The Power of Prayer in the Life of a Christian

What is prayer?  Simply stated, prayer is talking to God.  I find it interesting that so many Christians are uncomfortable praying.  I can understand being uncomfortable praying in public, but praying should be as natural to us as breathing.  So why isn’t it?

I think some Christians make praying harder than it needs to be.  Some feel their prayers are more meaningful or carry more weight if they’re offered in a church.  Some think prayers are only for certain times.  Some think that praying is best left to the professionals – vocational ministers, lay leaders and those who are “good at it.”

But praying is actually pretty simple. We can pray anywhere and anytime, and ANYONE can do it! We just need to understand a few simple components.

When we pray, our focus turns to God and away from ourselves and the world.  Sure, our worries and cares are still there, but our focus isn’t there.  We focus on God so we can know Him better and understand His will in our situation.  He doesn’t expect us to come to Him with a head full of potential solutions and a mouth full of eloquent words, He only expects us to come in:

• Humility – understanding that only He has the big picture for which He alone has the answers, and 
• Faith – believing that He will answer us and wants what's best for us.

Prayer has four basic components:

• Praising Him – for Who He is (almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, sovereign…)
• Thanking Him – for what He does (the blessings He gives us, even blessings-in-disguise)
• Confessing to Him – the sin that is between us (because it affects our ability to listen to Him)
• Asking Him – our needs and the needs of others.

One of my favorite prayers in scripture is found in Ephesians 1:15-21:  "For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

In this prayer, Paul praises God as the source of hope, wisdom and power; Paul thanks Him for the friendship he has with the Ephesians; and he asks God to enlighten the eyes of their hearts so they can experience Him more fully.

Paul asked the Lord to give them a Spirit of wisdom and understanding, not so they would be smarter, but so they could know Him better. And then Paul prayed for their hearts to be enlightened. He didn’t ask the Lord to give them higher IQs or expand their ability to comprehend deep doctrinal issues, Paul prayed for their hearts because a tender heart is far more important to God than a brilliant brain, and that is happy news for ALL of us.

Paul also talks about the power that is available to them (and us). Through the presence of the Holy Spirit living in us, we have the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. Think about that expenditure of divine energy for a minute: all the demonic forces of evil came against Jesus, and He DEFEATED them. Satan’s goal was to keep Jesus dead and in the grave, but He arose and ascended to His Father’s right hand. If you’ve ever seen The Passion of The Christ you’ll remember the gruesome image of Jesus hanging on the cross after His scourging. And three days later all of those lacerations, wounds and bruises were healed. There were scars, but He was whole. Think about the POWER that accomplished that feat alone! As we pray, do we realize we have access to that kind of power? Do we LIVE like we have access to that kind of power?

One of the biggest sources of earthly power is the Hoover Dam.  Its generators can provide electricity to 1.7 million homes, but somebody somewhere needs to flip the switch that starts the engines that release electricity to those homes.

Imagine there is a heavenly barrier like the Hoover Dam that holds back God’s blessings and power.  God can provide those to us, but He wants somebody somewhere to flip the switch of prayer so He can release them to the earth.  Oh, to be sure, God can do WHATEVER He wants WHENEVER He wants to WHOMEVER He wants, but He has designed prayer as our way of communicating with Him.

Prayer is also a way we can encourage others as we pray for them and with them.  As we pray for each other, we remember their needs and concerns and are not always focused on ourselves.  As we pray with them we can help them to focus on God and encourage them to be persistent and faithful as they wait for His answer.

Another amazing thing about prayer is that it’s not only about us in the earthly realm, but it’s also about God Himself.  God desires fellowship with us, and as crazy as that seems, it blesses Him when we pray!  Let that sink in – we BLESS God when we communicate with Him in prayer.  WE BLESS GOD.  Wow.

So let’s talk to Him. It’s not hard.  In fact, it’s just a breath away.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…” ~Eph 3:20 (NIV)