The Power of Prayer
Hello everyone,
I thought I would start off my introducing myself. My name is Faith and I am a wife, a mother of two beautiful girls, a friend, a daughter, a sister, blogger, and a child of God. My blog is Daily Struggles and Uplifting Scriptures I often blog about what things I struggle with and how God is teaching me.
At the beginning of the school year I began our first year of homeschooling. It is tough at times but I love being in control of what my daughter is learning, being able to help her at her own pace, and her curriculum. One of the books that we were reading last week is a Christian book about different Christian heroes of the past and present. This particular book was based on the life of George Muller. Now I had never heard of him before and just in case you hadn't I figured I would put a quick background to who he was from what I have learned.
George Muller was a Christian evangelist who opened several orphanage homes and began a ministry called the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. He cared for over 10,000 orphans in his time. He also began many schools for children and adults where they could learn more about God. All of this without asking anyone for a single penny. Now George Muller was not rich... he actually lived a life of very little means, but he believed in the power of prayer and of God's love for His people.
While this book was for my daughters education, I found that God was trying to reach me through it. As I was reading the book I found myself feeling very convicted and in awe of God's power and love. It seemed like every page I read aloud I would find a lump growing in my throat, my vision blurring from tears, and myself holding my breath. Over and over again there would be a need, George would pray, and God would faithfully provide. Now I pray, but there was something so different about the way George Muller prayed from how I do. He prayed with so much faith, conviction, and boldness.
There was this one example in the book. One day friend of the Muller's were visiting with their daughter, Abigail. As the little girl was playing in the garden, the head lady of the orphanage came into Muller's office and told him that they had no food to feed the 300 children for breakfast. George went and got Abigail and took her to where the children were waiting to pray and eat. He told her to watch what God was about to do. As all the children stood before their empty bowls, George prayed. He didn't ask God to send food. Instead, he thanked God for the food that He was sending. When the prayer was over there was a knock at the door. It was a baker who woke up at 2am to bake all the children bread because he felt lead to. Then their was a milk cart that broke right outside the orphanage doors and the only way for the man to fix his cart was to unload a bunch of the milk, so he gave it to them for free.
Even now that story amazes me. So often I pray using phrases such as, "if it's your will", and "if you don't it's ok but Lord please..." Now, I am not saying that it is bad to pray for God's will, but I think when I know God's will, I should pray with boldness. So often those phrases are due to a lack of faith and an insecurity. I have been praying that God would teach me to pray with faith, boldness, power, and conviction.
Recently I tried this... praying with boldness. I truly believed that my husband and I were supposed to go on an upcoming marriage retreat, but they had no spots open and we couldn't afford it. Someone had given us a gift certificate to go which covered the cost but we still did not have a spot, so I prayed. I prayed that God would open the doors to make it possible and I thanked Him in advanced. It felt so uncomfortable. Two days later, we received a call that we had a spot on the marriage retreat. God answered our prayers.
I wonder how many more things God wants for me if I would be willing to show a little more faith in my prayer life.
Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
1 John 5:14-15 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."
Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you Claudia for letting me share with your readers.
I thought I would start off my introducing myself. My name is Faith and I am a wife, a mother of two beautiful girls, a friend, a daughter, a sister, blogger, and a child of God. My blog is Daily Struggles and Uplifting Scriptures I often blog about what things I struggle with and how God is teaching me.
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| This is Abigaile my 7 year old |
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| This is Elizabeth my 1yeaa |
Told you they were cute.
At the beginning of the school year I began our first year of homeschooling. It is tough at times but I love being in control of what my daughter is learning, being able to help her at her own pace, and her curriculum. One of the books that we were reading last week is a Christian book about different Christian heroes of the past and present. This particular book was based on the life of George Muller. Now I had never heard of him before and just in case you hadn't I figured I would put a quick background to who he was from what I have learned.
George Muller was a Christian evangelist who opened several orphanage homes and began a ministry called the Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. He cared for over 10,000 orphans in his time. He also began many schools for children and adults where they could learn more about God. All of this without asking anyone for a single penny. Now George Muller was not rich... he actually lived a life of very little means, but he believed in the power of prayer and of God's love for His people.
While this book was for my daughters education, I found that God was trying to reach me through it. As I was reading the book I found myself feeling very convicted and in awe of God's power and love. It seemed like every page I read aloud I would find a lump growing in my throat, my vision blurring from tears, and myself holding my breath. Over and over again there would be a need, George would pray, and God would faithfully provide. Now I pray, but there was something so different about the way George Muller prayed from how I do. He prayed with so much faith, conviction, and boldness.
There was this one example in the book. One day friend of the Muller's were visiting with their daughter, Abigail. As the little girl was playing in the garden, the head lady of the orphanage came into Muller's office and told him that they had no food to feed the 300 children for breakfast. George went and got Abigail and took her to where the children were waiting to pray and eat. He told her to watch what God was about to do. As all the children stood before their empty bowls, George prayed. He didn't ask God to send food. Instead, he thanked God for the food that He was sending. When the prayer was over there was a knock at the door. It was a baker who woke up at 2am to bake all the children bread because he felt lead to. Then their was a milk cart that broke right outside the orphanage doors and the only way for the man to fix his cart was to unload a bunch of the milk, so he gave it to them for free.
Even now that story amazes me. So often I pray using phrases such as, "if it's your will", and "if you don't it's ok but Lord please..." Now, I am not saying that it is bad to pray for God's will, but I think when I know God's will, I should pray with boldness. So often those phrases are due to a lack of faith and an insecurity. I have been praying that God would teach me to pray with faith, boldness, power, and conviction.
Recently I tried this... praying with boldness. I truly believed that my husband and I were supposed to go on an upcoming marriage retreat, but they had no spots open and we couldn't afford it. Someone had given us a gift certificate to go which covered the cost but we still did not have a spot, so I prayed. I prayed that God would open the doors to make it possible and I thanked Him in advanced. It felt so uncomfortable. Two days later, we received a call that we had a spot on the marriage retreat. God answered our prayers.
I wonder how many more things God wants for me if I would be willing to show a little more faith in my prayer life.
Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
1 John 5:14-15 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."
Thanks for taking the time to read this and thank you Claudia for letting me share with your readers.
LOVE THIS. I tend to pray the same way too "If it's your will" and "You know what's best." I've heard of praying with so much confidence before, but I don't know that I ever do it. Seems arrogant sometimes... but you're right. we can when we know its God's will. thanks for sharing!
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