I do not believe in the power of prayer! I believe only in the power of God. Prayer is nothing unless it is to God through Jesus Christ.
Nowadays we live in a world in which prayer is seen as a magic bullet, prayer for prayer's own sake. It is a sort of greeting to say; "I'll pray for you."
Prayer has no power if it is a prayer to say what you want, hoping what you want will happen merely through your words.
Because of the "word-faith" movement, people think their own words have power. Or, worse they think if they say a prayer God must answer it their way, because they told Him what they wanted. The lies of the "word-faith" movement have permeated most of Christendom today even if many would deny it.
The truth is that our prayers are useless and unheard if there is faith in the prayer itself. They are also useless if they are not to the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is not our puppet, He is God and we are to seek His will. As we express our desires to Him we must be willing to accept His will even if it does not match with our own desires.
Isaiah 1:14-16 "…14 I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 16 Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!…"
John 9:31
"We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will."
James 1:5-7 "…5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.…"
One cannot think in terms of asking God for His wisdom and His will while there remains pride at the very core of a person's being.
Those who are resistant to correction from other believers will not be able to hear from God. The very least a born-again believer should do when challenged with a correction, is to go to God and ask if it is true. If God confirms the correction then we should be praying for God to change our heart to be in line with His Word. If the correction is not addressed in the Bible then we can dismiss it as human wisdom or presumption that has no power over us.
In our day of continual lies and manipulation, we will be confronted by those who give unbiblical advice, spout human wisdom that does not reflect the heart of God, expect this to be in the churches widespread.
Only someone who is humble and compliant to God's Word will have their prayers answered. We live in a day fraught with arrogance and self-will. It will become rare to find someone who loves the Lord enough to humbly ask for His guidance.
James 4:2-3
"2 You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures."
If one prays to God and then sets out to make their own desires happen, and then claims it was God, these people will see trials they bring on themselves by; number one; claiming to be asking God when they are really demanding from God and two; claiming God did a miracle when He did not. This is lying as well as an attempt to manipulate God.
Our manipulation and demands toward God are a clear indication of someone who is not submitted to God.
When we love Him, when we know He is perfect then we will not presume anything from Him, we will humbly ask His will and be content with His answer. Sometimes it is His will to give us what we desire but it is not our place to make our own will happen and claim it was God's blessing.
1 John 5:14-15
“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”
Matthew 5:23-24
"23 Therefore, if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."
God will not accept our offerings of prayers nor will he even hear our prayers if we have not repented from sins against others.
Malachi 2:13-16
"13 And this is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and sighing, because He no longer gives attention to the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14 Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the Lord has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your marriage companion and your wife by covenant.
15 But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And why the one? He was seeking a godly offspring. Be careful then about your spirit, and see that none of you deals treacherously against the wife of your youth.
16 “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the Lord of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
God is speaking specifically about divorce here but the principle of not repenting still holds true for all sin against God and others. All sin against others is sin against God.
The trouble with our modern generation is that "freedom" has been elevated to a right in our country therefore the freedom to sin has overwhelmed the church gatherings.
The churches have defied God in many ways through the twisting of His Word and through ignoring those things they do not want to see within the pages of the Bible.
When we correct someone with the Bible in our church gatherings we are more than likely to be ignored, mocked, and even treated disrespectfully for our effort.
We need not be intimidated by this, but we must be aware of it as we are led by the Holy Spirit to speak the truth.
They did it to the prophets and they did it to Jesus Christ, we cannot expect to escape it ourselves.
John 15:18-25
Disciples’ Relation to the World
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they followed My word, they will follow yours also.
21 But all these things they will do to you on account of My name, because they do not know the One who sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.
23 The one who hates Me hates My Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 But this has happened so that the word that is written in their Law will be fulfilled: ‘They hated Me for no reason.’"
