The Power of Prayer

How often do we recognize the true power behind our prayers?

In today's episode, Stephanie Alessi Muiña invites us to explore the spiritual impact of prayer, sharing personal stories and wisdom from Ephesians 6:12. Together, we'll uncover how prayer shifts battles beyond what we see, and learn practical steps to deepen our prayer lives. From mission trip experiences to lessons from Jesus in the garden, we'll discover the unseen strength that prayer brings to every situation.

Join our community as we pray boldly, lifting each other up and embracing the authority God has given us. Let's take time today to activate the power of prayer and devotion in our lives.

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Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1484. Today's devo is called The Power of Prayer. Hey there, we're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy and to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a 5-minute daily dose of of Heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional podcast. Good morning everyone, happy Thursday! This is Stephanie and I'm very excited to jump into this devo

today, so let's do it. Ephesians 6: 0:36

today, so let's do it. Ephesians 6:12 in the NIV version, it says, 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. When I was 18 years old, I went on a missions trip to Cuba. I didn't go to Havana, I went to Santa Clara and another— I think Trinidad. I was going to try to say it Spanish, but it's hard. Trinidad. And it was beautiful. It was life-changing. And we were at this huge, uh, church conference where a lot of the local churches came to this big auditorium. It was all outside, no electricity, no running water, and they were having this massive church service. If you have never been on a mission trip, I would highly recommend you go on one. It will make you so proud to be a Christian, so proud to be, um, a Christian in America as well, because it was life-changing what I saw over there. So anyways, we're in the middle of the service, I'm 18 years old, the rest of us are like Everybody is under 20. We were very, very young, and the pastor was preaching, and in the middle of his sermon, this woman started to like almost violently disrupt the service by yelling at the pastor and causing a scene. And we were very scared because we knew this isn't just a lady being mad, this is a spiritual battle happening. This is weird. And our leader pointed at all of us, and we were very young, and said, pray in the Spirit now. And none of us really at that time were well-versed in praying in the Spirit, but because we were so scared, we were definitely well-versed praying in the Spirit. And we all immediately just started praying and started to declare the Holy Spirit over this woman, and we just dove into that moment because we were so nervous. And in my head the whole time I'm thinking, somebody just go tackle that girl, get her out of here, she— get that girl out of this auditorium, she is causing such a scene. And I'm thinking that we gotta go do something. But little did I know that there was something happening in the spirit. There was something unseen, something unfelt that honestly just needed prayer. Not fighting, not more shouting, not kicking her out, just prayer. And I just want to remind you all on this lovely Thursday to not ever forget the power of prayer. And don't allow any voice to convince you that prayer is not enough. You know that the Bible says that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but it is against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. You know, I think about this often. The night before Jesus was going to be crucified, he didn't strategize. He didn't draw up a defense plan. He didn't draw up a way to run away. He prayed. He went into the garden and He prayed. Peter wanted to fight, and that would be me 100,000%. Give me the sword. I'm cutting off this guy's ear because he's talking to my Jesus, man. That would be me. Peter, I get you. Some of them wanted to sleep and honestly just ignore that it was even happening. Peter, then later on, he ran away. He didn't know how to handle it. But Jesus, He stayed in the garden. And he prayed, even knowing that the next day he was going to wake up and be captured and killed. That should show us the power of prayer, for Jesus did not run away. He didn't fight. He just prayed. Now I'm going to show something to you guys that's going to level you up as a Christian, and this is like next-level Christian church lady, church brother kind of stuff, okay? Are you ready? Here it is. Whenever you get that thing in your gut that says something is off, whenever you have a dream at night about somebody, whenever you get what we call a check in your spirit, do not freak out. Do not go talking to everybody about it. Don't do anything too quickly. The first thing you do is to get on your knees and pray. It could be in the kitchen while you're cooking. It could be in the car on your way to work at 3 AM when you can't sleep, in the bathroom while you're at work. If something is stirring in your mind and heart about somebody or about something, just go pray. Start to to fight in the spirit, start to declare life, start to declare hope, start to declare joy. I— what's interesting is I wrote this devo last week not knowing that this very weekend I would be using this for a friend who needed my prayer desperately. And I couldn't be there with her in, in, uh, physical form. I couldn't be at the hospital with her, but all I did was stay home and pray. I lifted her up to God. I prayed that God would bring angels around her. And do you know that when I saw them afterwards, they said that they felt the Holy Spirit with them the entire time, that God was there. And I do believe it's because I prayed. It's because all of us, even though we couldn't be there, we started to pray for them. So let me encourage you today. You are a child of God. We have access to things that the whole world does not have access to, and it is the Spirit. And when you start to see things turn a little dark, when you start to feel like something is off, activate the Spirit that is in you. Holy Spirit, activate! And get on your knees and start praying and start declaring the blood of Jesus over something, because you aren't just saying words in vain. You are fighting spiritual powers, spiritual forces of evil that we may not see in real life, but it is definitely affecting the people around us. And if you can get on your knees and start praying and become confident in your prayer, watch how God uses your prayers in ways you never imagined. Level up in your walk with God. Don't just say a simple prayer before you eat every night before dinner, but have a designated time during your day to pray and to activate the power of prayer for people in your life and start to see how it changes your situation. Let's pray right now. God, we thank you for the power of your spirit and the power of prayer. You have called us not just to be Christians that walk around on this planet without using the gifts you've given us. You have called us to be bold. You have called us to step into dark situations. You have called us to step into joyless situations and to bring the light, God. And we do that with our prayer. So I pray that everybody that's listening to my voice right now will start to feel a drive, will start to feel an authority, will start to feel a stirring in their own spirit to begin their prayer life, to take their prayer life deeper, to make their prayers even stronger. Introduce them to the right people, God, that can help them do so. But I pray that no one will ever forget the power of prayer and forget the authority you have given them. Remind them of that today, in Jesus' name, amen. So there you have it, your 5-minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.