The Power Of Prayer

George Mueller was known for his powerful prayer. In the course of his ministry to the orphans of England, he never asked for financial assistance from men - only God... and he constantly received what was needed to the penny.

Once while on his way to speak in Quebec for a engagement. On the deck of the ship that was to carry him to his destination, he informed the captain that he needed to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon. As the captain related the story, he said "’It is impossible,’ I said. ’Do you know how dense this fog is?’"

"’No,’ he replied, ’my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of life. I have never broken an engagement in 57 years; let us go down into the chart room and pray.’ He knelt down and he prayed one of the most simple prayers. When he had finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ’As you do not believe He will answer, and as I believe He has, there is no need for you whatever for you to pray about it.’

"I looked at him and George Mueller said, ’Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 yrs. and there has never been a single day when I have failed to get an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door and you will find that the fog has gone.’

"I got up and the fog indeed was gone, and on that Saturday afternoon George Mueller kept his promised engagement."

The power of prayer for me personally that I follow may help you.

First I use this.

It is a prayer book a journal. I had it given to me last year at a Full Gospel Business man’s retreat that i went to.

I brought it home and then put it down. After I went to the conference in Florida this year I came home and am now using it.

I put prayer needs in it and spend time with the Lord praying over them.

I get to cross them off when He answers them.

The second thing that I do is remember that the Lord gave me a gift that I never knew about until the time came when He showed me.

Mark 1:8 "I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

What is the Holy Spirit. He is a gift to you that the Lord our God gives us for those times when we are in need.

When you are not praying, He intercedes for you.

Acts 1:8 says," But you shall recieve power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

I experienced the Holy Spirit praying on my behalf. When I forget, He doesn’t

I learned that the things I go through are for my benefit.

1 Peter 4:12-19

Those verses taught me about why I go through things.

To be blessed you must remember the Holy Spirit does things for you on your behalf.

ALWAYS!

OPEN: The organ in a large church broke down one Sunday morning just before services were to begin. A member of the congregation happened to be a organ repairman and he immediately went to work on the instrument - finding it was a simple electrical problem. When he finally got it fixed it was just about the middle of the sermon. He quietly passed a note to the organist which read: "After prayer - the power will be on."

ILLUS: There’s a supposedly true story of a Welsh woman who lived in a remote valley in Wales. She went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have electrical power installed in her home. However, after a couple of months, the electric company noticed she didn’t seem to use very much electricity at all.

Thinking there might be a problem with the hookup, they sent a meter reader out to check on the matter. The man came to the door and said, "We’ve just checked your meter and it doesn’t seem that you’re using much electricity. Is there a problem?"

"Oh no" she said. "We’re quite satisfied. We turn on the electric lights every night to see how to light our lamps and then we switch them off again."

APPLY: Now, why didn’t this woman make more use of her electricity?

She believed in electricity

She believed the promises of the electric company when they told her about it

She went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have her house wired for it

BUT - she didn’t understand the potential of electricity in her home.

AND SO, she used it’s power sparingly