Pray with Intense Power

God Bless You !!
Acts 12:5
Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church.

Acts 12 records the story of a crisis situation in the early church. James had been put to death by King Herod. Peter had been arrested and was clearly next. So what did the church do? They prayed. But they didn't pray just any old prayer. They prayed with passion. We read that "constant prayer was offered to God for him [Peter] by the church." I love that.

The phrase "constant prayer" could be translated "earnest prayer" or "stretched outwardly." It is reaching for something. Have you ever dropped an item that was just beyond your reach, and you were straining to get it? That is how the church was praying. Theirs was not a casual, yawning, Lord-help-Peter kind of prayer. This was a storm-the-gates-of-heaven kind of prayer. They were not backing down. And guess what? Their prayers were heard.

When a Gentile woman begged Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter, He told her, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs" (Matthew 15:26).

She could have stormed away, but instead she answered, "Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table" (verse 27). Jesus was not pushing her away; He was drawing her in. He knew her faith was great. And because of her persistence, her daughter was healed the same day.

Sometimes when the answer to our prayer doesn't come right away, we assume that God is saying no. Maybe. But maybe He wants us to keep praying—with persistence.

This is the kind of prayer that prevails with God, the prayer into which we put our whole soul, reaching out toward God in agonizing desire. Much of our prayer has no power in it because we put so little heart into it.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.'

He said to them, 'When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation." ' (Luke 11:1–4)

John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray and our Lord's disciples also wanted to know how to pray. So Jesus said to them: 'When you pray, say this…' and he taught them what we refer to as the Lord's Prayer.

Before I was born again I used to say prayers: they came purely from my mind and not from my spirit. But when I was born again I started to pray. When a born-again Christian prays it comes from their spirit as the Holy Spirit leads. All true prayer is inspired by the Spirit of God.

Today is National Prayer Day. Let our prayers be heard. This nation need a revival to bring USA back to God. And we must also pray for other countries. God bless you all in Christ...