#1 - The Power of Prayer - Pr. Opanda Wamalika | Morning Devotion

Good morning, brothers and sisters. Welcome to today's devotion. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for granting us this morning and bringing us here so that we may listen to your word. We invite you to speak to us, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. All the presentations that by the grace of God will be made this week are under the title The Privilege of Prayer. I believe that uh one of the most effective means in inspiring you to what obedience is prayer. So, we shall be dealing with the privilege of prayer. And today's subtopic is the power of prayer. For the first time in many years I've spoken in camp meetings, I prepared my presentation beforehand when I was at home, except for Friday. Just in case I may need to do some adjustment somewhere. But all the days I've been going for camp meetings, I just go and then I start making presentations there. And I saw that the Holy Spirit is moving. If you'll be keen in my presentations, you'll be able to know what I mean. So, today I am talking about the power of prayer. Prayer is a power, and we shall be reading Mark 11:23 to 24. And uh the key text that is providing the subtopics that I'll be dealing with is found in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18. Can you believe that in that text seven statements dealing with the privilege of prayer are there. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplications for all the saints. Praying always. That one is dealing with persistence in prayer. With all prayer, possibility of prayer. And supplication, petition of prayer. In the spirit, the power of prayer. Being watchful. That is the precision of prayer. To this end with all perseverance, that's the perseverance of prayer. And supplications for all the saints, the purpose of prayer. Seven Ps. Mark 11:23 to 24. For assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be removed and be cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. Praise the Lord. Many people admit the power of prayer when mountains are moved and desire to have this experience. All of us here would like to pray and mountains move. We would like to go to hospital and pray for the sick and immediately they wake up. All of us would like to pray and move mountain. But it's important, look at that last statement, to the extent that this power works within it works without. Praise the Lord. This is the truth which the Lord's Prayer teaches. Five imperatives from the Lord's Prayer will guide us in appreciating the power of prayer. The Father, the name of God, the kingdom of God, the will of God, and the knowledge of God. In this manner therefore pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." That's Matthew 6:8 from the New King James Version. Do you know that the closest blood human relation is parent-child? Parent-child. According to the biblical world, the parent of a child is the father. So we are looking at father-child relationship is the closest. You only have one father and one mother. You can have 10 sisters, even 30 brothers, only one father and one mother. That's the closest blood relationship. By Father, Jesus wanted to present God to us as closest in relationship. Secondly, God should be through spiritual birth our father. You know, John 3:3-6. By this relationship, God binds himself to meet our needs. Human fathers who have had a good relationship with their children can testify how those children trusted them almost dangerously. The truth of this is illustrated by the stories of John Mainhard and his son during the 1841 Arie Steam Boat disaster. If you you just write that in Google, you'll get it, but I want to read in 1 minute the story of Olumide and his son Babajide from Yorubaland, which is illustrating how children can trust their parents almost dangerously. I'm reading it for 1 minute. It's entitled The Night of the Harmattan Fire. The dry season had turned the tall grass of the savanna into brittle tinder. Olumide and his 7-year-old son Babajide had traveled far from their village to gather special medicinal roots near the base of the rocky hills. As the sun began to dip, the fierce Harmattan wind shifted violently. From the horizon, a terrifying sound roared, the crackle of a massive bush fire. Within minutes, a thick wall of black smoke rushed towards them. Driven by the gale, the dry grass ignited instantly, trapping them. Babajide panicked, coughing from the smoke, tears streaming down his face. "Father, we are going to burn. Which way do we run?" Olumide looked at the fast-moving wall of flames. Running away from the fire was impossible. The wind was too fast. He looked at the rocky ledge above them. It was free of grass, but to reach it, they had to cross a deep, narrow ravine. Olumide leaped across the gap onto the rocky ledge. He turned back, but the smoke was now so thick that Babajide could no longer see him. The boy stood on the edge of the drop-off, terrified, surrounded by roaring flames and blinding gray smog. "Babajide!" Olumide shouted over the roar of the fire. "Jump toward my voice. Jump now!" Babajide could see absolutely nothing but smoke. The heat was scorching his skin. Every instinct told him that jumping blindly into a dark void meant certain death. "Father, I can't see you!" the boy cried out. "You do not need to see me, my son," Olumide roared back. "I can see you. Jump!" He chose to trust his father's eyes instead of his own blindness. He sprinted through the heat and flung himself toward forward into the thick black smoke. For a terrifying second, he fell through the air. Then two strong, familiar arms slammed around his torso, pulling him hard against a solid chest. Olumide had caught him perfectly. His father carried him higher up into barren hills where the fire could not reach. Safe on the rocks, they watched the flames sweep harmlessly below them. Babajide hugged his father tightly, realizing that his father's love and vision was safer than his own sight. That's powerful. In order to actuate the fatherhood of God to us and our sonship to him, God gives us the Holy Spirit. Jesus answered and said, John 3:3, "Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Verse 5, Jesus answered, "Most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Are you born again? The journey towards our prayers moving mountains begins with being born again. The seed of God has to be planted in you actuate your sonship or daughtership. That is to reflect his image. Jesus says in John 3:6, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." So, Luke 11:13, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" I found this article by Nation Team, Nation Media Group. It said, "Kenya's top shooters, Ibrahim and Maryam." Kenya's top shooter, Master Ibrahim Ndungu, and his daughter, Maryam Ibrahim, were on top during this year's Mombasa Extreme International Practical Shooting Confederation IPSC Level Two. It was a family affair at the Mombasa Extreme International Practical Shooting Confederation level two championships as Kenya's top shooter Master Ibrahim Dungu and his daughter Maryam Ibrahim dominated the competition at the Bamburi Rifle Club in Mombasa County National Continental Reporting. And I captured the photograph Maryam Ibrahim being awarded the ladies overall title during the Mombasa Extreme International Practical Shooting Confederation level two championship at the Bamburi Rifle Club. You must have read that father and daughter doing the same thing. When they interviewed Maryam on television, she said she was taught by her father. What is a father's pride? A reflection of himself in the image and character of his child. And I I was a teacher for quite some time. I handled a small case where a mother of a student told me that the father of the child does not love her because she does not resemble him. And the second born was the beloved of the father because she resembled him. So when I talked to the father, he said, "I doubt if that firstborn girl is mine." And he told me, "Go and look at the second born. Just look at the dimples. Look at the ears. Look at the nose. That's exactly me." But the other one? I doubt. So a father's pride is a reflection of himself in the image and character of his child. This is the best gift a parent can pass on to his child. What gifts do you expect from your heavenly father? I compare Matthew chapter 7 verse 11 and Luke 11 verse 13, which we have just read. Look at Matthew 7:11. