The Power of Simple Prayer: How to Talk With God About Everything Read online

  You may not have arrived at your final destination, but you can thank God you are on the pathway that will take you there. As long as you are making progress, it really does not matter if you are crawling, walking, or running. Just keep pressing on!

  SUMMARY

  God does want us to enjoy set-apart times of prayer, but He has so much more for us! He longs for us to pray simple prayers to Him on a continual basis. He wants us to live a life of prayer and to pray our way through every day. His desire is for our hearts to be sensitive to the many things He does for us and to remember to offer a quick “Thank You, Lord!” He is eager for us to ask Him for everything we need in every situation and to keep a running dialog with Him as we go about the activities of our lives. God loves us; He wants us to be aware of His presence at all times; and He wants to be in constant communion with us as we make prayer a way of life.

  We never stop learning to pray more effectively and we never stop discovering the riches of communicating with God. As we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, our prayer lives become richer, deeper, more exciting, and more effective. Prayer is a progressive experience and we keep growing in it as we keep going in it. If we will stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit, pray God’s prayers, and be willing to make adjustments in the way we pray as He directs, He will keep leading us to new places of maturity in our spiritual lives and to new levels of intimacy in prayer.

  Prayer Points

  • We are to pray “at all times, on every occasion, in every season.” We can pray anytime, anywhere, and prayer should be as easy and as natural as breathing.

  • Thinking I should pray about such-and-such when I pray is a stall tactic of the enemy. God hears sincere, short, immediate prayers just as much as He hears all other prayers.

  • Most of us live busy lives, but we can pray in the midst of doing other things. We need to make the most of the time we have.

  • We are also to pray “in the Spirit,” which means praying God’s prayers instead of our own and letting the Holy Spirit lead us as we pray.

  • Remember that prayer is progressive. When something seems to be missing in our prayer lives, God may be wanting to take us to a new level of maturity, faith, or effectiveness of expression in prayer.

  • God wants us to pray, and He wants us to enjoy praying.

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  The Power of Prayer

  I believe that prayer is one of the greatest powers available in the entire universe. That’s a bold statement, I know, given the other kinds of power that are available today, but I am convinced beyond the slightest doubt that it is true. When we think of atomic power, we think of forces greater than we can imagine. When we think of something as basic as fuel power in a motorcycle on the highway, we think of something extremely noisy, intense, and potentially dangerous.

  But every kind of power we encounter on earth means nothing in heaven. Atomic power could wipe out an entire city of people, but it cannot give them eternal life. This power once commanded the attention of every nation on earth, but it never healed a broken heart. Fuel power takes us where we want to go in the world, but it does not help us make any spiritual progress in our lives or move forward in God. The power we know of in the physical world is natural, but prayer power is spiritual. As I mentioned earlier, prayer opens the door for God to work. It is the activity that you and I can engage in on earth when we need the power of heaven to come into our lives and bring wisdom, direction, encouragement, or a miraculous breakthrough. Prayer releases the power of God Almighty into our daily lives and the power of prayer is that it connects us to the power of God—and that is why it is a greater force than anything else we can ever imagine.

  Only the power of prayer can move the hand of God. And only the power of God can change an individual heart, free a person from bondage and torment, overturn disappointments and devastations, break the power of an addiction, or heal a person’s emotions. Only God’s power can bring peace, instill joy, grant wisdom, impart a sense of value and purpose to a person who doesn’t know what to do in life, and work every kind of miracle. Only God’s power can restore trust and intimacy to a marriage in which both people are so angry and hurt that divorce seems to be the only option. In fact, did you know that the current divorce rate in the United States is 50 percent, but that when couples pray together in their home, the divorce rate is only .3 percent?1 Now that is a testimony to God’s power and to the power of prayer.

  The awesome, tremendous power of God—the greatest release of power in the universe—is released in our lives through simple, faith-filled prayer. Because we can pray, we are ordinary people with extraordinary power; we are natural people who can live supernatural lives. We can overcome problems we thought we could never overcome; we can do things people do not believe we can do; we can make brilliant decisions; we can walk in victory over the big challenges in our lives and over the everyday hassles—as long as we are connected to the power of God, which is only possible through prayer.

  Because we can pray, we are ordinary people with extraordinary power; we are natural people who can live supernatural lives.

  PRAYER RELEASES GOD’S POWER

  We all need God’s power in our lives, and prayer is the dynamic that releases His power, sometimes in dramatic ways. One of the best biblical examples of this is the story of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, in 2 Chronicles 20. Many “ites”—the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Meunites—came to fight Jehoshaphat and his troops. The Bible says that these nations composed “a great multitude” against Judah and that Jehoshaphat was afraid of them. But he began to pray and fast, and he called all the people of Judah to do the same. We read that “Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord [yearning for Him with all their desire]” (2 Chronicles 20:4). As the people prayed together, the Spirit of God came upon a man named Jahaziel and he began to prophesy: “The Lord says this to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.. . .You shall not need to fight in this battle. Take your positions, stand still, and see the deliverance of the Lord” (2 Chronicles 20:15–17).

