The Prayer for Spiritual Power
- Genres:Preaching & Teaching, Tony Evans
With every believer who places their faith in God, there is a power given to them which grants the ability to contact heaven in order to get help on earth. But unfortunately, many do not understand this gift granted to them and therefore do not end up utilizing it. In this message, Tony Evans will show you the spiritual power that you already possess and how prayer is the hidden key to accessing it.
faith must always precede site. Once you put site in front of faith, you’ve negated faith, faith is based on what you do not see. If you got to see it first, you want to see it. Mhm. The euphemism of walking in the bible means to live according to because you’re moving with the mind of christ, you’re not just doing that on sunday morning when it’s church time because he wants to know that you want him. So if you’re in distress, don’t let that drive you away, draw you near closer so that you like Jacob and say, I’m not gonna let you go until you answer me when you get close and want to live for him. Want to please him. Want to honor him. Want to exalt him, want to draw near to him. Then heaven opens up and he lets you find he lets you find welcome to the fire. We’re talking about igniting kingdom Prayer. We’re talking about having heaven’s power and authority operating in your life and in our realm. It is the divinely authorized methodology. The divinely authorized methodology to access heavenly authority for earthly intervention. King of Prayer is the divinely authorized methodology to access heavenly authority for earthly intervention. God established prayer as the means, the primary means to draw down from heaven into history. one of the Great Prayers in the Bible about this subject Of what I’m calling Kingdom. Prayer is found in the familiar passage of Ephesians chapter three, Beginning with verse 14, I want to walk us through this prayer for power. This applies to all who are here, Who need power, one power and you want heavenly authority for earthly intervention, Paul says in verse 14 for this reason I bow my knees before the father. So he enters into the humble Pastor of Prayer. For what reason? Well, verse 13 he tells us he doesn’t want them to lose heart. To lose heart, means to become discouraged, to lose heart, means to throw in the towel. To lose heart, means to want to quit. Give up the person that lives in a perpetual state of depression, has lost heart. The person who goes to artificial means of surviving drugs, alcohol, something deeper is going on. They have lost heart and a myriad other ways of losing heart becoming addicted to discouragement. That’s what it means to lose heart. Mm hmm. Perhaps it’s the marriage. Perhaps it’s the singlehood, but you’ve lost heart, he says for this reason because I don’t want you to lose heart. I bow my knee to the father. I enter into a humble pasture of prayer, he says. And I do this from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. So if God is your father, you are a christian, this truth applies to you. If you’re a believer and God is your spiritual father, then paul says my prayer, you can pray. So this is not just for paul the apostle, it’s for joe blow christian, who needs power, Who is battling with losing heart discouragement, wanting to quit tired, He gives three principles here for experiencing heavenly power. Heavenly authority through kingdom Prayer. This heavenly authority for earthly intervention. The first principle is that if you want heaven’s power, you must be cultivating spiritual intimacy. He says in verse 16 that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power through the spirit in the inner man. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. He says, if you’re going to experience this power, there has to be an inner connection. If you’re not connected intimately, then the flow of power can’t get to you. If you are a believer, you don’t have a power problem, but you could have a connection. And if the connection is not there, the power that you possess can’t flow through he says, I pray that you will be strengthened with power, but it is in the inner man, it must happen in the inner man. In other words, most of the time we pray for stuff we need out there. When God says, it starts with what you need in here, the inner man, it is the degree to which the spiritual is connected with God, that the flow of power from God gets transferred to you. So no matter how much power you possess, if the connection is not right, the power that you possess won’t flow in you and then threw you to the circumstances you’re in, he says, it is the job of the Holy Spirit in the Inner Man to produce the power. He goes deeper to explain this, he says that christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. The greek word for dwell. Because you say, well, christ is already in my heart, I’m already saved. That’s not quite what that means. The Greek word 12 means to make oneself at home, to make oneself at home. So if you put that phrase in the meaning of dwell, the word becomes more alive. If you want power in the inner man, then christ must dwell. That is not only be in you, but be at home inside of you. Jesus is inside every believer’s house, but he doesn’t necessarily feel welcome there in order for you to have power, Christ must be at home, meaning the freedom to go into any room of your life that he chooses. The