The Power of Prayer?

I understand the word ‘theology’, but I must say that they way some ministers throw this word around; I often cringe when I hear it verbalized.   I also, at times, struggle with using and hearing the words, pray, prayed, prayer, or praying.   Those of you knowing I have been involved in multiple prayer ministries over twenty years may be wondering about that statement.   Allow me to explain.

“I need to pray about that.”    “We need more prayer.”    “Have you prayed about that?”       “I’m praying for you.”

We often say these things about prayer without following through with the activity of speaking to our Almighty God about the things which are needful.   Prayer is an honest, loving, expectant conversation with our Creator/Redeemer.   More than this, it is an ever growing relationship of intimacy with our LORD Jesus Christ.

Yes, prayer is what it is, but never lose sight of Whom we are intimately involved with in the affairs of life.   When practical, I pause before I actually speak with Father.   I want to think about the One Who is leaning in to hear what I have to say.   God!

Having said all that, I now want to address the question:  “What is the Theology of the Power of Prayer?”

I realize that each of us may respond to this question in different ways in view of our many differences of experience walking with God in our lives.   And, that is alright.   And, in this writing I am not attempting to exhaust the thought, but give you my biblical understanding as it has played out in my experience.

We are told in Scripture that Lucifer, a created angel in a high, God given position in heaven, saw the Authority, Power, Glory, and Praiseworthiness of God and wanted it all for himself.   A rebellion ensued in heaven.   Let it be known that God Himself never partook in the battle that happened.   If He had, all opposition would have been eliminated with one word of His wrath.   God never loses!

Lucifer and his followers were escorted from heaven by fellow angelic beings, also created by God.

Then God created man.   Man was different from the angelic beings.   Man was made in the image of God.   Perhaps the best understanding of that is that man, and no other creature, had the ability to have a relationship with God, that was real and personal.   If that was not bad enough for Lucifer, now Satan, to deal with, God then did something for man that drove Satan over the edge.   God gave man dominion over all that He had created.  In other words, Adam (man) was to be God’s manager of the earth acting in God’s authority.

Satan designed a cunning plan of deception to which both Eve, the woman given to man, and Adam fell.    Man, who had held in trust from God dominion of the earth, by a single double act, transferred that dominion to the devil, Satan himself.   Adam’s action was both an act of disobedience and an act of obedience; disobedience to God, and obedience to another, the evil one.

Dominion, not Sovereignty, was given to man by God, so dominion was no longer God’s.   Now, it was no longer man’s for he gave it away to Satan.   Satan became the manager of the earth.   Perhaps you have noticed he has always been a terrible manager.   Plus, he has ever been about the business of destroying anything that exhibited the image of God.   This would have him working against the man and the woman, including their offspring.   Do you not see his fingerprint at the crime scene of attacks on marriage, family, childbirth, etc?

God was eager to set things back in proper order.  A man was given dominion and that man lost it; another man must buy it back.   So, in the fullness of time, the Father sent the Son, Jesus, to be that man.   This man was different from the first man in that He was fully God and fully human.  This Man, Jesus, and Satan battled for 33 years, from the cradle, to Calvary and the grave.   Satan did his best and worst against Jesus.   Thinking he had won, the entire demonic world celebrated the death and burial of the Son of God.

When Jesus stepped out of the tomb on that Sunday morning, He handed Satan a forever defeat.   Think about this: for the true believer, one who is born again, trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ, that dominion, that authority, has been handed back, in full!  Yes, Satan still exercises dominion in the world, but the man/woman in Christ can override and hinder his activities.

Now, simply, but powerfully put, prayer is this: a person who has his life in full touch with Jesus, the Victor, and completely out of touch with the evil one, claiming that Satan must yield before the victory of Jesus, in every life and action he presses.

Prayer is the tying of your heart to the Father’s heart to accomplish His will on the earth.

We do have a problem in today’s church, however.   The majority of Christians do not realize just what they have available in Jesus Christ’s victory over the devil.  Life on this earth for the follower of Christ Jesus is not for the purpose accumulating wealth and success in the material world; rather it is for the spoiling of the devil’s activity among men.

There is a perfect prayer for the wise believer, the best kind of prayer that can be given.   It is the foundation of every true prayer.  It is the power of all Spirit-Led prayer.   Jesus Himself gave it to us in answer to the disciple’s desire to know how to pray.  It is small, but, undeniably powerful!   “Thy will be done.”   Let us look at the power structure:

“Thy“:   That is God.   He is all wisdom, and He is all power!   He is good, pure, He is holy; and, He is love.   Best of all, this God, is related to us.   We belong to Him by birth (creation), and by a new birth (a new creation) in Jesus Christ.   We are His children, and He is our LORD, by the death and resurrection of His only Son.  That is the “Thy” we submit to in this prayer plan.

Continuing, “Thy will.”     God’s will is His plans, His purposes, the things and actions He desires to take place.   He places all His wisdom, power, purity, and love in action in the hopes His will shall be done.   Making this our prayer means trusting God. 

“Thy will be.”   Here the prayer is expressing the ultimate willingness of a man that God’s will shall be done in him, through him, and all around him.

“Thy will be done.”    That is, “be accomplished”.    Thy will be fully accomplished!

“Thy will be done“ is the greatest prayer for the releasing of God, His will, and power upon the earth!

But, there is much more in the formation of the perfect prayer strategy.    “Thy Kingdom come.”     Oh, believer, there is another kingdom working on the earth.   There is another will being done.   If God’s kingdom is to come the other kingdom must go.  These kingdoms are extreme opposites of purpose to one another.   They are warring for the same allegiance from man, and the same territory.   They cannot co-exist.    “Thy kingdom come,” at the same time is commanding this, “the other kingdom depart.”    “Thy will be done” also is commanding:  “the other will be undone.”  

So then, this prayer:  “Thy Kingdom come.  Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”  is acknowledging and confessing God’s Sovereignty over all things, then releasing the power and scope of that into the earth.

The statement, a little further in the prayer, added to give a clearer indication to the reach of action, is this :  “deliver us from the evil one.”    These two, “Thy will be done,” and “deliver us from the evil one,” must be tied together in thought.   Each is necessary to the other.   To have God’s will done in us means also deliverance from every influence of the evil one.    By the same token, to be delivered from the evil one, Satan, means that every thought and plan of God for our lives will be fully carried out.

The perfect prayer strategy then is this:    “Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done: deliver us from the evil one.”   

When the church begins to realize these things, defeat will be thwarted and victory is certain!   Come on, Church, let’s pray rightly!