Power-Packed Prayer Sample

Ready-for-the-enemy prayers 

Three-word prayers are easy, concise, pointed, and effective. With them, you can be a successful prayer warrior in spiritual warfare with a powerful weapon in your arsenal. It’s like having a sharp dagger at your disposal for close hand-to-hand combat, ready to be quickly plunged into the enemy’s heart. 

In the Bible, some of God’s greatest saints used the weapon of prayer effectively. One example is found in the story of Queen Esther. A genocide of the Jews was on the horizon. An evil man named Haman had manipulated the king to sign an edict to permit a mass slaughter of the Jews. It was sealed in the law of the Medes and the Persians. That means it was unalterable. 

Queen Esther, a Jew, was made aware of the heinous plot. She was convinced by her uncle Mordecai that the only hope for her people was for her to appear before the king and seek mercy for her people. To find a way to revoke the law. But she knew that anyone’s unannounced, unexpected appearance before the king, the queen included, might result in their own death. 

That’s when Queen Esther prayed two 3-word prayers. “If I perish, I perish” (Esther 4:16 NIV). When she says “If I perish,” it reveals she knew she might die by daring to appear before the king unannounced. It was a risk – but one she needed to take. She had counted the cost of faithfulness. Her decision to try to save her people had been made. 

Her saying “[then] I perish” was not a prayer of quiet resignation. Rather, it was a faith declaration. If she died, she died. There was no turning back. She had decided to obey her God, not her fears. 

Queen Esther had already given up her right to live, but the king did receive her. She pleaded her case, he relented and found a way to circumvent the law. Evil Haman was hanged on the gallows he had built for the Jews, ensnared in his own treachery. 

And like Queen Esther, when you let go, you see God holding you. When you know that you’re holding on by a thread but entrust yourself completely to God, you see that God is the one who knitted the thread together. 

• Is there something, someone, or some dream you find yourself clinging to, as if you had a right to it? (It could even be something good.)
• What 3-word prayer expresses your desire to give up that “right”?
• It’s possible Queen Esther incessantly repeated those two 3-word prayers throughout the night preceding her entrance before the king. What 3-word prayer could you repeat to help you trust God with what you are facing today?
• Remembering the power of prayer strengthens our faith. When was the last time you saw God answer prayer? Have you thanked Him?