POWER IN PRAYER

“…if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14 ESV).

“Prayer may well be the most fragile of all God-given means of grace.  I say that not because prayer itself is weak, but because its effectiveness depends largely on the attitudes and wills of very weak people” Carol J. Ruvolo (ref#228, p100).

Yet…”We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God” Westminster Larger Catechism Q/A 185 (ref#228, p9).

 “…The prayer of a person living right with God is something powerful to be reckoned with…” (James 5:16-18 MSG).

“…prayer still remains…the power that is allowed to hold the hand that holds the destinies of the universe” Andrew Murray (ref#19, EIGHTEENTH LESSON).

“It was said of Luther that he prayed ‘with as much reverence as if he were praying to God, and with as much boldness as if he had been speaking to a friend.’” David McIntyre (ref#65, p98).

“…if Christian individuals and Christian communities are impotent, there is no difficulty in understanding why…They lack faith; and so their power is weakness….’Why could you not cast him out?  Because you do not believe that I, working in you, can cast him out.  That is why; and the only why.’  Let us learn that the secret of Christians’ weakness is the weakness of their Christian faith” MacLaren Expositions on Holy Scripture (ref#242, [John 14:12-14]).

“The praying of Elijah is a demonstration of the supernatural power of prayer” Samuel Chadwick (ref#4, p86).  “Hear him plead the honor of God and cry unto the Lord for the affliction of the people.  It is always the same: Abraham pleading for Sodom, Jacob wrestling in the stillness of the night, Moses standing in the breach, Hannah intoxicated with sorrow, David heartbroken with remorse and grief—Jesus in a sweat of blood….It turns ordinary mortals into men of power.  It brings power….There is no power like that of prevailing prayer” Samuel Chadwick (ref#4, p90).

“Power is the recompense of prayer.  It takes us long to learn that prayer is more important than organization, more powerful than armies, more influential than wealth, and mightier than all learning.  Prevailing prayer makes men invincible” Samuel Chadwick (ref#4, p81).