A Prayer for the Spirit’s Power
By Meg Bucher
“For I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out for my deliverance,” Philippians 1:19 ESV
Prayer is powerful. We hear this a lot, but how often do we pray like we believe prayer has the power to affect our daily life? When a string of prayers goes unanswered, I can easily fall into a routine of listing off prayers without attaching my full confidence in God’s ability to answer them. It’s not natural for us to want what God wants for our lives. We want what we want …and we tend to want it …now.
The verse above is part of Paul’s thanks to the Philippians for praying for him! They helped him in prayer, and with a need he had. The power of the Holy Spirit helps us to recognize the power of prayer. He translates our prayers to heaven, even when we lack the words to say them. He knows when we’re praying out of routine, and need to be reminded of the guaranteed listening ear of the Father, and assured answer. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
“You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayer of many.” 2 Corinthians 1:11 ESV
Paul had confidence in the power of prayer, and we can too. Ask the Holy Spirit to come into our lives daily and show us!
Let’s pray:
Father,
You are the life and length of our days. God, You are our Provider, Healer, and Defender. Every need we lift up to heaven, You are already aware of. The state of our hearts is always known by You, who knows us completely. You see our pain and confusion and know our frustration and struggle to love the other people in our lives. Father, You see it all. You know it all. Thank You, for being in all of it with us. Thank You for listening to our prayers, and thank You for answering them. You are faithful, compassionate, and caring about our concerns. We are thankful You are a personal God.
Today, we pray, Holy Spirit, for You to come into our lives and fill our hearts to the brim with everything we need to live this day to the fullest, as Jesus died for. Help us understand what we need, and let the rest go as we trust You, God, with our lives. Help us to heal from pain, even though answers to our prayers haven’t happened the way we want in the time we want them to. Increase our trust in who You are, and help us to trust in the power of prayer.
This day, we surrender afresh to You, Jesus. Our arms are open and our hearts are fully devoted to You. Help us to follow you each day, discerning what to do and where to go. Help us to live in the moment, praying continually and trusting Your lead on our lives. Jesus, we know we can always look to You when we feel isolated, hurt, betrayed, and sad. We know You know how we feel. Thank You for walking with us, for setting Your Holy Spirit in us, to guide and comfort us. As we trust in the power of prayer, perhaps comfort is what we need the most. Comfort and encourage us, God, as only You can.
Father, we want to know with the same confidence Paul had, a powerful effect of our prayers and of those who intercede for us. Help us to reach out in confidence when we need prayer, God. And help us to pay attention to the people in our lives who also need our prayers. We want to feel the power of prayer, and Holy Spirit rushing through our lives as we remain in constant conversation with You, Father.
Thank You for faithfully meeting us where we are in our lives before we even call on You. The most dependable, reliable, faithful, Father. We love You with our whole hearts. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Arthit_Longwilai
Related Resource: Jesus Calling - Stories of Faith
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