Prayer Changes Things

Ian felt abandoned as he lay there in the ambulance dying. But he wasn’t really. God was attentive to him, as was his mom, though she was over 10,000 km away. Little did he know that at that very moment, God flashed Ian’s face across his mother’s mind, and told her, ‘Your eldest son is dying. Pray for him.’ And pray she did. She fell to her knees and begged God for her son’s life. What an example Ian’s mom is to us of life as a prayer warrior.

Read Matthew 7:7-11.

Jesus is emphatic that our prayer changes things. In fact He makes this promise seven times (six times in verses 7-8 and once in verse 11). By using repetition, He seeks to hammer deep into us the reality that the Father waits for and responds to our prayers. This should cause us to pray with great confidence. Our Father delights in hearing and responding to our heartfelt and faith-filled prayers. And He gives us good things not bad things in response (v9-11). Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness and ability. Ian’s mother knew this. And so can you.

When the answer to prayer doesn’t come immediately, we should intensify our prayer. Jesus instructs, ‘Ask ... seek ... knock.’ When we ask and no answer seems to come, we seek. When we seek, and still no answer comes, we get more desperate and begin to knock on the door more urgently. This is Jesus’ way of telling us to persevere if the answer does not come speedily.

Prayer really does change things. God has ordained that His blessings, which are already lined up for us, come one bit at a time as we pray. Instead of being paralyzed by the mystery of prayer, let us instead start to pray. There’s one more thing we learn from Ian’s mother: prayer is not just speaking to God. It’s also straining our ear toward heaven to hear anything He might want to say to us. He is ready to guide our praying as we ask Him to.

What do you learn about God as Father in verse 9-11? Is there anyone you should pray for right now?