Prayer Changes Things!

Prayer is something that we as Christians all know we are "supposed" to do. The Bible tells us that our prayers are "powerful and effective," in James 5:16. If we truly believe what we claim to believe, should we not pray more? If we truly believe that our prayers carry power, and that they truly have an effect, shouldn't we pray more. If we believe that in prayer we are approaching the all-powerful and all-loving God, who has the power to do anything, should we not go to him more often? And, actually expect something to happen? Instead, far too often the extent of a Christian's prayer life consists of thanking God for their food. God does not want us to have some prayers in our life, he wants us to have a life of prayer! A life that realizes the need for God to intervene. A life of constant intercession for the lost. A life of dependence on God and His power. This is what having a life of prayer looks like.

Many issues within the American church and the lives of Christians stem from prayerlessness. If we as the church would just get on our knees before the Almighty God and ask for His divine intervention, God would move in a mighty way! If those of us within the church would develop a real life of prayer, a move of God would take place like we have never seen before. Instead, we are too caught up with the things of this world. Not necessarily sin, but other things that distract us from God and what really matters. If Facebook is a larger part of your life than prayer is, we have a problem.

We wonder why we don't see the power of God in America like we read in the Bible, or hear about in other countries. Why don't we see God perform miracles on a consistent basis? I believe the answer lies in our prayerlessness. Yes we pray for our sick. However, God does not want us to throw up a few prayers here and there, God wants us to have a life of prayer. It is only when we develop a life of prayer that we will truly witness the awesome power of God.

Then there is faith. Do we truly believe that our prayers do something? That they are "powerful and effective?" Or do we just pray every now and then because that is what good Christians do? Let's start truly believing what we claim we believe, and let our prayer life reflect it! God will move if we seek Him in faith. Not seek Him because it seems like the right thing to do, but seek Him because we believe he will move in power. For, our prayers truly are "powerful and effective." Our prayers change things. Our prayers access a power greater than us, and greater than anything in the universe. Our prayers call upon the omnipotent God to intervene. 

Our prayers do things. When we pray, things happen. We often get discouraged when we don't see our prayers being answered. When in reality, our prayers do so much more than we will ever be able to see. Our prayers truly are "powerful and effective." Let's start believing that! Let's start believing that God does not merely have the ability to answer prayers, but that he IS going to answer our prayers. Let's start believing what the Bible says, and believing that our prayers really do change things. Let's stop blaming God for the lack of answered prayers, and start taking action by coming before God consistently in faith.  

Our prayers are truly "powerful and effective." If you confess to be a Christian, I challenge you to develop a life of prayer. Find a time to prayer every day. Beyond this daily prayer time that you set aside, pray throughout your day. Pray when you wake up. Pray when you go to sleep. Pray on your way to work or school. Pray when you want to. Pray when you don't want to. I urge you to do this for the sake of this world. This world needs Jesus. We can change things through our prayers. Let's go!