  After prayers, fasting, seeking God corporately, and hearing the prophetic word that God would give them victory, Jehoshaphat began to implement the strategy for victory. He “appointed singers to sing to the Lord and praise Him in their holy [priestly] garments as they went out before the army, saying, Give thanks to the Lord, for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever” (2 Chronicles 20:21). Before we go further, I want you to realize that praise and thanksgiving are types of prayer. I will write about this in greater detail in chapter 5, but for now I want you to pay particular attention to the results of these prayers: “And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushments against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were [self]-slaughtered” (2 Chronicles 20:22).

  When we pray, God acts. I will remind you once more: prayer opens the door for God to work. In Jehoshaphat’s case, the enemies ended up in total confusion and destroyed each other, while the people of Judah did indeed see God’s deliverance. They had been faithful in fervent prayer, and as a result, God did fight and win their battle for them. The power of prayer caused them to prevail!

  Modern-Day Miracle

  Judah’s victory is an awesome story about the power of prayer to bring victory in our lives. God’s power released through prayer is just as real and valid today as it was in Old Testament times. I recently came across an awesome testimony of the power of prayer.

  Most people in the United States and many around the world remember the terrible, tragic shooting rampage that took place at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, in April 1999. One of the victims injured that day was a young man named Mark Taylor, whose story was covered in the Rocky Mountain News.

  Mark was one of the first students shot that day. He was outside waiting to go into the cafeteria when the shooting started. He rememb
ers feeling the unbearable pain of the first shot and seeing blood gushing from his body as he screamed, “Oh, my God, help me!” By the time it was over, he had been shot twice in his back and five times in his chest, piercing his spleen and tearing through the area directly behind his aorta. “I was in so much pain I could hardly breathe,” Mark recalled. He remembers that several students climbed over his bleeding body as they ran away from the shooters. They thought he was dead. “No one was helping me,” Mark said. “God helped me.”

  Mark was afraid he was dying as he rode in the ambulance to a nearby hospital. “I called to God to save me, and he answered my plea. I knew right then, I was certain that God was going to save my life.”

  Mark’s family physician remembered talking to the surgeon operating on Mark and being told, “I’m looking at a dead man.” But that was not the case. God heard Mark’s prayers that day, and after surgery and hospital treatment, Mark recovered from his injuries.2

  PRAYER POWER TODAY

  Not only do I often read stories such as Mark’s and hear people talk about the power of prayer, I have also seen it in action in my own life, in my family, and in the lives of more people than I can even count. Many times, during our conferences and on our television broadcast, I pray for various needs I sense in the audience. I do not need to know the details of every person’s situation; I simply pray in faith that God knows and will do what is best for them. We also receive prayer requests by telephone and through our web site, and our prayer teams are diligent to pray over them. Over the years, we have heard many other miraculous reports and I would like to share some recent testimonies with you as even more evidence of the power of prayer:

  • Susie went to the doctor before attending one of our recent women’s conferences. He diagnosed her with gallstones. During the conference, I prayed and asked God to touch people with His healing power. When Susie returned home and had the same tests rerun, her gallstones were gone.

  • Over the phone, our prayer representative prayed with a woman who desperately needed income. She had been working in a job she loved for years as a volunteer, but soon after we prayed, she was offered that same position for pay.

  • A woman who had been smoking for twenty-five years was finally able to quit after she received prayer at one of our conferences.

  • Denise had been on disability for four years. She was unable to stand up straight and was in tremendous pain. After hearing me pray for healing on a television broadcast, Denise fell asleep. When she awakened, she was pain-free and able to stand up straight.

  • Mary called the prayer line extremely upset because she and her husband did not have any money. He had recently gotten a job, but had to drive more than one hundred miles each way. Soon after he started his job, his car engine blew up and they could not pay to get it fixed. Within one hour of praying with our prayer representatives, she received a phone call from their mortgage company, informing her that some sort of accounting error had been made and that a check for $1,200 was in the mail.

  • Victoria called our prayer line after being told that her grandson was going to die as a result of a serious car accident. She was standing in his hospital room watching the doctors prepare to remove her grandson’s life support as she was on the phone praying with us. She later called back to report that her grandson had experienced a miraculous recovery and had been completely restored.

  • An inmate wrote to us requesting prayer for her teenage son, who had been diagnosed with Cushing’s disease and had been undergoing treatment for six years. After this mother prayed, and after our prayer teams prayed, we received another letter informing us that the doctors said her son had no more signs of disease in his body.

