I have heard that, generally speaking, in most churches, “prayer meeting” is either not a time of prayer (usually a little prayer, but mostly Bible study) and/or it is the most poorly attended meeting of the week. I think if believers had any idea how powerful believing prayer really is, things would change.

John Wesley said:  “God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” If we really believed that, I think prayer would take a much higher priority in our individual lives and in the life of the church.

For whatever reason, God,  the Omniscient, Omnipotent being that He is, has chosen self-limitation when it comes to the affairs of this earth. I do not have enough room in this column to go into a lot of detail and explanation, but suffice it to say, He turned the affairs of this earth over to man.

I personally believe He ordained this period of time to give us “on the job training” for the epochs to come. As we learn to take our rightful authority as His sons and daughters — sons and daughters of the King of all Kings — we are qualifying ourselves for the future when we will reign with our heavenly Bridegroom Jesus as His Bride and co-regent.

The cross legally destroyed Satan’s right to hold on to the authority that mankind relinquished to him at the fall.  But, God placed the enforcement of Calvary’s victory into the hands of the church.  As His delegated authority upon this earth, He has chosen to use prayer as the main weapon to see this victory manifested in the earth realm.

Of course, what much of the church understands “prayer” to be, and what it truly is, is probably quite different. I, too, have “endured” many boring, lifeless “prayer meetings” and admit that I really am not interested in attending more of the same.  But, I have also been with believers who understand not only who they are in Christ, but the powerful mandate we have been given, to represent Him in the affairs of mankind. 

Most of us can get overwhelmed by life circumstances and our focus can become a “survival” mentality.  We are called to be overcomers (see Revelation 2-3) and that means there are some very real obstacles to overcome. But, the purpose of all of these obstacles on the “course of life” is to train us and prepare us to be the Son’s eternal companion, His Bride.  How do I know this? I read the end of the book.  (Revelation 21-22)

There are so many scriptures that refer to our authority as believers when it comes to prayer.  “Whatsover you shall bind (or loose) on earth…”  If any two of you shall agree on earth . .”  (Matt.16:19; 18:18-19)

E.M. Bounds, a foremost authority on prayer stated: “God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil . .” Paul Billheimer, in his classic Destined for the Throne”states: “Prayer is not overcoming reluctance in God, persuading Him to do something He is unwilling to do.  It is ‘binding upon earth’ that which has already been bound in heaven.  It is implementing His decision.  It is enforcing His will upon earth.”

From the beginning of time — no, actually before time began — God had a plan to bring many sons and daughters into a living, vibrant relationship with Himself.  That means that all of history has simply been preparation for the eternal ages to come.  If we can get our finite brains around this concept, not only will we look at life’s circumstances differently, but we will realize that we can be a part of changing history and influencing our sphere of influence on a daily basis. Wow.