Praying in Power

Rob Kaczmarek
Written By Jeff Rybacki
 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Acts 1:8

 On a brisk fall day during my oldest son’s senior year of high school, I got a phone call at work from him.  I remember asking him, “What’s going on buddy?” To which he responded, I can’t get the car to start. It was a simple mistake, he hurried into school that morning leaving his lights on. By afternoon, well you know, the battery was drained and the car had no power.

Praying without the Spirit of God is like trying to start a car with a dead battery, nothing happens! The wonderful news is that Christ not only gives us the Holy Spirit but He says we can be filled completely by the Spirit, giving us all the Spiritual power we could ever need!

The word ‘power’ in this passage of Acts is the Greek word that gives us the word ‘dynamite’. This means that unlike the car battery, Jesus has given us supernatural, explosive power! In prayer with the Spirit of God we have power that changes things! 

It’s a comfort to know that when we pray it’s not just us talking to God. Rather it’s us talking WITH God. The Spirit is in our prayer meeting! God is present and He helps us to pray. And in times when we don’t know what to pray, the Spirit prays for us! 

The Spirit brings Scripture to our minds and illuminates what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. He helps us to pray in step with the Father asking that His will be done and not our own.  When this happens, then God’s power accompanies our prayers. They become purposeful and effectual prayers that God works through increasing our joy and faith while receiving Glory from his people. When we pray with the power of the Spirit the Kingdom of God comes near and draws people to the Son!

The next time you bow your head to pray, ask yourself these questions: “If God has made His power available to me through the Holy Spirit, how important is it for me to be filled with the Spirit? What powerful prayers would God want to say yes to?”   

Father, you have given each of us incredible power through the Spirit. Help me to pray in a way that would show your glory and goodness. May we not pray for our own comfort or for our own desires but help us pray powerful kingdom minded prayers in step with your will. Amen.

Jeff Rybacki
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