February 1, 2026

“The Power of Prayer” 

Message by Rev. Alan Perkins

Prayer is one of the main sources of power for us as followers of Christ. But often we find  ourselves struggling to pray. We feel guilty that we aren’t praying as often, or as long, or as  fervently as we should. Why is that? What’s hindering our prayers? And my answer is that  there are several reasons why it is difficult to consistently practice the spiritual discipline of  prayer. We’ll examine four of those reasons, four of those impediments to prayer, so that we  can overcome them instead of being defeated by them. And we’ll also look at some of the  promises that the Scriptures give us concerning prayer. 

Why is it difficult to pray? Reason one. Because we’ve been programmed to think that  every minute of every day must be optimized. We’ve been told that we must maximize our  productivity; we must ensure that we are being as useful and efficient as possible. The world  says that’s how we measure our value, by the tasks we accomplish and the work we produce.  And so we measure and track everything, including even our “leisure” activities. For example,  instead of just going for a walk, we count the number of steps we’ve taken, and we compare it  to the number of steps we took last week, and we calculate whether that number is increasing  or decreasing. We have devices on our wrists that measure our sleep and our heart rate. We  judge everything by the standard of efficiency: by the benefits gained and the work produced,  versus the time and effort invested.  

But prayer is the opposite of that. By all appearances, prayer is extremely unproductive. It is  literally just sitting or kneeling, and thinking. That’s all. And it’s not even what you might  consider productive thinking, like using your mind to plan or to solve problems. No, just  talking to God. Praising him for who he is and for what he has done. Confessing our sins. Giving  thanks. Asking him for what we need and want. No goals achieved. No metrics tracked. By the  world’s standard, prayer seems like an unproductive waste of time.  

So how do we convince our modern, productivity-obsessed selves that prayer is time well  spent, even if we don’t have any objective criteria by which to measure its value? One way is to  consider the example of Christ. Think about it. Jesus had only three years to accomplish his  purpose on earth. In that brief time, he had to recruit and train the men who would carry on  his work after he was gone. He had to travel widely and preach to thousands of people, and  heal the sick. And this healing ministry, coupled with his preaching and teaching, resulted in  huge throngs of people following him, seeking him out, at all times of the day and night,  wherever he went. Jesus has a great deal of incredibly important, difficult, and time-consuming  work to accomplish in a very short time. He was constantly mobbed with people seeking his  help. A very busy man. And yet, not only did he take time to pray, but he repeatedly set aside  extended time for prayer. We read this in Luke:  

“15 Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear  him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places  and prayed.”  (Luke 5:15-16) 

“12One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve  of them, whom he also designated apostles:”  (Luke 6:12-13)

If we aren’t regular in prayer, the issue isn’t that we don’t have enough time. Every one of us  has more time than Jesus did. The issue may simply be that other things seem to be more  urgent, and more important than prayer. Other things give us more of a sense of accomplish ment. Other things produce outcomes that can be measured. Other things seem to be a more  productive use of our time. But the example of our Lord tells a different story. As incredibly  busy as he was, and as many demands on his time as there were, he still chose to make time for  prayer. Because he knew that prayer was vitally important; prayer was the spiritual engine for  everything else he had to do. And if even Jesus, the Son of God, needed to pray in order to  accomplish his work, don’t we also? 

Once, when Martin Luther was asked about his plans for the day, he answered, “Work, work  from early until late. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in  prayer.” Luther was an incredibly busy man. He translated the entire Bible into German. He  founded the Protestant movement. He founded the University of Wittenberg, while also  regularly preaching and writing—his written works span 72 bound volumes. But in the midst  of all that, he made time to pray. Because Luther knew that the time he spent in prayer was the  source of power for everything else he did.  

Reason number two. Prayer is sometimes difficult because it seems like nothing is  happening. Prayer is difficult because sometimes we pray, and pray, and pray without any  apparent result. For example, you may have prayed for a family member to come to faith,  perhaps for years, without seeing any obvious change in their attitude toward spiritual things.  We’ve all prayed for physical healing, for ourselves or someone else, without an immediate  recovery from illness. And the temptation in those cases is simply to give up, to conclude that  for whatever reason, God is not going to grant us what we are asking. But there are several  reasons why the answer to your prayers may be delayed.  

• First of all, it may be that God is acting, but in ways you can’t see. For example, we  can’t observe the working of the Holy Spirit in someone’s heart. In some people, there’s  a dramatic conversion as God suddenly opens their eyes to the truth. In others, faith  develops slowly, from initially hearing the gospel, and observing Christians, and  mulling things over, and finally coming to the conclusion that this is true. Everyone is  different. So be patient, and don’t assume that because you can’t observe any change,  nothing is happening. God may be working in ways that you can’t see or perceive. 

