The Awesome Power of Anointed Prayer
April 2022 |
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” —Jeremiah 33:3
“Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” —Acts 12:5
I still remember the fall of 1962. I was a student at Southwestern Assemblies of God College in Waxahachie, Texas. On a given day, while in my English class, a person interrupted the class and requested to speak to me. Professor Louise Harrison released me to step to the hall to see what was needed. The staff member told me that the college had received a phone call from some member of my family telling them to tell me that my mother was extremely ill and in the hospital there in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Her stomach ulcer had begun to bleed considerably and if it did not stop, she would soon die. The doctor said they had done all they could do.
I walked back into my English class weeping. Sister Harrison saw my tears and asked, “Don, what is wrong?” I quickly blurted out the situation. She instructed the class to pray. For the next thirty or forty minutes, about twenty-five students began to pray and intercede for my mother. The classroom became a mighty prayer room, and the prayer became a roar of cries and words asking God for a miracle. Finally, the bell rang, and class was dismissed. I left the classroom and found a phone to call home.
I believe it was my sister, Sue, who answered the phone and told me that our mother was now okay. I asked Sue, “When did the hemorrhaging cease?” She told me the time, and it was the exact time that our class had gone into Holy Ghost prayer. God heard our prayers and gave my mother a miracle of healing. Dear friend, prayer changes things.
The Old Testament prophet Jeremiah proclaimed, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jer. 33:3).
The writer of Hebrews 4:16 wrote, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
In Acts12:1-19, we read the story of the apostle James being arrested by King Herod and slain by a sword and immediately it is followed by the apostle Peter being arrested and placed in prison, bound by chains controlled by several soldiers. Circumstances looked very bad for Peter and the entire Jerusalem church. But read on to see what God does.
Acts 12:5 says, “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”
As you continue reading Acts 12, you will see that God performs an incredible miracle. The Almighty God ordered a divine intervention and released an angel to leave Heaven to go to the planet called Earth, to go to the city of Jerusalem to rescue the apostle Peter from a dark, stinky, ugly prison.
Peter is in prison, lying there trying to sleep between two soldiers with his hands chained. Out of the blue, the angel of God awakens Peter, urges him to get dressed, and says, “Follow me.”
Someway, the angel of God leads him past the guards, through the doors, down the hallways, and through the iron gate on to the street. For a moment, he wonders if it was a dream, but he quickly realizes that God sent a real angel to save him from death.
Peter rushes back to the house in Jerusalem where the disciples were meeting and praying. He knocks on the door, and it is answered by Rhoda. After some hesitation, she returns to the door, opens it, and allows the apostle Peter to enter. It seems that the apostle gives a quick report of what happened.
Dear friend, can you imagine with me how that group of believers reacted when they heard the incredible report from the apostle Peter? There had to have been a lot of hallelujahs and glory to God shouts in that house! Just to read it now makes me want to shout a little.
In Acts 12:19, Peter quickly begins his journey from Jerusalem to Caesarea. You will recall that he knew Cornelius in Caesarea where he had conducted a great Holy Ghost revival service. He probably stayed with Cornelius to get away from Herod.
Listen carefully, dear reader, there is power in anointed prayer! Not just any kind of prayer—anointed prayer.
I teach that there are five specific kinds of prayers, all important to living victoriously:
- The prayer of adoration and worship
- The prayer of repentance and confession
- The prayer of thanksgiving and praise
- The prayer of supplication and petition
- The prayer of intercession for others
In respect to the awesome power of anointed prayer, let me share eight very important truths:
- We must boldly approach the throne of grace in sincerity and humility (Ps. 34:18, II Chron. 7:14, Ps. 51:1-17, Heb. 4:16.)
- We must realize that every gift of God, salvation, Spirit baptism, healing, etc. come by way of the cross (Rom. 3:25, I Cor.17-18, I Cor. 11:27, Ephesians 2:13, Heb. 10:19)
- We are given divine authority when we pray according to His will, in the name of Jesus (Matt. 16:18-19, John 14:13-14, Acts 3:6, I John 5:14).
- We must understand the absolute necessity of real faith in Christ and God’s Word (Heb. 6:12, 10:22-23, 11:6; Matt. 21:22, I John 5:4, 14-15).
- We must know the importance of persevering in faith and prayer (Luke 11:8, Eph. 6:18, James 1:3-4, Heb. 6:12, 10:36; Jude 20).
- We must understand the power of two or more praying the prayer of agreement (Matt. 18:19-20, James 5:14-15).
- We must not forget that Christ is interceding for the church (Acts 7:55-56, Rom. 8:34, Heb. 7:25).
- We must never minimize the importance of praying in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:26, Jude 20, I Cor. 14:14).
In closing, we must remember Paul’s admonition in Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
And remember Jude 20: “But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.”
|
|
