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Prayer Is More Powerful Than You Think · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey friends, welcome back to In the Stillness.
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  Thanks for joining me on today's episode.
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  We are going to be reading through first John chapter 5,
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  verses 16 to 17 today, and I really want to hone in and talk
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  about the power of persistent prayer and intercession,
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  especially when it comes to people caught in sin or even
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  drifting from God. I believe that prayer is so much
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  more powerful than a lot of people realize.
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  So these two verses carry both a warning but also an
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  encouragement for all of us. Let's go ahead and read through
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  verses 16 to 17. If anyone observes A fellow
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  believer habitually sinning in a way that doesn't lead to death,
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  you should keep interceding in prayer that God will give that
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  person life. Now, there is a sin that leads
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  to death, and I'm not encouraging you to pray for
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  those who commit it all. Unrighteousness is sin, but
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  there is sin that does not result in death.
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  OK. I think some of the biggest
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  battles in people's lives are not won through arguments or
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  through pressure, but through the power of intercession.
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  Prayer is warfare. It is not passive, and I think a
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  lot of believers underestimate what is actually happening when
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  we pray for someone before God. Prayer at times can feel hidden.
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  It might feel more quiet or even more weak.
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  But Scripture shows us the opposite.
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  Prayer softens hearts. Prayer invites the power of God
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  into situations that in our human capacity we could never
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  change or manipulate on our own. What stands out to me
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  immediately in these verses is that John says when you observe
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  someone trapped in sin, when it's somebody habitually sinning
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  in a way that we are to go to prayer immediately.
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  So not gossip, not self righteously condemning them in
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  our thoughts or in our hearts, but to pray.
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  And these verses come directly after John was talking about
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  confidence in prayer as we discussed yesterday, that God
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  hears us when we ask according to his will.
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  So this instruction to intercede, it flows from that
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  same confidence that prayer does work.
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  And I think it can be easier at times for us to try to change
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  people, whether that be through control, pressure, arguments.
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  But the point of the matter is only God can transform a heart.
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  Yes, we are called to lovingly speak truth into people's lives.
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  We are called to confront sin with humility and with wisdom,
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  but only the Holy Spirit can truly convict and bring
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  repentance to someone. That's why prayer matters so
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  deeply. Prayer reaches places that human
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  effort never can. And what's so beautiful about
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  it, too, is that it reflects the heart of Jesus himself.
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  Because even right now, Christ is seated at the right hand of
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  the Father, and He is our intercessor.
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  He is praying for us. I think that's also why Jesus
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  emphasized persistent prayer in his ministry So much.
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  We see in Luke chapter 18, Jesus tells this story of a persistent
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  widow who kept coming before a judge again and again, asking
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  the same thing. And Jesus says, how much more
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  will our heavenly Father respond to those who cry out to him day
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  and night. Prayer is dependence.
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  Prayer is persistence. It is faith.
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  Before you actually see evidence, Jesus says in Matthew
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  7/7 that we are to ask, seek, and knock.
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  So my encouragement to you guys is keep asking the Father, keep
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  seeking his face, keep knocking because one day you will ask and
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  receive seek and you will find knock and the door will be
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  opened. This also connects deeply to
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  Jesus urging believers to be salt and light.
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  As we see in Matthew chapter 5, light exposes darkness and salt.
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  If you think about it with food, it is seasoning and it brings
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  out flavor, oftentimes spice, so it preserves.
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  And sometimes walking in truth is going to make people feel
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  uncomfortable. But we are not called to blend
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  into the world or to dim our light in order to fit culture
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  standards. There is a difference between
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  loving confrontation and self-righteous judgment.
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  Galatians 6 tells us that we are to restore people gently, but
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  Jesus warns us in Matthew 7 to remove the plank from our own
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  eye first. So before we look at other
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  people's faults or sins, we need to evaluate our own hearts.
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  But here's the thing, We live in a world that calls being silent
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  love and calls conviction hate. But biblical love tells the
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  truth, yet still falls to its knees in prayer.
