Matthew 16:19 – “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  NKJV

My text verse is probably not one that you have used regarding Prayer, but I believe it is soundly rooted in prayer’s purpose and power.  I do not believe that any student of the Bible can conclude that prayer is unimportant to God or in the life of a believer. 

The Bible is filled with passages that call people or encourage people to pray and the life of Jesus was marked by the time He spent in prayer.  A passage we should never forget is found in Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man that He should lie nor a son of man that He should change His mind.  Does He speak and then not act?  Does He promise and not fulfill?”  

Clearly, the message is that He Does Not Fail to do that which He has declared.  If God’s will and desire are to give us the Kingdom and to Fulfill His Promises, then some of us may need to change our attitudes about prayer.  We need, I believe, to learn to Pray the Promises and even Plead the Promises in our prayers. 

D.L. Moody is credited with the quote, “Each word or promise of God can be traced back to a form of kneeling.  If you tarry at a promise God will meet you there.”  That is powerful.  Moody related an incident that changed his attitude and approach to prayer that transpired when he was a young minister. 

Moody believed God had called him to ‘plant churches’ and one of his first acts was to begin prayer meetings.  He related that one of the first he attended was attended by an elderly Methodist minister.  When that minister prayed, Moody instantly knew there was something different about his praying and that this man was tapping into heaven when he prayed. 

Moody said, “As I prayed, God was way out there, listening in the distance and the answer was also far off in the distance.  This preacher prayed as though God were there with them in person and the answers were current realities.”  The preacher’s name was Ambrose Whaley, a retired blacksmith, and Methodist lay preacher. 

Moody asked if he could pray with Whaley.  The old minister took him to a barn, up a ladder to a haystack where two large Bibles laying, and one was open.  Moody wondered what this meant but did not ask and he prayed first and poured out his heart, needs, burdens, aspirations, and ambitions before God, then the old minister prayed, and it was totally different. 

Moody, inquired as to his secret of prayer for the old minister seemed to literally touch heaven with his prayers.  Ambrose Whaley looked him in the eyes and said, “You man, learn to plead the promises of God!”  Moody, like many of us, prayed with fervency, zeal, urgency, and ambition but one thing was missing.  The missing ingredient was Faith! 

Where does faith come from?  Hearing the Word of God.  Moody listened to this elderly preacher plead the promises like a lawyer would present a case in court.  He would remind God of Promise after Promise not so much to change God’s mind but to bring to the fore in his own heart and mind the truth and reality of the Promises of God.  It was producing and building Faith he Pled the Promises.  As he prayed, Moody could hear the Holy Spirit pouring in His assurances of the validity and reality of the Promises and Faith soared in the words of this preacher.

I challenge you to Find the Promises of God and Pray the Promises!  Find the Promises of God and Plead Them!  Find the Promises of God and Meditate upon them.  Find the Promises of God and Remind yourself of the truth and reality that “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  But whatever you do, begin to Pray the Promises with confidence that the Promises of God are meant to be realized in our lives here on earth!

God bless you as you go through this wonderful day in Him!