“In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.” (Luke 6:12)
Have you ever sat down and considered what this world would be like if there were more prayer?
Maybe we wouldn’t have the wars, broken homes, failed marriages, abused children, suicides, hunger, homelessness, deadly shootings and suffering we have today. Maybe our world would somehow be better than it is. Maybe we would be happier. I know our faith would be stronger.
There is a power in prayer of which we have yet to realize.
Jesus said, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matthew 21:22).
He doesn’t say how. He doesn’t say when. He does tell us in what form His response may come, but He says — “If you pray for it, you will receive it!”
We know, of course, that we must pray according to God’s will. 1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” Whatever we ask for in prayer it must be something that does not violate the will of God. We cannot ask for anything that is sinful or which would discourage us spiritually, like, “Please God, let me win the lottery!”
But everything else is wide open. Jesus says that we have carte blanche with the Father. “Ask and you shall receive.”
In Mark 11:24 the language is even stronger: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
“Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Let me ask you something; if what Jesus says is true, why don’t we pray more often? Why aren’t we more persistent in prayer? Why don’t we boldly come before the throne of God and bring to Him the things we are struggling with?
I ask myself some of the same questions.
There are no good answers. None that justify our faithlessness in prayer.
“Ask and you shall receive.”
“If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
“Believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
If those things are true, why aren’t we praying — daily! — for our family members, neighbors, coworkers and friends who are unsaved?
If those things are true, why do we not fall on our knees every day in prayer and ask God to intervene in those situations that we know people we love are dealing with?
Why don’t we bow our heads, multiple times a day, and ask God to help us be honest with ourselves about our shortcomings and help us remove the sin from our lives so that we might live lives that are holy and pleasing in His sight (cf. Psalm 139:23-24)?
Again, there are no good answers to those questions.
Don’t say, “I just don’t have enough time.” You do.
Don’t say, “Well, God hasn’t answered my prayers in the past. Why should I pray now?” Maybe what you asked for was wrong. Maybe He did respond, just not in the way you expected. Or maybe you haven’t given Him enough time to respond. Remember: He operates according to His schedule, not yours.
Don’t say, “I don’t know what to say.” Paul tells us in Romans that the Holy Spirit serves as our own private interpreter when we pray and takes what’s in our heart and relays that to God (cf. Romans 8:26).
And don’t say, “I always intend to pray but can never seem to get around to it.” That may be the worst excuse of all! Knowing how faithful God is in responding to our prayers, knowing how powerful prayer can be, knowing how desperately this world and the people in our lives need our prayers — we may need to repent for making prayer such a low priority in our lives.
E. M. Bounds said: “God shapes the world by prayer. The more praying there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces against evil.”
Knowing this, let us pray!