Holy Spirit will never be free to move. If christ can’t be at home, that means that he must be welcomed into every room of your life and be free to take a tour whenever he wants to make yourself at home. But you say, how can I ask jesus to make himself at home with a dirty closet or a chaotic garage. That’s why he wants you to make himself at home there so he can help you clean it up. Don’t lock him out, invite him in so that he can straighten things out and transfer power in the inner man. So the first thing is, you must pray with the priority of spiritual intimacy, you must be drawing near scripture, says, draw near to me and I will draw near to you. So forget power and heavenly authority. If you’re not pursuing intimacy, but if you are pursuing intimacy that leads to the second thing that will give you heavenly authority while you’re living on earth, as you do Kingdom Prayer, he says, As you being the second half of verse 17, rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height? The depth to know the love of christ, which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to all the fullness of God. The first thing is spiritual intimacy, but the second thing is expanded spiritual capacity that you might be filled to the fullness of God, so that you will experience more of God. He says that this experience comes in a context being rooted and grounded in love. The bible says that God is love. He is loved by nature. There is no such thing as love without having an object to love. In other words, Love has to go somewhere because God is a try eun being three persons who are distinctive personality at one, in essence, the Godhead Father Son, Holy spirit, God has always had someone to love. God has never been alone because of his trial nature. So he’s always had somebody to love and it’s built within his nature. So when we are operating in a context of love, we’re operating in a context of God because God is love. That is why God always wants you in a context. That’s why he’s going to end this prayer with God, be glory in the church. Because one of the reasons God expects every believer to be part of a local church is to be in a context of expressing love within his family. So God just doesn’t want you to come here for you. He wants you to come here for you and for others. So that’s why if you want to be blessed, but are unwilling to be a blessing, you can’t be rooted and grounded in love. And if you’re not rooted and grounded in love, you’re not expanding your capacity. So the first thing is to be intimate. The second thing is to expand your capacity for God to do more for you. And in you, the principle is simply this, God will only give you as much of God as you can handle. God is not going to give you what you can’t handle. So if there’s no spiritual intimacy and expanded spiritual capacity, then no matter how much you pray, it’ll stop. So the first principle is you must prioritize spiritual intimacy, you must make time for God, make time for his word, make time for prayer, then there must be expanded capacity. That’s why sharing God’s love sharing God’s word, praying for others is key to expanding the capacity. If it’s only about you, you’re not being rooted and grounded in love. When you begin praying for spiritual intimacy and when you get expanded in spiritual capacity now you’re ready to experience spiritual power. Notice the most popular verse in the book. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that you all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. Here is one of the most potent statements about God’s power in the bible. Let me say a few things about this power. First of all, his power is personal. Now unto him this is personal power because God is a person he wants to be related to personally. He’s not the force, he’s not this impersonal thing that people talk about. He is a personal god. He’s got the whole trinity in this passage. Now unto him, this is what we call the docks ology. The toxicology is a praise. A concluding praise. Power is tied to a person. It is relational lee driven. His power is potent. It’s personal but it’s potent. Notice the superlatives now under him who’s able I know I know we like to say ain’t he able this refers to his ability because of course we’re talking about supernatural power and I just talked about what earth can do, although much of what earth does depends on the power of God. But we’re talking about what he’s able to do. There are many verses that talk about jesus ask a blind man one day, do you believe I’m able to heal you now under him, Who is able? But he’s able to do, he’s functionally able, not theoretically able. He has the ability to perform his ability, but then it gets gooder because of the word far more. Somebody say far more. He’s not only filled with capacity and ability. He’s filled with capacity and ability that can perform and when his capacity and ability performs it is far more abundantly beyond all that says in access of what you ask. So he assumes you ask because without our kingdom prayer, jesus says, and maybe we’ll get into this one of the other sermons. You have not because you ask not, he says, God is able to do far beyond what you ask. Now, a name was able to do more than you can ask or think. But then he gives you a condition according to the power that works within us. Oh, he didn’t do it just because you asked, he checked one what was happening on the inside