• Second, it may be that God intends to answer the prayer, but the timing isn’t right. For  us, the timing is always right. We would always like God to act right now, right away.  But God is orchestrating a global plan for all of humanity, and whatever it is that we are  praying for is just one piece. We don’t know how that piece fits into his plan. And so  God’s plan may include a “yes”, but a “yes” sometime in the future when it will better fit  into God’s overall purposes. 

• Third, it could be that God is delaying the answer in order to test and strengthen your  faith. If you pray for a while and give up, maybe you didn’t really believe God would do  it in the first place. Maybe you were just covering your bases. “I’ll try asking God, what  can I lose?” But if you pray, and continue to pray, and then continue to pray some more,  

long past the time when you expected an answer, that says that your hope truly is in  God. And persevering in prayer not only reveals your faith, it also builds your faith.  Every time you pray, you are strengthening your faith.

When answers to our prayers don’t come immediately, God doesn’t tell us why. But he does tell  us that he wants us to keep praying, and not to give up. Jesus told this parable: 

“1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray  and not give up. 2He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God  nor cared what people thought. 3And there was a widow in that town who kept coming  to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he  refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what  people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets  justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”  (Luke 18:1-5) 

God is not like this judge. And that’s the point. Because if even this ungodly judge could be  persuaded to grant the widow’s prayer because of her stubborn persistence, how much more  will God be willing to answer our prayers if we persist in asking him, and don’t give up. 

This next reason, reason number three, is that prayer is difficult because prayer is  spiritual warfare. When you pray, you are opposing Satan. You are challenging his power and  his control over this world. Whenever we pray that God will do something, whatever it may be,  we are praying in opposition to Satan’s interests. Because Satan doesn’t want God to act. Satan  doesn’t want God to build his kingdom. Satan doesn’t want people to come to know Christ or to  follow him. Satan doesn’t want God to strengthen us, or protect us, or heal us. He doesn’t want  any of those things. And so, whenever you pray that God will bring his power to bear, you are  working to loosen Satan’s grip on this world. You are seeking to defeat his purposes. You are  warring against him. You are laboring to take back what he has stolen, to protect what he is  seeking to destroy, to bring back to life what was dead, to build and restore what he has  ruined, to free those whom he is holding captive. Whether you realize it or not, every time you  pray to God, you are opposing Satan and engaging in spiritual warfare.  

And why does that make praying difficult? Because Satan fights back. Because the one thing  Satan fears is the power of God. And when you pray, you are claiming that power, you are  asking God to come down out of heaven and put an end to the wicked schemes of the devil. You  are asking God to exert his dominion over the enemy of our souls. Satan hates and fears God’s  power, because he knows that he cannot prevail against God. If God fights against him, he will  be defeated. And that is exactly what we are asking God to do when we pray. We are asking  God to wage war against, and to defeat, the devil. And so Satan does not want us to pray. He  will try to prevent us from praying, however he can. Because our prayers are what brings  God’s power into a situation, and when that happens, he is defeated.  

Now, maybe you don’t really want to engage in spiritual warfare. You’re a lover, not a fighter.  Too bad. You’ve been drafted. If you are a follower of Christ, you are on the battlefield. You  have no choice about that. Your only choice is to fight or be defeated. However, the good news  is that our weapons are more powerful than those of our enemy.  

“4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they  have divine power to demolish strongholds.”  (2 Corinthians 10:4) 

Whatever power Satan has in this world, whatever control or influence he has over people and  situations—whatever ability he has to deceive, and steal, and destroy—he is no match for the  power of God. When we do battle with the weapons that God has given to us, Satan’s power  bases, his strongholds, are demolished. Utterly destroyed. And what are those weapons? 

“10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of  God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is  not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the  powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly  realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes,  you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate  of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from  the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you  can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and  the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  (Ephesians 6:10-17) 

Who are we fighting against? We are fighting against the devil. We are fighting against the  rulers, and authorities, and “the powers of this dark world”. We are fighting against “the  spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. Which sounds terrifying, frankly. And it would  be, if God had not fully equipped us for this fight. But he has. We have everything we need to  fight and win. And what do all these things enable us to do? They allow us to “stand firm”, and  not be overcome or driven back. Our weapons also allow us to “extinguish all the flaming  arrows of the evil one”; in other words, we have the power to render Satan’s weapons useless  and his attacks ineffective. And so, we cannot be defeated by Satan if we rely on God’s power,  and make use of the armor and weapons that he has provided to us.  

But there’s one more thing. Here’s the final, most powerful weapon.  

18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With  this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”   (Ephesians 6:18) 

And so prayer is the key that unlocks the power of all the other weapons. Prayer unlocks the  power of truth, the power of righteousness, the power of the gospel, the power of faith, the  power of salvation, the power of the word of God. Prayer is what makes us victorious. And that  is why Satan will do anything he can to stop us from praying. Because when we pray, all the  power of all those weapons is activated. And then Satan doesn’t stand a chance. Amen? What will Satan do to keep us from praying? You know the answer to this, because you’ve  experienced it. We all have.  

