Prayer is much more powerful than most people realize.

If you have an effective prayer life, it will not only keep you from being fearful and at the mercy of evil in the world today, but it will also connect you with the unlimited resources of an all-powerful God.

God wants a close relationship with you, and He loves to hear your voice calling His name. He cares about the details of your daily life and desires to be the one you run to with the situations you face.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is touched by the feeling of our infirmities and weaknesses and that, when we come to Him, we “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

You need to know this: God is for you and not against you, and it makes a difference when you pray!

Why Pray?
Praying to God brings His power into your situation just like it did for the Israelites in Psalm 107:28-30. This portion of scripture tells us: “They cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and He guided them to their desired haven.” Without God’s powerful intervention, they would most assuredly have been lost.

How about you: Do you have trouble? Are you in distress? Is there a storm raging around you? Cry out to God in prayer. He will hear you and bring you through the trouble, giving you the guidance you need. Prayer is powerful!

Answered Prayer
Answering prayer is God’s idea. The Bible tells us that the “fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”(James 5:16, NKJV). Aren’t you glad that His tremendous power is available to you and every person who has been made righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ?

You can be confident that God hears you and that He will answer when you pray “according to His will.” 1 John 5:14-15 says: “This is the confidence we have in approaching God; if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of Him.”

Knowing the will of God is not as difficult as you might think. You see, the Bible reveals His will to us. You could even say that God’s Word is His will. Whenever you read one of His promises in the Bible – and there are over 7,000 of them – you can be sure that is what God wants for you. As you pray the promises of God, you are praying according to His will.

Praying the Promises
In the same way each of us receives God’s gift of salvation, each of us must also take hold of and receive His other promises in prayer. Modern day evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke, does a great job of clarifying this.

He says, “God gives many things without being asked: rain, sunshine, winter and summer, but He planned that we should receive other things by asking for them. The list is long: salvation, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, guidance, to be equipped for spiritual battles, the gifts of the Spirit, power to witness, strength, boldness, relief from anxiety, anti-devil weapons, our daily bread, God’s will to be done in our life, relief from trials and temptations, healing, and much more.”

In 2 Corinthians 1:20-21, we read: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.” Please don’t miss the significance of these verses. Here, the Apostle Paul is pointing out that God made the promises, and they are “yes” to us because of what Christ did. So rather than talk about the problem, we need to pray God’s promises.

In Jeremiah 1:12 (AMP), the Lord says, “I am alert and active, watching over my Word to perform it.” As you put your trust in God’s promises from His Word and speak them over your situation, He hears and brings His Word to pass in your situation.

God’s Power
We need to keep in mind that our prayers are not powerful because of us. The power comes from God, and there isn’t anything He cannot do! Ephesians 3:20-21 tells us that He is able to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.”

We should also remember that prayer should never be reduced to a formula. God isn’t motivated by our eloquence or lack of it, and He doesn’t respond to prayer simply because of some ritual or pattern that is followed. He is much more interested in your heart than your method. He is looking for you to put your trust in Him.

Bible responses to questions about prayer:

Are there prerequisites to prayer?
For your prayers to be effective, you need to believe that God exists and that He will answer you when you wholeheartedly seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

Who do I address in prayer?
The Bible instructs us to pray to God the Father, in Jesus’ name. Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you” (John 16:23, NKJV).

What should I pray about?
Nothing is off limits in prayer. Philippians 4:6-7 (NKJV) instructs us: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

When should I pray?
1 Thessalonians 5:17 encourages us to “pray continually” and Ephesians 6:18 (NLT) tells us to, “Pray at all times and on every occasion in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

How should I approach God?
You can go boldly to God in prayer. Hebrews 4:16 (NKJV) says, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

What if I can’t put my prayer into words?
In those times, pray in the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26-27 (NKJV) tells us, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

In Conclusion…
God will not make you into a person of prayer, but that doesn’t mean you cannot become one. It starts with having a desire to pray, and if you want to be strong in prayer, discipline will be required. However, as you make spending time with God a priority, you will find that praying becomes a delight!

Your heavenly Father wants you to know that when you delight yourself in Him, He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). It’s true. He will place His desires inside you, and you will find yourself asking for the things He wants for you. As your will lines up with His, your prayers become powerful and filled with faith.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

You can experience powerful prayer!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(All scriptures are from the New International Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.)