"Just One Person's Prayer"

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:6 

In the Book of Daniel there were certain men who were jealous of Daniel. They schemed against him by tricking the king into signing a decree that no one could pray to any god but him for thirty days, the whole plot was to keep one man from praying.

 

One the surface it appeared to be an act of jealousy on these men's part. But in reality, it was a plot of hell to stop Daniel from praying. Hell/the adversary/the devil doesn't fear when all we do is "talk" about prayer. He fears when we actually put prayer into practice. We can talk about it, preach it, say we need to do it, but until we pray, we are not a threat to his work or plans at all. Daniel did more than think about praying, he prayed. Three times a day he prayed. He didn't let anything stop him. He didn't let his busy schedule stop him. He didn't let his responsibilities stop him. He didn't even let the decree of the king stop him. 

 

The adversary wants to stop you from praying. He wants to keep you from petitioning God for your needs, for direction, for wisdom, etc. Prayer is powerful, because it is the avenue that the All-Powerful God uses to administer His will in the earth. Scriptures are very plain about the power of prayer. It is our communion with God. It is our weapon to thwart the plans of the enemy. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. Where do we take it by force? On our knees. Where is the battleground upon which we fight? On our knees. Where is the enemy defeated? On our knees. 

 

Why would the adversary go to such lengths to try to stop just one man from praying? What threat was one man? He knows that when men and women pray, he is defeated. He was afraid of just one man's prayer. Imagine what would happen to his plans if all of us who profess to be Christians would take prayer seriously and actually pray.

 

Have a great day. Hell trembles at the prayer of even one person because it knows how powerful prayer is. 

 

For further reading:

James 4:2

Matthew 18:19

John 16:24

Psalm 34:4

Daniel 6