The stove works better if you plug it in. I found this principle is the same for the dryer, the tv, the microwave, the dishwasher, the hairdryer, etc. I have a list of about 30 principles that I have picked up from some very great men in the faith, but this principle I came up with by myself, with no help from anyone else.
Let’s just focus on the stove for a moment. You can make use of the stove without plugging it in. There are several uses of an unplugged stove. You can use magnets to hang the children’s artwork on it. You can lay today’s mail on an unplugged stove. You can sit the groceries on top of an unplugged stove. We came in the other day and someone had been using a hot glue gun on the top of the stove. All of these are ok uses of the stove, but let’s face it, we could have used an old metal cabinet to do those things. However, once we discovered the plug and the power source in the wall, we realized there was so much more the stove could do than an old metal cabinet could do.
Things work better and do what they are designed to do, if you plug them in. If that is a great principle in the physical arena, what about the spiritual arena? Prayer works better if you plug it in. Anybody can pray. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” Or what about this one: “God is great! God is good! Let us thank Him for our food. Amen.” These are nice prayers, but neither one of these prayers is going to rescue your son from the enemy’s clutches. Neither of these prayers is going to shake the walls of heaven. Neither of these prayers is going to grab hold of the scepter of God!
How do you plug in prayer? Start by plugging in the name upfront: “Heavenly Father, I come in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ…your only begotten Son who is risen from the grave and now sits with you in majesty and power.” You just got God’s attention and all the angelic beings have hushed to see what is coming next!
Now, what is the power source for prayer? “I come as a child of God and as part of the Bride of Christ. I am a child of Almighty God and a brother to the King of Kings. I married into royalty and into wealth. Power and authority have been granted to me by divine decree!” Wow…God is ready to open the vault for you!
Ok, once you have plugged in prayer by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by using your power and authority given to you as a child of God, you can now scare the living daylights out of the enemy: “Satan, you have no rights over my children. You are operating illegally, and I ask Jesus to bind you from your hellish activity and to cast you out of my children’s lives!” Make sure you are confessed up and covered by the blood of Jesus Christ when you pray this part.
To see even more of what prayer was designed to do, pray scripture….God loves it and Satan hates it: Remind Satan, that “the gates of hell will not prevail…”(Matthew 16:18) or remind him that “the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9)
Although you don’t praise your electric company for power everytime you use your plugged in stove, you should always remember to thank God and praise Him for His power, provision, love, etc. Praise God for a good 5 to 10 minutes for everything you think of.
You can pray like this for marriages, for children, for a job situation, for your love life, for a sickness. In fact, you can pray about anything, just remember this: pray works better if you plug it in!
Thank you for plugging in prayer to pray for us and for allowing us to pray for you,
Billy and Sheilah Daws