There is power in prayer!
By Dean Collins
If you were discouraged, needed wisdom or guidance, or were struggling with some illness or situation, who would you want to pray for you? While we might all say we want as many people as possible to pray for us, I bet you can think of a person or two who seems to be praying at a different level of intensity. When you hear that person pray, you experience a certain confidence that God is listening and will respond.
There are many prayers in scripture that give us that kind of confidence. Paul prays some beautiful prayers in his epistles. Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 1 comes to mind. Just the first verse makes you want to hear more of her prayer: “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.”
What about Solomon’s prayer of dedication of the temple? And what about Elijah’s prayer on Mt Carmel?:
“And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”
King David wrote many beautiful and powerful prayers in Psalms as well. David’s prayers span a wide range, including majestic praise, heartfelt grief, repentance, and often soliciting God’s presence as a refuge. Psalm 57 is a prayer for God to be both a refuge and a rescuer. As David prays, we can sense his great need as he asks God to be merciful twice in the first verse:
“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me.”
Just like David, when we pray, we often repeat our requests out of desperation. David felt that, too. David’s intensity is also a declaration of confidence in God. He continues his prayer, “For in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge.”
David declares to God that God and God alone is his refuge. He cannot save himself. God must intervene, and David declares that he will stay put in the shadow of God’s wings until he does. That is confidence in the Almighty which translates to peace and protection.
How long will David stay in the shadow of God’s wings? “Till the storms of destruction pass by.” There is a great lesson here for us, one that it is hard to remember in the middle of the storm. All storms will and do pass by. Some blow through our lives quickly, and others seem to last beyond what we believe are our limits. But all storms eventually pass by, and God is our refuge all the way through the storms.
As David continues, he gives us another great example of how to pray:
“I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”
Even as David cries out to God for help, he also declares that God will fulfill his purpose in his life. We probably both need that reminder from time to time. Sometimes, in the middle of difficult situations we may wonder what God is doing. It may just be that he is fulfilling his purpose for us, even as we suffer. Jesus went through great suffering as he fulfilled his mission and the purpose of his life.
When I am in great need, I have often phoned a friend and asked them to pray for me, and of course friends always say they will, and they do. But sometimes I follow with, “Can you pray with me now?” I need to hear their confident prayer. One way God answers our prayers is by using other people to stand with us in times of struggle. It is one way God does what David says at the end of verse three: “God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness!” God often sends out his love and his faithfulness through fellow believers who come alongside us.
We can and must pray for each other. But we can also use all the powerful prayers in scripture and offer them back to the Lord as we come to him with our burdens and as we pray for others. I wonder if there is some beautiful music around the throne of heaven of many of these biblical prayers as they rise to God.
Father, thank you for the gift of scripture that contains the rich prayers of the saints, calling out to you in need and in victory. Thank you for teaching us to pray. Today we cry out to you, our most high God, fully trusting that you will fulfill your purpose in us. We are confident in your steadfast love for us and in your faithfulness. Be merciful to us, O God, as we come in love and confidence that you hear us and will meet every need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Psalm 57:1-3; 1 Kings 18:36-37 ESV
Photo by Rosie Sun on Unsplash
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