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? Luke says almost the exact thing. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gift to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit? So, the best gift that God can give us. I know we want good things from God. We want cars, everything, food, and so on, clothing. But, the best gift from God is the Holy Spirit. And remember, to those who ask him. Pray for and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Look at God's original plan at creation. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image according to our likeness." Those are two points. That's one. Number two, let them have dominion over all the earth. Two things. One, let us make man in our image. And then, being in our image will empower him to rule or have dominion over all the earth. Cultivating the character of the father. This is a son of a king. He desires to be a king when he grows up. If as a son grows up, he is to enter into all his father's will and plans. If he is to have his highest joy in the Father and the Father in him, he has to cultivate the character of the Father. The Father's pride is to reproduce his own disposition and character in his child. And this is the great object of a father's fellowship with him. That was one of the kings of Britain embracing the Prince of Wales, his son. When our children are small, we love walking with them. Why do you walk with your child? I hope you walk with your child so that you may take that as an opportunity to teach that child not about the world, but about yourself. Because you cannot teach your child to be something you are not. If you go to a supermarket, I was once in a supermarket in Adam's Arcade, and a lady came into the supermarket with a a young daughter. And while they were collecting items, somebody called. I guessed was the husband. And I guessed that he was asking, "Where are you?" Because I heard her say, "I am near Yaya Centre. I'm near Yaya Centre. I'm just coming." But she was not in Yaya Centre. She was in Adam's Arcade Supermarket. She didn't know that she's teaching her daughter to lie. She's teaching that lying is good. Are you seeing? So, when you walk with your child, you want to teach that child more about you, whether intentionally or inadvertently, than about the world. So, the father's pride is to reproduce his own disposition and character in his child. And this is the great object of his fellowship with him. Don't just uh have a nice time with your son moving up and down, and you are not taking that opportunity to teach him about you, how he should understand the world, why you do things the way you do, and so on. thing. Ellen White, she says, "The image of God in man was severely marred, disfigured, and well-nigh obliterated by sin. While humanity did not completely lose the capacity to reflect God, their moral nature became perverted, separating them from their creator, and requiring divine intervention to be fully restored." So, the work of the Holy Spirit, as the spirit of the Father and of the Son, the holy the whole life and love of the Father and the Son are in him. And coming down into us, he brings about a regeneration that's molding us into his image. After bringing about regeneration, the second work of the Holy Spirit is for empowerment for mission. That picture is a picture of a knight. Let me say a knight. A person going for war. Uh If you know some little history and probably biblical history, you should appreciate the fact that the greater desire of kings or of a king was to expand his territory. That's what kings were always doing. You become a king, you start conquering neighboring nations. And the sons of kings were trained to be soldiers. So, a son who would likely become a king after the father is one who would conquer very many nations. So, you go and conquer the nation on the east and subdue it under your father's rule. You conquer the nations on the west and subdue them under your father's rule. Your father is delighted in the work that you are doing. Similarly, God would be delighted in you if you would conquer nations and establish his rule there. So, I'm saying the Holy Spirit comes in you to bring about internal regeneration, internal transformation. The extent you will internally be empowered is the extent you will externally be empowered. What gift do you expect from your heavenly father? The Father can bestow no higher or more wonderful gift than his own, the Spirit of sonship. Look at Luke chapter 11 verse 13. I'm repeating there. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gift to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? The power of the Holy Spirit in us determines our mission effectiveness. This is the power which the apostles received on the day of Pentecost. Jesus said, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." That's Acts chapter 1 verse 8. What are you going to do today? If we but yield ourselves entirely to the disposal of the Spirit and let him have his way with us, he will manifest the life and therefore the power of within us. The Holy Spirit does not come upon you automatically. You have to ask. There's a reason why God gives us gifts when we ask. And we shall be talking about ask and you will receive. Why? When you ask, he will give you the Holy Spirit. Surely, if there's one prayer that should draw us to the Father's throne and keep us there, it is for the Holy Spirit. To stream power into us and out from us in greater fullness. Yes, when you set your life in accordance with these things, the following promise is a certainty. And whatever you ask in my name, said Jesus, that I will do. That the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, Jesus insisted, I will do it. I want to ask that we pray now for the Holy Spirit. May we arise. >> Father in heaven, the greatest gift according to the sure testimony of your word is the Holy Spirit. So that the image that was destroyed by sin may be restored. And having been restored in your image, we may be empowered for mission. We have stood asking that you grant us the Holy Spirit. Those who are joining me with this prayer, that God may grant that the Holy Spirit, may you raise your hand. Father in heaven, behold your sons and daughters who have raised their hands up. I pray that you grant them the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. Amen.