWPRAA written on the wall of his office, the man inquires about the meaning of these letters, he simply responded by saying that these letters mean ‘Affirmative prayers release powers whereby positive results are achieved’. Isn’t it profound that powerful prayers produce positive results? So if the Scriptures give life and power behind the words, then when we pray for positive things from the Scriptures, shouldn’t they also give life?
How many of us have heard that the tongue can bring life or death? Aren’t our actions and words we say determined by our beliefs? For example, if you say negative things to yourself about yourself and others, aren’t you provoking a spirit of disbelief, doubt, and alternatively condemning yourself and those around you? Proverbs tells us about the power of the tongue, which gives life or death. Think about it, as people pray or talk, all this communication is encrypted as it ascends to heaven, records are taken, prayed at the altar, you’d think it would drive God crazy. Remember when Moses struck the rock, what he said “band of rebels” was momentarily lost and he forgot that he was acting under God-given authority? We have to be very careful how we talk to others and to ourselves.
Let us strive to be among the 144,000 with no deceit in our mouths, but let us love one another and remember when we pray, let us pray giving life to great prayers, prayers that can lead a nation back to God. Mordechai and Esther is a classic story of hope and together with God they became an unrecognizable force for the Jewish nation. So, brothers, let us pray positively and pray without ceasing, let us not fall asleep like the disciples because that hour is upon us.
By Craig McCartan