before he did something on the outside. See if he’s not prioritized in your life. If you just visit him, give him a weekly visit, he’s not roaming the rooms of your life, There is no capacity. It’s according to the power inside that determines how much is happening outside. Many people want God to do the supernatural when there is nothing inside, there is no kingdom priority, kingdom orientation. One time when we went to Niagara Falls for vacation, our hotel was on the Canadian side. We got there late at night when we got into the hotel room, I opened the curtain and way out in the distance you could see the falls because it’s lit at night and it was a spectacle to behold. The next morning we went to the falls on the Canadian side of the falls. In the park we stood in the park on the Canadian side of the falls. Ah but this was different than the hotel room because I can hear it. The thunder of the roar of the water going over the falls and hitting the basin of the falls. And so it hit with such force that the wind would blow up little drops of water even across the street to the park and you would feel little drops of water every now and then. So in the hotel room, I was impressed by it. But in the park I got a little feel of it because I was close enough to hear it. And every now and then I got a drop of water on me because I was not in the vicinity. But now there’s another way you can see the falls, it’s called the maid of the mist. These are boats down in the basin of the fall. Now if you go to the boat in the basin of the fall, they’re going to give you a raincoat and an umbrella because now you’re getting ready to get drenched because you’re down there in the basin of the falls. So you’re gonna be overwhelmed with the power. See, some christians relate to jesus from the hotel room of their lives. They’re impressed by him at a distance. They don’t ever hear anything. God never speaks to them. The supernatural is rare if ever. But they’ll go to church because they’re impressed with jesus. Some christians relate to jesus from the park. There are a lot closer than the hotel room and every now and again they’ll get a drop here and a drop there. But there are those few who are not satisfied with the hotel room. There are those who are not satisfied with the park because they want to get drenched. They want a raincoat and an umbrella because they’re going to take the risk of getting close. So the question on the floor today is how much God do you want? Because he will only give you as much of God that you can handle spiritual intimacy should lead to expanded spiritual capacity. Spiritual capacity brings on more spiritual power so that God gets glory as he blows your mind with the supernatural. So I invite you to ignite Kingdom prayer in your life so that you can give testimony that he’s real. He’s real. Because I’ve seen him with my own eyes. Mm hmm, mm hmm, mm hmm. Sometimes life can become weighty. The trials, the tribulations, the struggles, the difficulties can even feel oppressive at times until the question becomes, how can we rise above it? How can we get over the hump of the onslaught that we may be going through in a particular season of our lives? Well, that’s where spiritual power comes in. When you get up and go, has gotten up and gone. When you come to the end of yourself, that is the perfect opportunity to see God raise up and show you his ability to take you from where you are to where you need to be. And more importantly where he wants you to be. Spiritual power is tied to your capacity. God will never give you more of him than you can handle. God doesn’t like wasting God. But if your capacity expands and you’re able to take in more of him, he will give you more of him to deal with more of life while we can’t control all that life throws at us. I want you to remember that there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still. And in his omnipotence, his power, his ability to handle anything that you individually or we collectively face is something that can change the equation of your situation. If you and I will pursue an intimacy with him, we will expand our capacity for him. And when we expand our capacity for him will experience more power from him. And when you experience more power, you’ll know it’s him because it will be beyond what you could do independently of him. You know, when you’ve tried everything, you know to do, gone everybody, you know, to help, you can’t buy your way out of your situation, your influence and your influencers can’t change the trajectory of your situation. That’s where you call on spiritual power. That’s where you ask God to intervene in your circumstances and give you more much more, Then you could ever achieve one. You’re wrong. And don’t forget when God shows you how powerful he is in the circumstance, you face to give him thanks to let him know, you know where that energizing ability came from. When you experience spiritual power, you will experience divine power working on your behalf. Mhm. Yeah, when you’re in the spirit, but the bible calls the spirit a win a wind that blows my opinion. Nobody’s opinion. When it conflicts with God, is to be considered as truth, the bible says, let God be true and every man a liar Mother nature doesn’t work without daddy. God. That’s because truth, then adjust. Because if it comes from God, it’s true because God has absolute standard by which reality is measured
