Recently, I read a testimony of a pastor who before he was converted was a Satanist. He shared that as a satanic high priest he was most effective when believers were prayerless. He said he could gain position in the spiritual realm against those who were not praying. On the other hand, he said when Christians were praying it stopped his evil plans in their tracks. He said he always knew in what cities and neighborhoods Christians were praying. He had less power in cities where God’s people prayed.

Why did he have less power? When God’s people pray His power is released.

Prayer does not release some mere force of man or nature. Prayer releases the immeasurable wealth and power of Almighty God!

“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jer 33:3)

Three American men, held in captivity without hope, with no way out of the terrible North Korean prison were suddenly set free a few weeks ago!

Imagine if you were in those oppressive prisons, doomed to years of hard labor, and suddenly you were told, “You are free — free to go home, to hug your loved ones. Free at last!” You would walk out of that prison feeling like you were dreaming. That is what these three men experienced. Imagine how they felt when their plane landed on US soil!

When those freed prisoners landed at Andrews Air Force Base one of them gave Vice President Pence a note. Written on it were these words from Psalms 126:
“When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with singing... The Lord has done great things for America, the Lord has done great things for us!”

“I will remember the works of the Lord; surely I will remember your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all your work and talk of your deeds.” ~ Psalms 77:11-12

The book of Jonah is a little book with a big message for us, even today. It is the story of a man who was disobedient to the Lord and ended up in a hopeless situation. His disobedience led to great darkness and despair in his life with absolutely no hope of being saved by natural means.

Because of our disobedience America, like Jonah, is in deep darkness and there is no hope of being saved through any man or political party. God is our only hope of salvation!

Psalm 106:2 says, “Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise?”

As we look back and reflect on 2017, I think all of us can say with the psalmist that God has done so many mighty deeds. God has done great things for us. Both corporately and privately there have been many prayers that God has heard and answered. 

We read in Jeremiah 52 that after Jerusalem fell into the hand of the enemy, one of the first things the enemy did was to destroy the House of the Lord and rob anything of value. 

Recently, our nation has been experiencing distress. There was the protest in Charlottesville, with racial tensions rising, unprecedented and catastrophic flooding in Texas due to hurricane Harvey, as well as terrible destruction from hurricane Irma. We have also heard distressing news of a grade school in California holding a gender-change ceremony for a kindergarten boy wanting to become a girl.

God told Habakkuk, “The vision is yet for an appointed time… Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come.” Habakkuk 2:3

Waiting is very difficult for most people. In our society today we are accustomed to having everything we want pretty much when we want it. Then when our prayers are not answered quickly we can wonder why.

The following is an amazing testimony from Pastor Ken Cramer from Gloucester, VA.

In Mark 9, Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes,” and in Mark 10 he said, “For with God all things are possible.” God can do anything! And God has chosen prayer as a method of accomplishing great things.

A.W. Tozer once said, “Prayer unites God and the praying man in one and says God is omnipotent and the praying man is omnipotent (for the time being) because he is in touch with omnipotence. Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may find mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Let us come boldly. We should come humbly but no man should be so humble that he doesn't ask. We should be humble but we should dare to ask, seek and knock. There must be expectation. One of the greatest snares in praying is to pray vaguely.”

Throughout history, men and woman who understood this concept, altered world events through their prayers. Two such men were Rees Howells and his son Samuel.

This Thursday, May 4th, is the National Day of Prayer. The motto this year is, 

"Hear Us... Forgive Us... Heal Us ...For Your Great Name’s Sake!" 

This was Daniel’s prayer. Daniel was an intercessor during a time of great captivity, and his diligence in intercession was greatly rewarded. 

Mordecai was another intercessor in Scripture who was greatly rewarded for his labors. When we read the book of Esther, it is easy to focus on her story, but Mordecai was the one who first began interceding when he saw the plans of the wicked to destroy God’s people, and he was the one who influenced Esther to go before the King. 

Our nation, which once — for the most part — promoted righteousness, has been promoting things in the world that are an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Our God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for their wickedness, but he also forgave and restored Nineveh when they repented of their wicked ways! He did this with a great revival that spread from the top down.

Only the spirit of repentance sweeping across our land can change the hearts and minds in this nation. We desperately need a revival, which will be what spares us from God’s judgment. This revival can begin with you and me!

In the past those whom God used to bring about revival were men and women of God who had sought Him with all their hearts — men and women of prayer. We cannot stop praying until we see revival become a reality!

And whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it (John 14:13, 14)
 
Call unto Me and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not (Jeremiah 33:3)
 
Prayer does not release some mere force of man or nature. Prayer releases the immeasurable wealth and power of the Almighty God!  "Call unto Me and I will answer thee and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not" (Jer 33:3). There you have it. It is the voice of God!

OUR PRAYER
BY WESLEY L. DUEWEL

Lord, light again the sacred flame of Holy Ghost revival fire,
He who at Pentecost then came is He Whom we so much desire.
We need Him in our midst today; Oh, send Him to us while we pray.

Revival is Your work, O God; Tis for revival that we plead!
Spread holy flames of fire abroad and meet Your people's deepest need.
Oh, send the Spirit's holy power upon our waiting hearts this hour.

We need the Spirit to convict and bring once more the sense of sin.
May sinners feel their conscience pricked
And see how far from God they've been.
With Holy Ghost conviction seize till sinners fall upon their knees.

We have held more communion with man than with God!

We have given a greater prominence to man's writings, man's opinions, man's systems in our studies--than to the Word of God. ( Is 8:20; I Thess. 2:13)

We have drunk more out of human cisterns than divine.

We have not been men of prayer. The spirit of prayer has slumbered among us.

When will we repent?

Great spiritual awakenings are the sovereign work of Almighty God. Revival is when God comes down. I have experienced this only one time during my 38 years in ministry. God came down with the sound of a freight train rolling through 200 pastors and lay leaders who broke out into repentance, while I was preaching a revival among the villages on the border of Uganda and Kenya. It is my passion to see this happen in America.