THE JOY AND POWER OF PRAYER

Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; – Colossians 4:2

“Something supernatural happens when you pray an hour a day…the desire to pray becomes firmly planted in the soil of your heart by the Spirit of God. This desire…matures into the discipline to pray. Then one day you discover that…the discipline of prayer has borne the fruit of delight. You find yourself longing for your daily time with God.

The supernatural work of prayer continues and begins to possess and reshape every area of your life. You notice that your heart is no longer devoid of the presence and promises of God. You discover how to set, maintain and pray God’s priorities in your life; you learn how to appropriate God’s provisions for your needs. Life moves into a new dimension as you begin to experience greater joy and fulfilment in your relationships with people. And as you begin to walk, not in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the spirit, you discover how to move in the power of God and stand in the victory Jesus has won for you.

Think about it: What transformed the slumbering disciples, disheartened believers and vacillating followers pictured in the final chapters of the Gospels into the determined, driving, unified army of the book of Acts? What made them into a mighty, spiritual army that seized difficulties and turned them into opportunities; an army characterized by clear-headed, incisive decisions instead of foggy thinking and confusion; an army that, in one generation, turned the world upside down for Jesus Christ? Prayer. Prayer that unleashed the power of God and tapped into His infinite resources.

What will transform the slumbering disciples, disheartened believers and vacillating followers today into a mighty. marching army with deliverance as its song and healing in its hands? Prayer. Prayer that snatches the victories Jesus won for us out of Satan’s greedy clutches. Prayer that storms the gates of hell.

…As you learn to pray the way Jesus taught us to pray, your prayer life will no longer be a frustrating, hit-or-miss experience; instead, tarrying with the Lord an hour in prayer will actually become easy and natural.”