Power of Prayer

And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well. Luke 7v6-10

This story is an amazing demonstration of one man’s understanding of God’s power and how he is praised for being a man of faith!

I love this quote from Nicky Gumbel on who it is we are praying to:

When we pray we are speaking to the Creator of the universe. On 20th August 1977, Voyager II, the inter-planetary probe launched to observe and transmit to earth data about the 0uter planetary system, set off from earth traveling faster than the speed of a bullet (90,000 miles per hour). On 28th August 1989 it reached planet Neptune, 2,700 million miles from the earth. Voyager II then left the solar system. It will not come within one light year of any star for 950,000 years. In our galaxy there are 100,000 million stars, like our sun. Our galaxy is one of 100,000 million galaxies. In a throwaway line in Genesis, the writer tells us, “he also made the stars’ (Genesis 1:16). Such is His power. Andrew Murray, the Christian writer, once said, ‘The power of prayer depends almost entirely upon our apprehension of who it is with whom we speak.’ (Nicky Gumbel)

This centurion knew what it meant to have authority – he was used to giving orders with the expectation that they would be carried out. He understood that God’s authority was more powerful than his and that what God says, happens. Do we have the same expectations? When we pray do we expect our prayers to be answered? I think sometimes we can forget just how much power God has, or think ourselves too insignificant to be worthy of having our prayers heard. We need to understand that God is a good Father and he loves to give good gifts to his children. He hears our prayers and will answer us!