Power in Prayer rather Power Behind Prayer

Prayer is seeking the heart of God... and that is the Power of Prayer...

But let's explore a bit of what this means and does not mean.

1. It means that we connect with the heart of God.

In connecting with the heart of God one will see God move in action. Some teach that we can by our prayers "move" God... yet it is not that our prayers "move" God in the sense that we make Him do our bidding, rather God is moved with compassion by our earnest prayer.

The Old Testament is full of verses of statements like in 1 Kings 9: 3. "The LORD said to him: "I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me:"
In which God does something to honor the faith that was displayed. There are many other references in which God states plainly that He "heard the prayer" and responds to the prayer.

Now, again it is not about "moving" God as in some sort of controlling Him. It is the idea that God, being of great compassion responds to faith. This is more like when Jesus saw the people's faith and responded to it by healing them, which leads me to point two.

2. It does not mean we in our prayer have some power to make God do something.

We cannot "make" God do anything. God wants us to be subject to His will and never has God been subject to the will of man. Even Jesus stated that "I lay down my life" so even His death was by His own will. In no way is the "Power of Prayer" about that... most realize this outside of some in the Word of Faith movement... yet most of those have reduced Jesus to the equivalent of a "Soda Pop machine in the sky".

3. The Power of Prayer is the Union of our spirit and the Holy Spirit seeking out God's will and purpose so we may line up with it. It is about changing us. The "Power" is the Holy Spirit working in us... as we "pray".

Some claim we do not "believe in prayer" yet to say that is like saying we do not believe in clouds or the moon. It does exist so if someone objects to that "phrasing" is a bit silly. Yet, in agreement there is at no time one worships or believes that prayer is the end all of power in and of itself. Prayer as i have said is a connection. It is the union of mortal and divine and opens mere man to the Power that is God.

We must be careful not to worship the power of God at the expense of God, nor worship the power of prayer at the expense of God in Whom we are praying to.

Yet, the "power of prayer" as a phrase is not unbiblical, and as one grows more and more in Christ one finds that like we need the power of oxygen to use as "fuel" for our bodies, so prayer becomes as if it is the air we breathe... it is a life giving force if connected to the Life of Christ otherwise we are just as well shouting into the wind.


Blessings,
iggy