  I also want to share with you one of the most remarkable testimonies we received at Joyce Meyer Ministries, one I believe will strengthen your faith and serve as a great encouragement to you as you grow in your prayer life.

  My mother was diagnosed with ovarian/uterine cancer. When we met the doctor, she signed consent forms for the hysterectomy and also for a colostomy (in case the cancer had invaded her bowel). Basically, we were told to prepare for the worst. I wrote and asked you to pray for her. You responded with a nice letter informing me that you had teams of intercessors who would pray for her. I enlisted the help of all of my friends from New York to Miami, as well as those at work. My husband and sister asked all their friends to pray too. I know in my heart that God hears my own simple prayer, but I wanted lots of voices calling up to heaven just to be sure He would hear.

  When the day of the surgery came, I asked the hospital staff if I could pray over her before they took her to surgery. They agreed. In the presence of my father and mother, I asked God to give the team “skill to their hands, compassion to their hearts, and knowledge to their minds.” I also asked God to have them treat my mom as they would treat their own loved ones. I had been quite stoic up to that point, but then I cried. She was then taken to surgery.

  Exactly two hours after the surgery, the doctor came out. He asked my father and me to come to a conference room. At that moment, fear had the upper hand.

  We sat down and the doctor ran his hand through his hair. He looked us straight in the eye and said something I will never forget as long as I live: “I couldn’t find any cancer. I looked everywhere. I opened up areas where it could be hiding; I made the pathologist do multiple frozen sections. I couldn’t even find the place where the tumor was on the x-ray.”3

  The letter went on to say that woman had very little pain from a normally painful surgery and was released from the hospital in three days. This is truly a miraculous testimony of the power of prayer!

  The people who call our ministry, send in prayer requests, attend our conferences, and watch our broadcasts are all regular, everyday people, just like you and me. They are real people with real life situations, just like yours and mine. The power of prayer has made a difference in their lives, even and especially in the midst of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The power of prayer can make a difference in your life, too. Prayer brings the power of God to bear on the situations of our lives, and when God’s power touches a situation it cannot stay the same; it has to change.

  Prayer brings the power of God to bear on the situations of our lives.

  POWER IN PERSPECTIVE

  Many times, when we think of “power,” we think of something that happens quickly, with almost miraculous speed and force. But the power of prayer is not determined by whether or not results come instantly or dramatically. In fact, James 5:16, which I mention often in this book, teaches us that one way tremendous power becomes available as we pray is through the “earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer” (emphasis mine). Prayers that require diligence and faithfulness over time are equally powerful, and we know that anytime God responds to prayer by doing something that seems totally impossible is a testimony to its power.

  The power of prayer is not determined by whether or not results come instantly or dramatically.

  Years ago, when Dave and I were first married, he simply could not understand all the problems I had with my personality due to the abuse I had suffered as a child and young adult. Because I was difficult to be in a relationship with, Dave often spent time alone praying for God to change me and give him strength to stay in our marriage. Dave shares that he was rarely sure what to do, but that after he prayed, he would begin to see small changes in me. Over time, he could see the powerful impact of his prayers. You see, I did start to change as God began to heal me emotionally and I can honestly say today that God has transformed my personality.

  I’m sure there were times when Dave felt discouraged and wanted to give up. Even though continually praying for me was difficult for him, the point is that he did keep praying, even when progress was hard to see. He understood the power of persevering prayers, and his prayers certainly made a difference in my life! I am not sure I would have the ministry I have today if Dave had not stayed strong in this area and continued to pray fo
r me and our situation.

  I want to encourage you right now not to give up on the situations for which you are praying—even if you have been praying for someone or some circumstance for days, months, or years. Rest assured that God is working on your behalf even if you do not see results right away. Prayer is powerful. Even when the answers seem slow in coming, prayer can open the door for God to change the situations that appear most desperate in your life.

  In another family situation years ago, I had to pray and pray for my oldest son, David, before I began to see the breakthrough I needed with him. David was my “hard-to-handle” child for many years. Our personalities grated on each other and I felt he was always opposing me, no matter what I did. He had a quick temper, was hard to please, and was extremely insecure. He constantly seemed to want Dave and me to prove that we loved him.

  As he grew into a man, he was very difficult to get along with. He had a good heart, but stubborn flesh! He worked with us, which only increased our challenges because we were together all the time. I had prayed for many years about various things I saw that really needed to change in him. At times, I did see some results, but he always seemed to go back to being the way he had always been. On various occasions, Dave and I would sit him down and correct him sternly. When we did, he would change for a while, but as I said, it never lasted long. To be honest, he was a lot like I once was, but God had been working in my life and changing me, so I struggled terribly as I tried to be patient with him.