Beth-El Baptist Church

08/20/06

Greg Tomlinson

Is there power in prayer?

At the beginning of this meeting the question regarding the relationship between power and prayer was raised. This is an outline of the scripture references and the flow of the conversation.

1. What kind of power is there?

John 14:12-14 – Ask anything in the name of Jesus

2. Are there any limitations?

1 John 5:14 – Ask according to his will

John 6:39-40 – His will includes salvation so Jesus loses none

James 1:5-8 – Ask in faith, not wavering

James 4:3 – Asking to fulfill sinful pleasures will not be granted

1 Samuel 8:5 – Example: God granting a sinful prayer. Israel wanted a king like the nations around them. They rejected God and wanted to be like the world around them.

Judges 6:36-40 – Example: Gideon prays to God for confirmation of God’s call to him

Judges 7:2 – God wants his presence and his work to be obvious

Psalm 73:17 – Example: Prayer seeking to know why the wicked prosper. Answer: Their prosperity is short lived for we know their end

3. What about group and individual prayer?

Psalm 51:4,7 – Individual prayer of confession and seeking forgiveness

Daniel 9:3-7 – Corporate prayer, although prayed by one man it was for a nation and thus it is essentially corporate. Prayer of forgiveness of the sins of the nation.

Acts 3:1 – Hour of prayer was corporate seeing it was at the temple.

Matthew 18:20 – Corporate prayer – two or three are gathered together

Acts 12:11-12 – Corporate prayer – Peter knew the church would be praying as a group.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 – Individual prayer – Paul’s thorn in the flesh

Summary:

From the scriptures, we know that there is great power in prayer. The prayer is to be made according to the will of God and not for sinful/selfish reasons. The prayers are made to the Father in the name of Jesus. There is individual and group or corporate prayer. Both are desirable to be participated in. In the Jewish practices, there was a particular “hour of prayer” in which the people gathered together at the temple to pray together. Praying together was a normal occurrence and was generally expected to be happening.