Prayer is the greatest force on earth. Andrew Murray said, “We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and bring its power down to earth.” A locomotive has sufficient power to travel great distances from one place to another, but it can only travel to places where tracks have been laid. Prayer serves as the track for the power of the Spirit to run on. Our part is to lay down “prayer-tracks.” God is all-powerful. There is no question about that. Yet God works in conjunction with and through the prayers of His saints.
Prayer is the power on earth that moves the power in heaven. The kind of prayer needed today is not some worked-up feeling. It is wrought in our souls by the Holy Spirit Himself. Paul spoke of laboring and striving according to the power working mightily in him (Colossians 1:29). This mighty power still stirs in the souls of all intercessors.
Spurgeon remarked that the “power of prayer can never be overrated. They who cannot serve God by preaching need not regret. If a man can but pray he can do anything. He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and earth at his disposal.”
Intercession is the birthplace of miracles. The Bible is filled with examples of how history was altered because of intercessors. Here are a few:
- Joshua spoke to the Lord, and then commanded the sun to stand still. The sun became immobile in the midst of heaven for an entire day because “the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man” (Joshua 10:13–14).
- Elijah prayed, and the rain stopped. Then he prayed again, and the heavens were opened (James 5:17–18).
- Elijah prayed, and the fire fell, burning up the sacrifice and the altar (1 Kings 18:20–40).
- Elisha closed the door and prayed for a dead boy. Then he lay on his body, and the boy came back to life (2 Kings 4:32–34).
Pleading prayer is the birthplace for miracles.
“It is necessary to iterate and reiterate that prayer, as a mere habit, as a performance gone through by routine or in a professional way, is a dead and rotten thing. Such praying has no connection with the praying for which we plead,” said E. M. Bounds. To a large degree, it seems the work of God in a significant portion of the world is currently at an impasse. Let’s cry out for the mighty spirit of prayer to overtake our own hearts and the hearts of all of God’s people. …
* Taken from NEXT LEVEL PRAYING by Harold Vaughan. CLICK HERE to learn more.
