Prayer is Powerful to Change Things!
Many years ago, a colleague of mine told me that as a child, she regularly suffered from infections, and after years of suffering, her father—a pastor—decided that this time he would pray rather than go to the doctor first. As soon as he prayed, the infection completely stopped. I asked her, “What? He had never prayed for your condition before?” She replied, “No, he used to pray for others, but he never tried prayer for me.”
I meet many people who talk to me about their problems, illnesses, family disasters, and countless overwhelming situations that besiege their families. And I ask them, “Have you tried prayer?”
This is a question I also pose to you, dear readers: “Have you tried prayer?” Have you gone to meet God in the room of His throne of grace? Sometimes, like this pastor, we become so preoccupied with the problems of others that we forget that prayer works for everyone, even for ourselves.
Yes, prayer works for both believers and non-believers. The Bible says:
Romans 10:13
“For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
God responds to non-believers. He answers anyone who comes to Him by faith. The Canaanite woman (thus, a woman not part of the covenant with the Father) called on Jesus to obtain healing for her daughter. At first, it seemed that Jesus did not want to help her—why should He assist a non-believer?—but this was only a pretext to announce to believers that healing is the bread of God’s children… And seeing the faith of this woman, He told her that her daughter was healed.
God answers everyone. He tells the believer:
Jeremiah 33:3
“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Isaiah 45:22
“Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.”
God says: “Call to Me,” “Look to Me,” and Jesus says: “Come to Me.”
The Lord Jesus teaches us to pray with a prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. We find it in Luke 11:1-4:
Luke 11:1-4
1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Read the rest…
You see, people often pray: “Give me,” “Give me…” Here, Jesus reminds us: “Give me, forgive me, lead me, deliver me.” This is what most Christians do. They pray primarily for themselves and nothing else. But if we analyze this prayer closely, we will see that the Lord gives us a key to make our prayer a powerful prayer that changes things.
Look at Acts 12. The wicked King Herod has just killed Apostle James. The whole church is in fear. Now Peter is arrested. The king, seeing that the crowd appreciated his act against James, wants to kill Peter as well.
Oh, my friends, a small note in parentheses: Whenever, in the Bible, leaders have yielded to the wishes of the people, it has always been a disaster. Keep that in mind!
BUT, the Bible says that the church began to pray. Why was James killed? Perhaps it was because the church had not prayed. But now they pray, for when we try prayer, it changes overwhelming situations. An angel of the Lord came and delivered Peter, and all the church rejoiced, and verse 24 says: “But the word of God grew and multiplied.”
When the church prays, the enemy’s plans forged against it do not succeed!
“Give me, forgive me, lead me, deliver me.” Is this the right way to approach the Lord? Let’s see what the Lord teaches us with this prayer.
First, when you pray, remember that you are praying to the Father.
“Our Father…” We are not addressing a stranger or an unknown person, but a parent, our Father. When you say to God: “Our Father,” you imply that you are saved, that you belong to Him, that you are part of His family. And He loves to take care of His own.
Second, when you pray, remember where you bring your prayers: to Heaven.
“Who are in heaven…” Not only is the Lord in heaven, but that is also where we are heading. Whatever difficulties we experience, we should always remember our destination. Heaven is the vision of what should be on earth. There are no tears, no illness, no poverty, no failure, no rivalry, no jealousy there… Heaven is the most beautiful and wonderful place in the universe, and God reigns there. For many of us, it is also where our father, mother, brother, uncle, aunt, and many friends who have left this earth now dwell in the presence of the Lord. Heaven is eternity. And our prayers should also be filled with things concerning eternity.
Third, when you pray, think of the Name by which you pray.
Oh, you are not praying to just anyone. You are praying to the One who has received a name—and what a name:
Philippians 2:9-11
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, Read the rest…
It is the name of Jesus. The name of the One who redeemed us. It is by this name that we come to the Father. This is the name that saves us:
Acts 4:12
12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
We do not bring our prayers to the Father in our own name. We do not go with our family name, the name of our church, or our denomination, but with the Name of Jesus. All of heaven rejoices when we come to the Father with this name.
When I was twelve years old, my parents were wholesalers of fruits and vegetables. One day, at the morning market, my dad sent me to collect a payment. I arrived at my father’s client’s place, who was in conversation with his own client. Upon seeing me, he interrupted his discussion and said to his client: “This boy is small, but his name is big!” Wow; I thought. The name I bear is a big name. Yes, in this world, my father’s name was important, but allow me to tell you that the Name of my Heavenly Father is even greater.
Fourth, when you pray, remember the Kingdom.
“Your kingdom come…” Oh, this is the heart of our God. That His kingdom comes, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You see, when we pray, our first thought should be the kingdom of God.
Matthew 6:33
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
The Kingdom of God is the presence of God in our lives, in our circumstances, in our thoughts, our conversations, our lifestyle. The Kingdom of God is where God’s will is fulfilled. You see, heaven is the place where God’s will is constantly accomplished. Everything we need is found there; everything that is there belongs to us because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. When we pray to the Father who is in heaven, we remind Him that He is sovereign in our lives and that He has redeemed everything for us. We remind Him that everything that exists in heaven must come to earth. It’s His choice. It’s His will. “Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Hallelujah.
Jesus told Joseph and Mary that He must be about His Father’s business. We too. When we pray, we do exactly that. We arrange for the things of God’s kingdom in heaven to come to earth through our prayers.
You see, before saying to the Father: “give me, forgive me, lead me, deliver me,” it would be good to do His will.
Many say they want God to hear them, but are they busy doing His will? Fulfilling God’s plan for their life? The Father desires for everyone to accomplish His purposes. Many want miracles but are not ready to do His will.
Now, once you have taken care of the affairs of God, you can now approach Him and say: “Give me; Forgive me; Lead me; Deliver me.” Some say: “I am in a desperate situation.”
Consider King Hezekiah. The prophet Isaiah comes to him and gives him a word directly from God: “Prepare your house, for you shall die, and not live” (Isaiah 38:1). Oh, but those are the words of God. “Set your house in order, for you shall die, end of story.” It is God who decreed it, and no one can change that. You cannot change what God has declared!
Oh, but read your Bible. You will discover that our God can be persuaded, He can be convinced, He can be touched. God is reachable. We can change God’s decrees through our prayers.
Let’s look at the rest of this passage:
Isaiah 38:2-6
2 Then Hezekiah turned his face towards the wall, and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Remember, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Read the rest…
The Lord said to Isaiah: “Stop. Go back to King Hezekiah and tell him: ‘I have heard your prayer, and I have seen your tears, and you shall not die!!!’” And his life was extended by 15 years.
We can change things through the power of prayer. Look at what happened with our daughter. She was born with unimaginable physical conditions. She could neither walk nor talk, and had severe motor problems; she should have died in her early teens. But we went to the Father, we thought of Heaven, we spoke to Him about His Name, His Kingdom, and His Will… Then we said: “Give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us…” and prayer changed her destiny. The Lord said: “Stop. I have heard your cries, I have seen your tears… your daughter shall not die. I will deliver her… I will heal her…”; and He healed her! To Him be all the glory.
WHEN THINGS DO NOT GO AS YOU WANT… HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF TRYING PRAYER? IT WORKS!
