Prayer: The Heart That Moves the Hand of God (Ephesians 6:18)

Prayer: The Heart That Moves the Hand of God (Ephesians 6:18)

What is one secret to victory in the battle between the Holy Spirit and the flesh? What is a key to overcoming temptation and sin in daily life? How can a believer help other believers remain strong in the faith? Paul wrote, “[Pray] always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and [continue to watch] thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

Prayer is the believer’s declaration of dependence on God. It is the life-breath of man’s soul, a person’s pre-occupation with God, a shield to the soul, a delight to God, and a scourge to Satan. It is the gymnasium of the soul, the key to the morning and the bolt to the night. It is the language God speaks and the practice of God’s presence through communion with the Father. It is adoration, supplication, confession, and praise. It is intercession (talking to God for others), petition (talking to God for yourself), and communication (talking to God). It is the thermometer of the Christian’s spiritual life.

The missionary John Hyde was in India nineteen years. He was a man of prayer whose habitat was his closet of prayer. In an article entitled There Were Giants in the Church, Leo Ravenhill described the prayer life of the missionary John Hyde. Of “Praying Hyde’s” prayer closet, Ravenhill wrote, “There he soared; there he listened; there he heard; there he grew; there he wept; and there he developed spiritual muscle.” Ravenhill wrote that, “listening by John Hyde’s door, men heard him weeping, even as Jesus wept over Jerusa­lem and even as the Apostle Paul wept over the sinners of his day.” Hyde would stay on his face in prayer and would not let God go until he knew the yea or the nay of the Spirit in the manner in which he sought God. History records that John “Praying” Hyde got to the place where he led four souls per day to Jesus Christ Ravenhill, There Were Giants in the Land/Spirit of Revival (June, 1982). 10:3:14.

How many souls would be saved if we prayed like Hyde prayed? How different would our nation be if more believers prayed (2 Chronicles 7:14)?

God will not answer our prayers until we pray. Since there is power in prayer, perhaps we should practice prayer more often.