~David Brainerd
Case Study: Israeli King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20.
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death (the power to change
circumstance), and was heard (the
power to move God) in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience (the power to change you; the
intercessor) by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he
became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of
God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:7-10 (brackets and emphasis mine)
There are 3 scriptural dimensions of the power of prayer.
1. The power to move God
2. The power to change circumstance
3. The power to change you (the intercessor)
There is power in prayer to
move God. Hezekiah moved God by his tearful intercession.
God was moved to cancel the appointment He had made on Hezekiah’s account with
death. The prophetic word was reversed, and the prophetic messenger had to turn
back from the courtyard to assure the praying King who was still had his face
towards the wall in prayer. Prayer can rally all of heaven for the cause of one
man.
There is power in prayer to
change circumstance. A sepsis with a leg ulcer focus was claiming
the life of Hezekiah. His tearful intercession despite a prophetic edict
heralding his death changed the circumstance and brought him a healing word.
Not only was he healed, time as we know it was altered- the sundial was turned
backward by 10 degrees- because of heartfelt prayer.
One of our pastors in the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Abuja,
Nigeria was involved in a church building project. A blessed widow with only
one son was an immense blessing to that church. Every weekend, like clockwork,
she would bring her open-back vehicle loaded with cement to the church building
site and the labourers would off load the truck. This went on for quite a
while. One day, she drove in hysterical and jumped out of her vehicle with
cries of, “Pastor, I have brought your cement. Come and take your cement!”
Cement? It was not the usual day of the week she used to come with the bags of
cement; plus she appeared distraught. She didn’t want the site workers to off
load the cement today. She insisted that the pastor come carry it himself. When
he got to the truck to offload the ‘cement’, he was shocked to find the cold dead
body of the widow’s only son lying where cement should have been. The woman
kept screaming, “Pastor, oya, come
and carry your cement!” They picked up the body and carried it into the pastor’s
office. Ministers then began to pray asking God to restore the life of the boy.
The sorrow stricken widow sat just outside the door to the pastor’s office and
positioned herself so no minister could leave. All she kept saying to heaven
was, “Jesus, accept my cement. Jesus, please accept my cement!” This pastor and
his ministers prayed all manner of prayers for over 24 hours, but the boy did
not wake. About to give up, the pastor placed his Bible on the chest of the
dead boy and challenged God one last time. As he was about to walk out to the
child’s mother and walk away, the dead
boy sneezed. Breath returned into him. That is the power of prayer to change
circumstances.
There is power in prayer to
change you- the intercessor. Hezekiah prayed and he was
changed from a sick, death bound king stuck in bed to a healthy man who would
go up to the Lord’s house on the third day. As we pray, we should mutate. As
you pray, your heart should change to become more and more like Jesus. Prayer
carries power to change your motives, overhaul your decisions, transform your
character, modify your worldview, alter your perceptions and revise your
ideologies.
The caveat is this. Luke 1:37, For with God nothing shall be
impossible. It is with God that
nothing shall be impossible. Let us not give prayer the place of God. Some of
us read it in our religious mindset this way- For with prayer, nothing shall be impossible. No. We pray not just for
praying sake. We pray to the God who
is able to do the ‘impossible’. Don't make prayer an idol. Your faith should be
in God; not in religious prayer. Some demonic and fleshy prescriptions of 7
days of fasting, 6 nights of vigils, 7 hours of serious prayer with sweat,
Psalm 7 and a 7,000 naira offering as being the key to getting anything you
want in life are a misdirection. It is not prayer that saves you. It is God.
Prayers don’t just answer themselves. God answers prayers. God empowers prayer
to move Himself, the change circumstances, and to change us.
Prayer: Father reveal to me by experience, the power of prayer.
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