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  The goal was never pride. It is humility rooted in truth
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  and out of love. Not pretending that sin is
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  harmless or just glazing past it, but remembering that we
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  ourselves desperately need that grace too.
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  I really think John is sending us an urgent warning about the
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  seriousness of ongoing, continuous, unrepentant sin.
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  It's not just struggling in sin or fighting temptation actively,
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  but consistently choosing sin without feeling repentant about
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  it. Y'all.
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  Sin hardens our hearts. It deceives us.
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  Sin destroys intimacy with God, so when we see someone drifting
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  spiritually, our response should not just be frustration or
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  judgment. It should be intercession.
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  A prayer for a softened heart, for conviction and clear
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  conscience. A prayer for freedom that only
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  Jesus can bring. People do not just need a
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  behavior modification, they need real inner transformation in
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  their hearts. Now I do want to talk about how
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  John mentions this sin leading to death, and commentators
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  debate exactly what this is talking about.
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  Some connect it to a physical death as we see in Acts 5,
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  Ananias and Sapphira. They die because they lied to
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  the Holy Spirit or their believers in First Corinthians
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  11 who took communion in an unworthy manner.
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  Others connected to a spiritual death, like blasphemy against
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  the Holy Spirit or completely turning away from Christ after
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  knowing the truth. Many do think that in John's
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  letter here he was referring to people abandoning the faith and
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  then joining the Antichrist because there is so much warning
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  about that in first John. But what I love is that this
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  passage reminds us we are to leave judgment to God.
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  He is the ultimate judge and only He fully sees people's
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  hearts. So Our Calling is to pray and to
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  intercede and to let God be God. I think one of the enemy's
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  greatest lies is convincing believers that prayer does not
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  really do much, that it is weak. But Scripture says the prayer of
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  a righteous person is powerful and effective.
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  So do not underestimate what happens when you consistently
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  bring someone before the Lord, when you approach the throne of
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  God and you cry out day and night.
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  Pray for prodigal sons and daughters.
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  Pray for hearts that have been calloused.
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  Pray for people who are trapped in deception and enslaved to
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  sin. Because while we are called to
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  speak truth and to live as salt and light, only God can truly
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  change a person from the inside out.
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  Prayer is not weak. It is one of the greatest
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  weapons that believers have been given.
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  And the person that you might be tempted to give up on may be
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  someone who is only one prayer away from full surrender to
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  Jesus Christ. So with all of this, I want to
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  go ahead and close this out in prayer.
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  Dear Jesus, thank you that we can come boldly before you in
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  prayer. We can enter your throne room
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  right where we are. Lord, would you teach us to be
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  people who faithfully, obediently intercede for others?
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  Would you increase our faith that you're still changing
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  hearts? I pray that we would walk in
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  both truth and in humility, that we would allow you to search our
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  own hearts, to evaluate and examine any sin in our lives
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  before we look to other people's faults and sin, and help us as
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  we pray for those around us. I pray that we wouldn't just
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  pray empty words, that we would not just go through motions, but
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  that we would genuinely care for those around us.
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  Believers and non believers, give us the words to pray for
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  them. Lord, if anyone in our lives is
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  drifting from you, I pray that you would soften their hearts
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  and draw them back to yourself. Lord, we thank you so much for
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  the power of prayer and just how convenient it is that you made a
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  way Jesus, for us to do this. At any time of the day, anywhere
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  we are, may we never loose perspective on what you have
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  done. Jesus.
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  May we live in the full victory of the cross today.
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  Be with every listener. Protect them physically,
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  mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
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  May we have lives that radiate your light Jesus and draw people
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  to you. I pray this all in your precious
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  name, Jesus. Amen.
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  OK guys, that's today's podcast episode.
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  I hope you'll have a great Wednesday that y'all feel the
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  Lord's presence leading you and guiding you.
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  And I will see y'all on the next episode.