THE PRAYER THAT CHANGES THINGS
SCRIPTURE: Luke 18:5-7 NIV, “Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “…will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”
INTRODUCTION
Here we are encouraged to pray and not to give up
If we understood how much of God’s supernatural power is available through prayer, we would probably pray more.
There are different types of prayer:
Ephesians 6:18 NIV “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.”
There’s general prayer, intercession, praise & thanksgiving, of dedication, of tenacity, etc.
1. GOD WANTS TO ANSWER OUR PRAYERS
John 16:23-24“I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name.”24 “You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” NLT
John 15:7“But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” NLT
1 John 5:14-15“And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.” NLT
God tells us to praybecause He wants to answer our prayers, but He cannot answer a prayer until you pray.
James 4:2“You have not because you ask not.” KJV
James 4:3NLT, “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”
2. PRAY LIKE THE WIDOW PRAYED
Luke 18:5-7NIV, “Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” (Gk. ‘Beat me black and blue)
There are times when our prayers don’t seem to be answered.
Does that mean that He’s said “No!”
No! He’s simply asking us to persist in tenacious prayer like the story of the widow
Like a Fire Engine trying to put out a fire from a block of flats. Use a fire hose and not a garden hosepipe.
3. PRAY WITH AUTHORITY
Some people think that God is going to do what He’s going to do what He’s decided to do anyway so what’s the use of praying? We call this the sovereignty of God.
What’s going to happen is going to happen.
No, He has given us authority.
Matthew 28:18-19 NIV “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go…”
Luke 10:19 NIV “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”
The reason we prayis because we have authority and nothing will stop them from being answered. We’re praying to the supreme ruler of the universe.
4. PRAY
James 5:13-18“Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.” NLT
Prayer is mentioned 7 times in 6 verses because God is saying, take it to somebody who can do something about it.
I want to remind, you are that righteous person.
2Corithians 5:21God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
It doesn’t matter whether you feel righteous or not, if you’ve given your life to Christ, the bible says you’re righteous.
The bible says the earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.
George Muller was a great missionary who lived in the 1800s.
He is best known for the power of prayer and for establishing orphanages.
He lived a very worldly sinful life until he got saved at the age of 30.
He decided to go to missionary school because he felt he needed to become a missionary.
When he completed missionary school they wouldn’t send him out as a missionary because they felt he had lived a too wild life before he got saved.
He prayed about it for a full year and after a year he felt God was sending him to this specific city. When he got to that city, he went to the church wanting to speak to the pastor. They said, our pastor resigned last Sunday.
O, he said, I’ve just finished missionary school and I felt God had sent me to this city as a missionary. They said, ”You’re hired!”
The first thing he did was to implement tithing because the people hadn’t been tithing.
He put boxes beside the doors for the people to give their tithes.
Very soon they started orphanages, and in the late 1800’s their giving was $7,5 million.
They started more orphanages than anyone else in history.
He clothed, sheltered and educated over 10 000 orphans and established 117 schools which offered Christian education for 120,000 scholars.
How did he raise most of his funding? Through prayer.
When he got saved he had 5 close friends, but they were all unsaved.
So he started praying for them every single day.
It took ten years for three of them to get saved.
It took 25 years for the fourth one to get saved.
The fifth one got saved fifty something years later……he knelt at George Muller’s grave and gave his heart to Jesus.
If we misunderstand the sovereignty of God we’re not going take up our authority and we’re not going to pray and we’re not going to see breakthroughs.
5. PRAY BELIEVING
Luke 18:8 NIV “…However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Don’t allow your faith to wane
CONCLUSION
Remember the widow
Luke 18:5-7NIV, “Yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “…will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”
It’s not the length of our prayers that impresses God It’s how much heart is in them
It’s also not the volume with which we pray. Hannah just moved her lips and God answered her prayer.
Pray until you get breakthrough!
