Finding Power

Four Tuesday evenings of each month, several of my West Point classmates join together for prayer.  On a normal session we span from Alaska to Virginia (4 time zones).  We briefly give updates on what is happening in our lives and this is often a time of bottom-of-the-heart-sharing.  Some have recently lost spouses or parents to death.  Some have spouses or children with medical challenges or are personally recovering from surgery.  Some are in the midst of uncommon adversity with lawsuits, work harassment and attacks from the enemy. All at some point have encouraging stories of victory and the blessing of divine favor.  

After hearing updates we pray for each other, for our leaders, for those in our class we know are struggling and most importantly that our unsaved classmates would come to know Jesus. The main purpose of the Long Eternal Line (the name of our ministry) is to take God’s Word seriously in I John 5:14,15, “Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.”  We have authority to pray for the salvation of others because God’s desire is that no one would perish as Peter noted in 2 Peter 3:9.  “The Lord does not delay His promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”  Andrew Murray affirms this in The Believer’s Prayer Life,  “The glory of prayer is that we have power as intercessors to bring the grace of Christ, and the energizing power of the Spirit, upon those souls which are still in darkness.”
 
Meditation
Ephesians 2:16,17a—I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith.
 
If you want to find power, we can fully attest—come together to pray!  Each week when we pick up the telephone and join in prayer we ultimately praise God for the riches of His glory.  Invariably, we see His splendor evidenced through grace, mercy, forgiveness, encouragement, counsel, and strength.  We see Him modify our lives for the better.  We feel the strands of love between us more firmly bound in the passage of fellowship.  We will see men and women trapped in darkness, redeemed by the Light.  Heaven joins earth on our conference calls.
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If finding power here is such a valuable experience, imagine what it will be like in paradise when we are in the eternal presence of our Lord!  It is uplifting now for the Messiah to dwell in our hearts.  Imagine what it will be like to have Him continuously before our eyes—glory! 
 
Inspiration
Two of the aspirations of committed believers are intimacy with the Lord and a sense of purpose or significance.  These aspirations can be fulfilled only when we intentionally respond to the risen Christ in us, by seeking His power through prayer, by reflecting His image through worship, and by bearing fruit through abiding in Him.—Tom Julien in the Three Princes
 
©2015 Daniel York  ARR. Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)