PRAYER CHANGES THINGS


A. "AND AS HE PRAYED, THE FASHION OF HIS COUNTENANCE WAS ALTERED, AND HIS RAIMENT WAS WHITE AND GLISTERING." - Luke 9:29
  1. The Bible is, in a certain sense, comparable to a picture gallery where paintings or works of art are exhibited:
    1. This is true of our text which shows a portrait of our Lord in the act of prayer.
    2. The scene is on the mount of transfiguration.
    3. A few disciples and, doubtless, some angels, are the witnesses to the sublime and unearthly scene.
  2. The scene itself:
    1. Revealed the power of prayer.
    2. It shows that prayer changes things -- "And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering."
    3. By that time he was already a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief - Isa. 53:3
    4. But prayer brought a change in the body of the Son of man - "his countenance was altered."
    5. Prayer changes things; not only was that true in the experience of the Son of God, but we shall show that is true in the life of all God's children.
B. PRAYER CHANGES THINGS
  1. It did for the Son of God during His earthly ministry:
    1. That was true at our Lord's baptism - Matt. 3:16, 17; Mark 1:10, 11
    2. And that was true on the mount of transfiguration - Luke 9:29; Matt. 17:5
    3. It was true, also, in Gethsemane when He was in great agony - Luke 22:43
    4. It was true after His prayer seasons every morning during His ministry to the needs of the people - Mark 5:30; Luke 6:19
  2. Let us note, briefly, what prayer did for the Son of God:
    1. It did not take Him out of what was before Him, out of the shadow of the cross.
    2. But it strengthened Him to bear the cross.
    3. Here is a lesson for us; prayer may not take us away from trials and suffering, but it will strengthen us to bear all in faith.
  3. Prayer changed things for people under different environments:
    1. Prayer brought deliverance to the daughter of a praying mother - Matt. 15:22-28
    2. It brought redemption to the thief on the cross - Luke 23:42-44
    3. It brought eyesight to blind Bartimaeus - Mark 10:46-52
    4. It delivered Peter from a watery grave - Matt. 14:30, 31
    5. It altered the relationship between Jacob and his brother Esau - Gen. 25:30-34; 27:41; 32:1-29; 33:4
C. SPECIAL BLESSINGS OF PRAYER
  1. Prayer connects us with the supernatural:
    1. That was true in the experience of Elijah and the children of Israel - 1 Ki. 18
    2. And that was true in Peter's experience when he caught the fish that had enough money in his belly to pay his tax and that of his Lord - Matt. 17:27
    3. Moses' mother had a similar experience - Ex. 2:1-10
  2. Childlike and simple faith in God's promises is the great secret of witnessing the changing or transforming power of prayer:
    1. By it the Red Sea was divided and Israel passed through it, walking on dry land - Ex. 14:21-31
    2. By it Elisha brought back to life the son of the Shunammite - 2 Ki. 4:32-37
    3. It opened the prison doors to Peter and set him free to preach the gospel of Christ - Acts 12:5-17
    4. That was true in the experience of Paul and Silas - Acts 16:25-34
    5. Prayer changes things in many different and unexpected ways -
      1. The history of the church is witness to this fact. Think of the Reformation, and how Luther and others were delivered out of the very jaws of death.
      2. Your humble servant is witness to many such undeserved and unexpected changes in his unworthy life.
    6. Prayer changes things for him that makes it the secret of his victorious life.


Design © John Bryant 2011