Understanding the Purpose and Power of PrayerSýnishorn

The Power of the Word

The heart of prayer is asking God to intervene in the world to fulfill His eternal purposes for mankind. Interwoven throughout this devotional has been the principle that we are to pray to God on the basis of His Word—the revelation of who He is, what His will is, and what He has promised. Remember that when God gave human beings dominion over the earth, He gave them the freedom to legally function as its authority. He placed His will for the earth on the cooperation of the will of mankind.

However, even though humanity has been given free will and authority over the earth, this doesn’t mean we should do anything we want to with our own life and the resources of the world. Neither human beings nor the world will function properly or fulfill their potential outside of God’s will—because they were designed to function in alignment with His purposes. Just as the creator of a product knows how he has designed that product to function, God knows how we are meant to function and has provided that knowledge in His Word.

Calling Forth What God Has Purposed

Therefore, as we have seen, the key to effective prayer is understanding God’s purpose for your life—as a human being in general, and as an individual specifically. In this way, God’s will can become the authority of your prayers. True prayer is calling forth what God has already purposed and predestined—the establishment of His plans for the earth. That means that whatever we ask God to do in our lives, in the lives of others, or in the world must be based on His will. God’s purpose is to be both the motivation and the content for our prayers.

In other words, God’s purpose is the “raw material” of prayer.

It is through God’s Word that we can know, believe, and agree in faith with His will. Without the Word, our prayers have no foundation. They are based merely on our opinions, desires, and feelings rather than on “the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Such prayers are powerless to effect change. However, all the power of God is at the disposal of true prayer. God wants to use His power in the world; however, for Him to do so, we must understand how to appropriate His Word and to handle it properly and responsibly (see 2 Timothy 2:15).

Since we receive the same raw material for prayer that other believers have received, our effectiveness or ineffectiveness in prayer often has to do with how we handle His Word. It is how we use what God has given us that can make the difference between answered and unan­swered prayer.

God Himself Is Speaking

First, we must understand that God Himself is speaking in the Word, because the Word is who He is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Therefore, God’s presence becomes a part of our prayers when we speak His Word in faith. 

In 1 Kings 19, we read that Elijah did not find God in the wind, earth­quake, or fire, but in “a still small voice” (verse 12). While many people want to see a manifestation of God’s power, they fail to realize that His Word is the foundation of that power—that the power is only a reflection of the greatness of God Himself. It was His “still small voice” that was behind the forces of nature that Elijah saw.

The Word Reveals God’s Nature

Second, the Word reveals God’s nature—and it is His nature that reflects His will. Everything God says is a revelation of His character and purposes. The question for us is this: how will we respond to what the Word reveals about God’s character? Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” Do we believe that God is honorable and that He will keep His Word? A cardinal principle of answered prayer is belief in the trustworthiness of the One to whom you’re praying. The power of your prayers depends on it.

The Word Is Alive

Moreover, there is power in the Word because it is not just knowledge and facts to us; it is life itself (see, for example, Deuteronomy 32:46–47; John 6:63). The Word is alive and active on our behalf. However, we need to remember that, if we want the Word to work powerfully in our lives, we have to make sure it is inside us. Jesus said, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide [are living] in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7 NKJV).

First, what does it mean for you to abide in Jesus? It means to constantly flow in spiritual communion with Him. You do this by fellowshipping with Him and worshipping Him, by praying and fasting. Second, what does it mean to have His words abiding or living in you? You have to be reading and meditating on the Word regularly. You know the Word is truly inside you when it directs your thoughts and actions. Christ was saying, in effect, “If My Word is abiding in you, then you can ask for what’s abiding in you, and it will be done.” That is the power of the Word.

The Word Builds Faith

The Word is also powerful because it produces in us the thing that pleases God and causes Him to respond to our requests: faith. As we have seen, God’s Word is the parent of all faith. “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s com­mand, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). Faith is the result of dwelling in and on the Word of God. When the Word of God is lived and practiced in our lives, it becomes power to us.

The Word Says Much About Prayer

Another reason the Bible builds faith—and therefore gives power—is that it is the greatest Book ever written about how God answers the faith-filled prayers of His people. It is through the powerful examples of believers in the Scriptures that we are encouraged to have faith that God can and will intervene on our behalf.

The Word Prepares the Pray-er for Prayer

Last, the Word gives power in prayer by enabling us to prepare for it and maintain communion with God. Psalm 119 tells us that when we wholeheartedly embrace the Word, it will keep our lives in line with God’s will so that nothing will hinder us from walking in His ways and receiving answers to our prayers.

What a tremendous gift the Word of God is to us! It gives us the power to know and do the will of God, the power to pray with certainty and boldness in all situations, and the power to know that God hears us when we pray according to His will.