The Boosting Power Of Prayer Is Faith
"But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4 KJB).
The above scriptural quotation should be the benchmark of any Church or ministry. The Lord taught us that prayer is useless without an act of faith. In other words, we simply cannot just pray without believing that the thing we pray for is going to come to pass (Mark 11:24). Similarly, the Apostle Paul was trying to demonstrate to us the effect of faith when he said, 'I believe; therefore, I have spoken' (2 Corinthians 4:13 NIV).
Now, let me try to demonstrate the point I'm trying to make. I recently trusted the Lord to bless us with something we badly needed for our ministry work. When I shared this need with someone in our ministry to support me in prayer, he summarily rebuked while that rebuke was discouraging it did not dampen my faith in trusting the Lord for the thing, and for his lack of confidence, the Lord rebuked him for not exercising his faith. As it was, with that rebuke from the Lord, the brother believed the Lord and combined his faith and efforts with mine and we embarked on a journey of prayer until the Lord answered prayer and provided the need.
Persistent Prayer Yields Results
Furthermore, depending on the type of need, the Lord often encouraged us to pray continually without questioning when He would be answering. I need to stress though, that only the Lord knows how much faith and how many prayers it would take for Him to deliver on a need, however, while you are waiting for your answer the Lord requires us to be persistent and persevere in prayer (Luke 18:1-8). As for the salvation of a human being, it also requires daily prayers which should only be suspended when either you or the person dies. We were taught by the Lord that the only time we stop praying for a person is when they died (Ecclesiastes 9:5; Isaiah 38:18).
In addition, on a recent visit to my father, I was told that a lady we knew was very ill and that she was bedridden. Admittedly, we never prayed for her and her family, and nor did I pray before going to her. However, after I learned about her deteriorating condition, we visited her and I asked her husband if I could pray for her. After obtaining her permission I went in to pray for her but before I was about to pray for her, I read from the scriptures to encourage and awaken her faith. Now, those who were present including her husband discerned the Presence of the Lord.
The Lord revealed two things to me just praying for her. She was concentrating more on her pain and groaning than on the prayer (Matthew 14:30) He said that she did not have enough faith, and my mistake was I did not pray for her prior to going to her that is why I could not win her soul and that demonic forces were 'blinding her faith' so that she ignored my prayer including the invitation to accept Christ as Lord (2 Corinthians 4:4). Sadly, she died the next day. In conclusion, any person or soul we have been witnessing and prayed for gives us a legitimate right to claim that soul for the Kingdom of God as we labored for the salvation of that particular person.
Blessed Regards
Brother Glenn
