Power Through Prayer

by G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Category: General | Sept 1970

"I bow my knees unto the Father" (Ephesians3. 14).

Power comes through prayer, yet how often we feel the lack of power not only in our preaching meetings but even in our prayer times, and we wonder why it is so. We long for power and fruitfulness yet they seem to elude us. In an indifferent and sometimes hostile world, how ineffective we seem in presenting the glorious message of the Gospel. We know that our preaching is linked with our prayers, but we feel our weakness in both. And yet the Master said, "Ye shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come upon you". We know that we have received the Holy Spirit, why then do we so often lack the power?

God has His servants, today, as of old He had such men as David, Daniel, Paul and many others. The powers of darkness were as busy in their times as they are in ours. Men of the world trusted in lying vanities then, as they do now. Technologically the men of our day are far more advanced than men of former days, but they are no nearer to God. Indeed, atheism, passive or militant, seems apparent everywhere. The theory of evolution has swept through the educational and scientific fields, and most men no longer fear God, though they fear the future, and they fear their own inventions. This is the age in which we are called upon to work and to witness.

Perhaps it is no wonder that we make so little impact on the men around us. They seem like a stone wall in their indifference to preaching and pleading. At times we may feel discouraged so that we retire in on ourselves, or we spend our strength in an endeavour to win the young before the hardening process begins in their hearts. We must confess, too, that the comforts of this affluent age tend to lull us into a kind of spiritual sleep which makes earnest prayer seem more difficult. By the grace of God we are kept from the pride and the fears of men around us, but we are not immune to other temptations.

Despite all that proud men may say, we know that God is on His holy throne, fulfilling His purposes. We know His word is true, and will surely have fulfilment. The Holy Spirit of God is within us, and it is His work to convict the world of sin. Why then should our hands hang down, or why should we be weak in prayer or in preaching? Men of former days have laboured and fought and won against all the hosts of evil. Let us then quit ourselves like men.

"What can we do?" We must pray, f6r power comes through prayer. The prayer of faith can still move mountains of difficulties. And is not God's word like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? But effective prayer begins in secret: it does not begin in the prayer meeting. "When thou prayest," the Master said, "enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee" (Matthew 6. 6). Prayer all alone! That is the beginning of power. Praying for others; praying for power to love, to serve, to preach. Secret prayer and praise and thanksgiving are essential to spiritual power. When prayer in secret is scanty or absent then our collective prayer in prayer meetings becomes weak and powerless. When our prayer meetings become formal and without the manifest leading of the Holy Spirit, then the cause is evident - we have failed to seek God earnestly within the shut door, our private prayer has been lacking.

Only the moving of the Spirit of God in our hearts will bring reviving to our souls, and only the convicting power of the Spirit will break the stony hearts of men around us.

Brethren and sisters, let us bow our knees to the Father who sees in secret. Let us supplicate Him for the grace and power without which we cannot prevail in the spiritual conflict. Then when we gather for collective prayer and praise, great grace and power will be upon us, and walls of indifference will breakdown before us. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea and for ever". What He has been to others in the past He can be to us today.

G. Jarvie, Glasgow | Sept 1970
General