THE POWER OF PRAYER

Prayer is not power but a relationship with Someone who does have power. When my father was alive and I needed to borrow his car, I could simply ask Him, and he would give it to me. I didn’t have to ask with confidence, authority, or bind the spirits as some faith preachers suggest. I could simply ask him because he was my father who loved me. I didn’t have to forcefully make my request known or remind him of how deserving I am.

If you asked my father if you could borrow my father’s car, you wouldn’t have received it, even if you imitated my exact speech.

Prayer also is about relationship. The seven sons of Sceva had to learn this the hard way. They had observed Paul casting out demons and were impressed by the results. Sadly for them, they thought that if they copied Paul’s “technique,” they could achieve the same results:

• Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims." Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. (Acts 19:13-16)

Prayer is not about techniques and methods but about a saving relationship with a God who loved us so much that He died for us.