What Truly Changes People?

Yesterday as I taught on prayer I read the passage from Isaiah 56:7 where God says, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."  And I said, notice God didn't say that His house should be called a house where busyness is the order of the day.  Or where activities and programs and "the show" are what people are there for.  No, God wants His Church to be a place where people come to pray.  Why?  Because prayer is where we meet the one and only living God.  Prayer is where our spirit is refreshed.  And of course, just like I said yesterday, when we pray we place ourselves in the streams of God's power.

Jim Cymbala in his most excellent book Fresh Power writes this about prayer.  He says, "God has given us a very simple equation if only we have the faith to reach out and experience it:

1. The Holy Spirit's power is our greatest need.
2. This power and blessing is freely promised to ALL of God's people.
3. This promise can only be fully received through sincere praying in faith and through waiting on God for his blessing to come.

The unleashing of this kind of power is what happened in the New Testament and this is the only thing that will satisfy our soul's thirst.

Pastor Cymbala also says this:  "The Old Testament declaration is still 100% true today: It is "not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty" (Zechariah 4:6).  A decade of gadgets and gimmicks will never accomplish what God the Holy Spirit can do in one month as he works in the life of a church."

Here is the bottom line.  When we begin to pray, the Father provides us power through the Holy Spirit that enables us to do so much more than we could ever do on our own.  So don't stop praying!  When you get up in the morning PRAY.  When you go to bed at night PRAY.  Pray and listen for God to speak to you.  Pray and ask God to lead you into relationships where you can share your faith. Pray and ask God to move in a powerful way at WCC because PRAYER is what truly changes people.

Comments

[Rob]

very uplifting and spirit-filled. Nice blog.