The Power of Prayer

The Power of Prayer

Isaiah 37 v 14-20

14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. 15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: 16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. 18 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. 20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.”

   We still today after revival healings, and many other great miracles. They all had humble beginnings, covered in prayers. Matthew 18:20  “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Most prayers start in the heart, someone needs help, and some of them are born out of desperation, and not born out of greed.
   As for our verses, we see a great trouble had beset Hezekiah, the great King, because of the Assyrian invasion, and the imperious attitude of Rabahaketh the captain. ‘Trouble’ has been said to be “A divine diet for the new man”. It is more ‘profitable’ then it is ‘palatable’.

Here are 3 ways ‘The Power of Prayer’ can help, and direction and how simple prayers can overcome your troubles.
1) The Cause of his trouble
It was ‘a letter’, but a veritable one from ‘a messenger of Satan’, sent to buffet him. It is incredible in today’s techno-age one where we look at our ‘in-box’ for our ‘e-mails’ or maybe that of ‘Facebook; ‘Twitter’, or even ‘Instagram’. Yet still, the postman brings those dreaded ‘brown envelopes’, which here in the UK, would have normally meant a bill, or even that long awaited Hospital appointment. Or, deep within the postman’s bag there will be letters that bring warm regards from an old friend or family member. In fact who knows what the next post may herald. This was an attempt to ‘destroy his faith’ in God (v10), to dispossess him of ‘inheritance’, and to bring him into bondage. So much so the enemies of our souls are always active toward the same end. Their letters may be beautifully written, but they are terribly bitter.

2) What he did withit.
“.. he spread it before the Lord ..” (v14)
Because he did this solemn act, it revealed his faith in God. He never spread before the face of Heaven, instead before the face of The Almighty Personality. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Heb 11:6) "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him"
   While all I needed was the beginning of this verse, (as seen above) I reconsidered and included it all. Why this change of mind? Well, you will have to ask God, the next time you talk with His Almighty.
   I’m lead to say that this verse must go to show Gods thoroughness. It also shows that he spread it, he laid the whole matter ~ from the beginning to its end, all in front of Him. So, make sure your definite when you are dealing with God. In other words He wants your honesty, He wants you to be confident, as He wishes you to hold nothing back. Always remember, no matter what ails you, ‘mentally or physically’, He will always be interested, for after all He is our Heavenly Father.

3) How He succeeded
“.. The angel of the Lord..” (v36) ..became his defense. Whilst his argument was one of simplicity, it was also me that was so irresistible as well. “Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the Kingdoms of Earth may that you are Lord" (v20).
   When the Angel of the death spread his wings in the blast. Woe to those who fight the Kingdom of God .. “By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed” (Job 4 v9). The unbelievers will scoff and say; ‘it’s all just mumbo-jumbo; blah blah, or the back sliders will say ‘He never did anything for me/them' etc.
   It causes me much heart ache to hear these words. You see there are a couple of words that must go with ‘pray/prayer’ they are, Faith, you must have faith that your prayers ‘will’ be answered. May be not today, or, maybe not this week, but they ‘will’ be answered. My second word is ‘Believe’, for you must believe in God’s word otherwise what’s the point? So put them together, and with God in the mix everything is possible, I always say “have faith and believe” your prayers ‘WILL’ be answered. Is there any sorrow too great, or, circumstance too perplexing that the prayer cannot bring comfort and deliverance?   N O



“.. if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say
to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move;
and nothing will be impossible for you ..”  Math 17 v20

Proverbs 6 - The Wicked Man

3 .. The wicked Man

   Whilst these 2 sections are really one, I’m going to split them to make easier while we look at them. So then V12/15 are not within a tail from another book, but God might as well stood there and smacked us around the face with a wet fish, such as the language used. Asking ‘ are we such a person?’ If so time has come to wake up and smell the coffee. Most people will know someone like this, where each other word is a swear word.

   A parental action would be to tell you to avoid them, less you start to become one. I know someone of this ilk, at first I turned a deaf ear, till I asked them to use less swearing and behaving better ..

 V14 “..Perversity is in his heart, He devises evil continually, He sows discord..”

 .. where it was impacting on my life and how I treated my wife. If you found you have Cancer, you would not keep hold and promise to never remove it, no you have it removed asap.

