Devotional
for the week—12 February 2007
Prayer—Key
to Revival: —What Prayer Accomplishes?
Scripture Text : Exodus
17
A sunday
school teacher once asked her class of little children “And
why is it necessary to be quiet in church?”
One bright little girl replied, “Because the people
are sleeping.”
Because the people are sleeping!
Jesus said in Matthew 21:13 that “My house shall
be called a house of prayer for all nations….”
The little girl’s reply may sound humorous but it
really does show the sad truth of what has become of the prayer
life of many churches. If prayer is that important, why is it that
so few Christians pray? How
can we develop a great desire to prayer?
Today’s text gives us a glimpse
into the life of Moses, a great man of prayer. The Israelites were always complaining to
Moses and in Exodus 17:1 to 4, they did not just complain (this
time about the lack of water), they were ready to stone Moses. Another life threatening episode takes place
not long after when the Amalekites came
and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim
(Exodus 17: 8). Both times,
Moses’ instinctive reaction was to cry out to God and God
was faithful to respond with instructions and power.
After turning to God in prayer, Moses could return to the
situation he found himself in and speak with authority.
When Moses prayed, he was enabled by God to bring forth
water from a rock. Because
of Moses’ prayers, the Israelites could defeat the Amalekites
whenever Moses’ arms were raised.
The Amalekites were the descendants of Esau. Esau hated Jacob who was his brother and the
forefather of the Israelites.
The Amalekites had motive and power as they were far superior
to the Israelites in fighting power and yet they were defeated
as a result of 1 man’s prayer.
Moses developed a life of prayer and was able to handle
victoriously the many difficult situations that he faced daily.
When
we develop a prayer life, a few things happen.
1. Prayer
opens the heaven over me
Luke 3:21 tells us that when Jesus was praying
at his baptism, the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form
like a dove. In 2 Chronicles
7: 3-14, God told Solomon that He shut up the heavens on account
of the Israelites’ wickedness but if the Israelites would
turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves, pray and seek God, God will forgive their sin.
An open heaven speaks of God’s favour.
When we pray, God hears us and grants us His favour.
2. Prayer brings down the Holy Spirit
to me
In Acts 1 and 2, we are told that
Jesus’ disciples “joined together constantly in prayer”
and at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came and filled them all. The Holy Spirit prompts us, teaching us and
leading us into all truths (John 16:3).
In Romans 8:26 for example, we are reminded that the Holy
Spirit helps us in our weaknesses and when we do not know how
to pray, the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that
words cannot express.
3. Prayer brings down the power of
the Holy Spirit
Great acts for God are accomplished
not by power nor by might but by God’s Spirit (Zechariah
4:6). Prayer enables us
to have the power of the Holy Spirit.
We see this in Jesus’ life.
After praying all night, Jesus was able to heal many diseases
and the Bible records that people were trying to touch Jesus because
power was coming from Him and healing them all (Luke 6:12, 18
-19). Jesus also prayed
at the garden of Gethsemane so that He would have the strength
to withstand the awesome task that lay before him (Matthew 26:36).
4. Prayer - breaks bondages and pushes away the devil’s
influence
Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4
that “For though we live in this world, we do not wage war
as the world does. The
weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.”
One of the most powerful weapons a Christian has is prayer.
Paul recognized this when he exhorted the believers to
pray without ceasing. In
Ephesians 6:18, Paul urged the early converts to “pray in
the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying
for all the saints.” He
knew that in those early days as the church was being built, the
devil would work strongly to demolish it and as such, much prayer
would be required to protect all the workers of Christ.
At no time was the church to slacken in their prayer life
and when they prayed, they were to pray about everything.
Nothing was too small that could not be prayed about.
At the same time, some prayers were to be specific, in
that case, for the workers of Christ.
On the prayers of the early believers, the church flourished
and was sustained.
Prayer enables us to overcome the
temptations that the devil puts before us.
When the devil met Jesus in the desert, the devil tempted
Jesus with powerful temptations of world power, domination and
the meeting of immediate needs.
Jesus was able to reject the temptation and stand firm
in the word of God because He had been praying and fasting for
40 days before the temptations were made. Jesus knew this secret to facing temptation
and taught it to His disciples.
In Matthew 26:41, Jesus told his disciples to “watch
and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” God knows that in our own human strength,
there are certain things which we cannot overcome and these temptations
can only be dealt with using prayer.
Our physical strength comes from what we feed on.
Likewise, if we nourish our spirit well, we will become
spiritually strong. If
we neglect our body or spirit, we will become mal-nourished and
weak and susceptible to illness.
Prayer brings answers. When Daniel was deeply troubled by the visions
he had been seeing about the future, he prayed intently about
it. The moment Daniel prayed,
God immediately sent one of His angels to go to Daniel to explain
matters. This angel was delayed only because the prince
of the Persian kingdom blocked the angel’s way. When help was sent, the angel could go to
Daniel and explain the visions (Daniel 10:12 to 13).
5. Prayer – changes us (to
make us more like God)
When we encounter God in prayer,
we will be aware of God’s immense holiness and be utterly
convicted of our sin (Isaiah 6: 1-3).
Prayer will also transform us, causing us to lead changed
lives (Luke 9: 28-29). The change in our lives will be evident, just
as it was evident when Moses saw God and came back to the people
with a radiant face in Exodus 3.
However, when our lives are changed, we will also sense
a separation of ourselves from worldly influences and supporters.
Going forward, what must we do?
We should exercise discipline in our spiritual lives.
Prioritise prayer. Make
appointments with God and keep them. Jesus sanctified Himself through prayer (John
17) – shouldn’t we do the same?
Prayer
Response
Dear God, thank you for reminding
me of the importance of prayer.
Help me to desire to spend time with you through prayer. Guide me through prayer and cause me to have
a changed life. Amen.
Devotional
based on a sermon by Rev Vincent Goh.