The Power of Prayer

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God alone has the power to help us. It is prayer that moves this power.

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Scriptural Text: Isaiah 38:1-8

The Power of Prayer

Two Christian men lived near each other. The first was a farmer. Since there had not been any rain for several weeks, the farmer got up one morning and prayed for rain, but there was no rain that day.
His next-door neighbor was also up early, but he was praying that it would not rain, because he was taking an unsaved friend fishing that morning. There was no rain that day.
God hears both requests, but he can’t answer both. He will do that which glorifies him the most.
God wants his people to turn to him in prayer, individually and corporately, in times of need or crisis, and to bring requests to him as a Father.
Answered prayer for deliverance from enemies has with King Hezekiah confronted with the Assyria:
2 Kings 19:19–20 (ESV) — 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.” 20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
Isaiah, CHAPTERS 36 to 39 relate the history of the invasion of Sennacherib, its result, and the sickness unto death of Hezekiah, which preceded it:

38:1–22 Hezekiah’s sickness and healing.

Told that he would soon die, Hezekiah cried out to God; God healed him and promised to add 15 years to his life. Hezekiah wrote a song of praise to commemorate the miraculous event (38:9–20).

(38:1-8) Power of Prayer—Over Sickness, Illness, Disease, the source of Healing.

Terminal Illness of Hezekiah: shockingly, right after the deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian threat, Hezekiah became deathly sick and was soon to die...
In facing his illness, Hezekiah shows us the power of prayer:
1. When Hezekiah was on his deathbed, the Lord sent Isaiah to the king with the message that he was to put his affairs in order. He was soon to die (v.1).
2. But note how Hezekiah received the fatal news: he immediately turned his face to the wall away from Isaiah and began to pray to the Lord (vv.2-3). He reminded the Lord of three facts:
⇒ He was faithful in following the Lord.
⇒ He was loyal and wholly devoted to the Lord.
⇒ He had behaved righteously before the Lord.
Then Hezekiah began to weep bitterly (v.3). By weeping, he was indicating that his heart was broken, that he was submitting his life to the Lord’s will.
3. In compassion, the Lord immediately answered King Hezekiah’s prayer (vv.4-7).
Isaiah was to return immediately to Hezekiah with a second message. Although Hezekiah asks nothing of the Lord, he receives a fivefold answer. God says,
I have heard your prayer,
I have seen your tears;
I will add to your days fifteen years.
And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria,
And I will defend this city.
Isaiah 38:5–6
Thought 1. There is no limit to the power of prayer, for there is no limit to God’s power. God is omnipotent, all-powerful, possessing perfect and boundless power to do anything He desires. But God is not only omnipotent, He is also omniscient, knowing all things. Nothing is hidden from God. God sees and knows all.

Through prayer there is nothing—absolutely nothing—that can defeat or overcome us, not even death itself. God’s knowledge is infinite. (Mt.7:7, Mk.11:24, Jn.15:7, Jn.16:24, 2 Cor.12:8-10, Eph.3:20, James 5:15-18, 1 John 3:22, Je.33:3)

He knows everything about us, even the very number of hairs upon our head. Along with that God has the power to help us.
Listen to what God’s Word says about the power of prayer.
Matthew 7:7 (NKJV) 7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Mark 11:24 (NKJV) 24Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
John 15:7 (NKJV) 7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
John 16:24 (NKJV) 24Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
2 Corinthians 12:8–10 (NKJV) 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV) 20Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
James 5:15–18 (NKJV) 15And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. 17Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
1 John 3:22 (NKJV) 22And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV) 3‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
Turning to the servants, Isaiah instructed them to prepare an ointment of fig leaves to place upon the king. In obedience to the prophet, they nursed the king and he soon recovered.
So serious were these promises in the Lord’s mind that he confirmed them with a most remarkable sign (7–8). Indeed, in 2 Kings the divine promises are attested by a double sign: not only the sign in the sun as in verses 7–8 (2 Kgs 20:8–11), but also the notable sign that, coming out of a terminal illness, the king would go to the Lord’s house ‘on the third day’ (2 Kgs 20:6), i.e. the day after tomorrow.
Scripture is very plain that our grip upon the promises of God does not go untested (Luke 8:12–14; 1 Thess. 1:5–6; 2:13–14; 3:5),
Luke 8:12–14 (NKJV) 12Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
1 Thessalonians 1:5–6 (NKJV) 5For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. 6And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,
1 Thessalonians 2:13–14 (NKJV) 13For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
14For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans,
1 Thessalonians 3:5 (NKJV) 5For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labor might be in vain.
and so it was with Hezekiah. The testing came in the form of messengers from Merodach-Baladan (39:1).
39:1–8 Hezekiah’s stupidity and selfishness. When envoys from Babylon visited Hezekiah, he proudly showed them all his wealth. Isaiah rebuked him for this, predicting that Babylon would someday return and take Israel’s wealth and its people as well. Hezekiah’s response (39:8) reveals great selfishness in this otherwise good king.
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