V16/19 "..These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.."
Psalm 101 v5 “..Whoever secretly slanders his neighbour, Him I will destroy; The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, Him I will not endure..”

I think this could be our daily prayer..
Psalm 120 v2 “..Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips And from a deceitful tongue..”
… these things surly must be an abomination to us all, let alone God.
Proverbs 16 v18 “..Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall..”

   No matter how you dress up a pig, at the end of the day it is still a pig. When it’s wrong it’s wrong. Honesty here please, in my time on Gods green Earth I have met what I call pro-liers. This not meant in any way as a compliment.

V19  “..A false witness..”
Psalm 27 v12 “..Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me..”

It’s time to train that small muscle, your tongue lest you bare false witness. V15 “..Suddenly he/you shall be broken without remedy..”

The 3 C's

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The 3 Cs

   Today is a breeding for the 3 C’s, as we are tough. I would go as far as saying that from a young age we are brain washed as to what is acceptable. To the poi9nt we are made to be/feel an out-cast, if we feel nothing using the 3 C’s, in fact it’s OK, I hear you ask ‘What are the 3 C’s you’re talking about?

They are ….

·       Criticize . . to judge wrongly

·       Cursed . . .Foul language & calling names

·       Condemn . anyone falsely

   If you say ‘NO’ to any of the above, I will call you out and disagree with you. So lend me your conscience a while, so it may be . . . Challenged ~ Stretched ~ Tempered ~ even Questioned.

Ø Criticize . . to judge wrongly

Math 7 : 1  “. .Judge not, that you be not judged. .”

  In other words, if you don’t want others to judge you don’t judge them.,,

1 Kings 8 : 32  “. . hear in heaven, and act, and judge Your servants. .”

... You no matter if we stand in a quite darkened corner, or, stand on a busy street, we are foolish to think God is neither watching or listening to our false judgement of what ever see or hear.

   So what is it to judge someone who is appointed to pass the law? Although there is a supreme judge, he may be so, but be assured that ‘Only God’ truly knows the hearts of man, we can’t.

2 Chronicles 19^:6/7   “. .and said to the judges, Take heed

to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but

for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. ⁷ Now

therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take

care and do it. .”

   I want you to take time to answer these 3 questions honestly…

1.     In the UK.. How many of you have seen the advertisement of a car being driven fast down a country road, just as he loses control?

2.   Another advertisement, where after scoring for his football/Soccer, after having a pint of beer or 2 with friends after the match, on his way home looses control of his car, and crashes through the fence scything down the kids playing there?

3.   Lastly, and again let’s be honest here, have driven over the speed limit all the time?

John 8: 7  “. .He who is without sin among you, let

him throw a stone. .”

   Who loves a good action movie? Come on now be honest? Well, these films are normally rated at 15+ (in other words, this film is only suited for those over 15 years of age), because of the use of bad language and other content. OK then let me paint you a scene, There you are watching say ‘Lethal Weapon’, when there is a knock on the front door. When you open it to see who’s there, it’s Jesus. Mind if I come to hang out with you, when he sits down he asks what you watching as he sees a film paused. Will you still watch it or turn it off?

   Would you be comfortable with the bad language used often, or turn it off quick, hiding what you were comfortable watching before Jesus came around? Instead you turn off the TV. Yet you were happy to have lots of violence & bad language, But you turn off it because you feel it won’t be Jesus thing. How dare you! If you can show who we are 24/7, then we cannot judge others, because the judge on-high is always there taking notes on what we do ‘behind doors’.

1 Kings 8: 32  “. .Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants. .”

So next time instead of hiding things from our Lord, say this..

Psalm 7: 8&9  ^{“. .}The Lord shall judge the people: judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. .”

…Lets also praise each other, and build each other up, when we beat temptation.

1 peter 1: 13/16   ^“. .Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. .”

   Who is without partiality to ‘judge’ according to ones works, and conduct yourselves throughout time of your stay here, and yet fear knowing that you were not redeemed corruptible. . .But with precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish.

   Let me leave you at the end of the first ‘C~Critisize’ with this thought who stand in front of God as white as the day He washed us clean and redeemed us, think careful before you answer! 

(The next 2 C's will be up in the coming days)