THE POWER OF PRAYER

Do you realize that movements on earth govern movements in heaven? Do you realize that a child of God in prayer affects decisions in heaven? The Lord declared:

“Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18).

So awesome is this power that it releases angels to do God’s bidding on the earth and binds demons as it destroys the purpose of the enemy!

Prayer – A Place of Supernatural Protection

Job tells us there is a secret place, known and available only to God’s children. And when God’s children enter into it, only then is the power of God activated on their behalf and on behalf of those in desperate need:

“There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it” (Job 28:7-8).

There is a path, a place which no fowl knows. That place is the secret place, that glorious place so secure and protected that no demonic power can find it. It is a place hidden in God that no vulture’s eye has seen. No demon on earth or satan, the enemy of our souls, has seen or knows. It is a place of refuge, a place of safety that no lion’s whelps (principalities and powers) pass by—not even the lion, satan. That place is the place of prayer. The psalmist tells us it is in that secret place that you will find the Lord to be your refuge and fortress, and it is in that secret place that He covers you with His wings so that no evil will befall you nor will any plague come nigh to your dwelling. That secret path, that secret place is prayer.

Prayer – A Place of Deliverance

Job 28:9 tells us that God puts forth His hand upon the rock and overturns mountains by the roots: It is only as we pray that obstacles are revoked from our path. It is there He makes for us a way of escape and sends His power to bring us out:

“He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing (verse 10).

It is as we seek Him that He binds floods from overflowing over our lives, protecting and keeping us, revealing to us His love and His will, for the thing that is hid, He brings forth to light:

“He bindeth the floods from overflowing, and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light” (verse 11).

Prayer is the only place of protection, deliverance, and revelation:

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. (Psalm 91:1-7)

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God sent us His royal invitation and said,

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3).

I am reminded of the words spoken by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as he led America through one of its most devastating years: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient for the day.”¹ Dangers and trials will also come our way, but if we obey the command of Proverbs 27:12, we cannot be defeated or overcome. We will prevail, for none who prays ever fails:

“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.”

Only as we hide in God—not like Adam who hid from God—can we find continual safety from harm. For God in His great love will warn us of coming dangers, yet He expects us to beware and hide in Him. Only the prudent know how to pray. The foolish neglect God and are punished. I will never forget the time I was invited to minister in a politically unstable nation in Africa. Great pressure was placed on me to accept the invitation, yet in my heart I felt something was wrong. I had no peace. I sought the Lord greatly concerning this, and in His grace He spoke to Oral Roberts who told me if I would go, I would be killed and that God would judge me for dying before my time. Prayer saved my life, and the purpose of God was accomplished:

“And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me”(Psalm 50:15).

Prayer Drives Away All Fear

David the king said:

Lord, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. (Psalm 3:1-4)

David’s enemies had increased greatly. Trouble was all around. They mocked his faith in God and said, “Who can help him now?” But David knew the secret of deliverance from trouble. He cried to the Lord and found Him to be a present help in time of trouble. You, too, will experience God’s power as you call on Him in your time of anguish and fear, for you will find Him to be your shield and the lifter of your head. And as you seek Him, He will fill you with His peace and cause your sleep to be sweet as He holds you in His arms and sustains you. Oh, the glorious power of prayer! Truly great peace belongs to those who know how to call upon the Lord. 1. Abraham Lincoln, as quoted in Albert M. Wells, comp., Inspiring Quotations, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1988), 159.