• You intend to pray at a certain time, and then you get a phone call from an old friend  that you haven’t heard from in months. 

• You intend to pray, but then you get a text from your daughter asking if you can come  over and watch her kids. 

• You sit down to pray, and suddenly remember an important email you need to send 

• You close your door to pray, and you get a headache. Or you sneeze and have to get up  and get a hankie. Or you have to go to the bathroom.  

• You begin to pray, and suddenly your mind starts spinning with all kinds of thoughts:  something someone said to you yesterday; a bill that’s coming due; thinking about the  last episode of Stranger Things, wondering if you’re going to get the flu, trying to remember if you got the flu shot . . .  

In other words, Satan will do anything he can to distract us, or discourage us, or deter us from  praying. So what do we do when that happens? First, we remember that we are in a spiritual  battle. And then we say, “not today, Satan”. We resolve that we are going to pray, no matter  what. We start by removing ourselves from distractions, as I noted earlier. And then if  something comes up that we do actually need to attend to right now, we go do it and then  immediately come back to prayer, instead of getting sidetracked for the rest of the day. If our  mind starts to wander, we stop and write down whatever is intruding on our thoughts so that  we can come back to it later, and then we go back to praying. We do what we need to do, but  we don’t allow ourselves to be deterred from going to God in prayer.  

All right. Let me give you one last reason that prayer is difficult. Reason number four. It  exposes us. What do I mean? How can being alone and praying expose you? Because it brings  us face to face with God. Think about it. All through the day, our private thoughts are just  that—private. No one else can hear them. No one else knows what we are thinking. If there’s  any sin in there, any pride, or greed, or lust, or malice, or envy; no one knows but us. To all the  world, we can put on a face of holiness and virtue, even if we know in our hearts that isn’t  completely true. Not only that, but we can often conceal sinful acts. Someone once defined  “character” as what you do when no one is watching. Because sometimes our public behavior  and our private behavior can differ.  

But when we come before God in prayer, all of that is exposed, because God sees everything.  We can’t hide from him and we can’t fool him. As the Bible says,  

“For your ways are in full viewof the Lord, 

     and he examines all your paths.”  (Proverbs 5:21)  

God sees, and knows, everything that we think, or feel, or say, or do. All of it. And our natural  response to that realization, our instinctive reaction to the knowledge that we are naked  before God, is to run away and hide ourselves. Like Adam and Eve did, in the garden, when  they realized that they were naked. Our natural reaction is not to come and stand before God,  fully exposed to his view. But that is exactly what God invites us to do, and what we can do.  Why? Because in Christ, God no longer sees us as sinful. He sees us as holy. When we pray, we  stand before God clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And so in Christ, God doesn’t see us as  dirty or damaged. He sees us as clean, and pure, and whole. Yes, we still need to confess our  sins to God. But our status in Christ is “forgiven”; our status is in Christ is “holy”; our status in  Christ is “beloved”. And so we can come to him with confidence, and assurance, and joy. As  Paul writes, 

“12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and  confidence.”  (Ephesians 3:12) 

And the author Hebrews tells us, 

16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive  mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:15-16) The prophet Micah wrote this: 

“You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all  our iniquities into the depths of the sea.”  (Micah 7:19)

I love the imagery of that verse. God has taken all of our sins and cast them into the deepest part  of the ocean. They are at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, six thousand fathoms beneath the  waves. They will never resurface; God will never bring them back up to accuse us or condemn  us. They are gone forever. And so they are no longer a barrier to fellowship with our Father.  Therefore, we can come to God in prayer freely and openly, knowing that we will be received as  beloved children; knowing that we will be welcomed, and not rejected or condemned. When we  come to God in prayer, the expression on his face is not one of anger, or disappointment, or  disapproval. His face is that of a loving father, glad to have us with him and glad to fellowship  with us. He is always glad to have us come to him in prayer; always, without exception.  

And so let’s pray, and persevere in prayer, despite all of the difficulties:  

1. Let’s pray, despite the fact that the world views prayer as an unproductive use of our  time. Because Christ demonstrated that prayer is critically important to empower  everything else we do. 

2. Let’s pray, despite the fact that our prayers aren’t always answered right away.  Because Christ tells us to persevere, and we know that God loves us and desires to  bless us.  

3. Let’s pray, despite the fact that Satan opposes our prayers. Because we have the power  to defeat him. 

4. And finally, let’s pray, despite the fact that prayer exposes us to God. Because God sees  us as holy in Christ, and he always welcomes us into his presence.

The First Baptist Church of Richwood - February 1, 2026