By Illustrated Theology
Have you ever felt that prayer makes no difference at all?
merlin: Again, as prior if technology works, you may either read the script, or scroll down for the YouTube version at the bottom. Your choice. As always, your comments are appreciated, and everything posted, is first & foremost, to myself, so don’t cob an attitude as time is short and THE night is coming!
I need to be honest even though I’ve been a Christian practically my whole life, it was only recently that I began to feel a true desire to pray intensely. For a long time, I lived without understanding the real power of prayer. I believe that what determined the course of events were our choices. And that free will was at the center of my worldview.
And that weakened my prayer life. I prayed little for conversions because I believe that this decision was individual, something that depended only on the person. My prayer would have no power to convince anyone. At most, my words could. I prayed little for deliverance for my sins because I thought that abandoning them was only a matter of willpower. And in general, I prayed little for anything because deep down I believe that God was not going to keep interfering in the world since he himself had given us free will.
Later when I entered a Calvinist seminary, my view changed radically. I began to believe in the absolute sovereignty of God who rules over everything and everyone. But then another problem came. If God is already determined everything, why should I pray? My mind would say, “It makes no difference. After all, those predestined from eternity will be saved regardless of my prayers. God is sovereign and everything bad that will happen or cease to happen in my life is already determined by His plan and all I have to do is accept it.”
And again, I kept drifting away from prayer. Maybe you can relate to what happened to me. If you lean too far to one side, only free will, or to the other, only absolute sovereignty, prayer life can equally become an empty ritual, cold, lifeless.
As a pastor, I’ve counseled many people who feel guilty for not having motivation to pray. In our conversations, I quickly realized that one of the biggest reasons for this is the lack of faith that prayer really makes a difference in their problems. The result, prayer becomes dry, lifeless, done only out of habit. Many times, it also becomes repetitive. We repeat the same words like a scratched record, without reflecting on what we are saying.
And finally, prayer comes to be seen as a tiresome obligation lived out like a boring task, instead of a privilege. Because of these problems that I and many other Christians have faced, in the next few minutes, I will show you in the light of God’s Word that prayer is indeed extremely important and powerful in its effects. So, stay with me until the end of this video so that your way of seeing the importance of prayer, will never be the same again.
Exodus 33:11 states, “And the Lord spoke unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Notice that Moses did not speak to God. He spoke with God. It was a real conversation, open, full of sincerity. At one point, he poured out his heart about the burden of leading Israel and God responded with a promise. “My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee, rest.” Moses then went further and said, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory,” and God answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.
See, this was not a cold distant conversation. It was friendship. It was closeness. There was an exchange of thoughts and then comes that shocking moment in the episode of the golden calf. The people made an idol and God announced that He would destroy Israel and start all over again with Moses. Imagine that! He could have become the new Abraham, but instead of accepting, Moses interceded.
He reminded God of his character, of his promises, and even said, “Why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people whom thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?” And then we read something astonishing! “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”
Here it’s important to explain that the Bible is not saying God is unstable. What the text shows, is that he chose, to relate, to listen, to give room for intercession. He wanted to involve Moses in what was happening. The destruction that was about to take place did not happen because of Moses’ intercession.
Another similar episode happens with Abraham interceding for Sodom. God reveals that He will destroy the city because of its wickedness, but Abraham full of courage, begins a sort of negotiation. He asks, “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Per venture there are 50 righteous within the city, wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that are therein,” and God answers, “If I find in Sodom 50 righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.” Abraham does not stop there. He keeps reducing the number 45, 40, 30, 20 until he reaches ten. And each time God confirms, “I will not destroy it, down to “for ten sake.”
This scene is powerful because it shows that God opens himself to dialog. He does not rebuke Abraham for daring, but involves him in his plan. Once again, we see that prayer is not an empty monologue. It is the Creator allowing a human being to take part in his actions in the world.
These two examples, although very interesting, raise two questions in our minds. First, God does not talk to us in this way today. In many moments, prayer feels more like talking to ourselves. Second, we are not on the same level as these supermen of God in the Bible. All this is true but it is important to say that even though we no longer have this possibility of conversing with God as with a friend, face to face, we still have the incredible privilege of perceiving that He answers us through His Providence. He organizes events in creation all the time so that His will is fulfilled and more.
In Christ, we receive something even greater, in whom we have boldness and access, with confidence by the faith of Him. In other words, we do not need to be spiritual giants to talk with God. Any Christian sustained by faith can draw near to Him, freely open their heart, and be certain that he is being heard.
And this is where everything changes. From the examples of Moses and Abraham and many other men in the Bible, we realize that prayer is not about pushing buttons on a divine machine expecting automatic answers. Prayer is real conversation with the living God. Sometimes He says yes, sometimes no, sometimes wait, but he always responds as a friend who is present.
Unfortunately, many times we try to turn our interaction with God into a formula to obtain from Him the life we want. We try to live a good moral life. Add to that doing things in church, praying, reading the Bible, and avoiding sin. We mistakenly conclude that by doing all this perfectly, we will obtain God’s blessing. But God is not a formula, nor some kind of impersonal energy force. He is a relational being. God desires to know and be known. He thinks, feels, rejoices, grieves, loves, is angered by sin, and has compassion for our weakness. In his high priestly prayer, Jesus says to the Father, “And I have declared unto them Thy Name and will declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me, may be in them and I in them.”
In other words, Christ’s desire was not merely that we would have rules or religious practices to get requests answered, but that we would experience the love of the Father. This shows that the Christian life is not about decoding some spiritual equation to receive blessings but diving into a relationship where the love of God is real, present, and transforming, and do you know what all this means? That our prayers can indeed change things, not because God does not know what to do, but because He has chosen to relate to us. He chose to act through the prayers of His people.
James 5:16 sums it up well, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Effective prayer is not reciting memorized words, nor fulfilling an obligation, because God has already decided everything. When you pray, something can change, something that was going to happen, may cease to happen. Something that was not going to happen, may begin to happen, all because you placed yourself before the living God, who hears, answers, and acts.
In Hebrews 4:16 we read, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” This verse is a key to understanding prayer. It does not say, let us come with fear or let us come only when we are perfect! It says with boldness! This is revolutionary. In the Old Testament, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holys and even then, only once a year, after many rituals but now, because of Christ, every Christian can approach the throne of grace at any moment in any place. What was once the privilege of one man, is now the invitation for all of us and see what we find at this throne; not condemnation, not scorn, but abundant mercy and grace! That means when we pray, we are not standing before a grim judge waiting for our failure, but rather, before a loving Father ready to help us.
And more, the text promises help in time of need. This means that God does not answer late or out of season; He responds at the right time, at the exact moment we need. It may not be when we expect, but it is always when we need it. Prayer makes room for this divine aid that comes in just the right measure.
That’s why I want to challenge you. Don’t pray anymore as if fulfilling an obligation. Pray as one, who speaks with the present Father, as one who talks with a friend who cares, as one who participates in something real. From today on, every time you kneel or simply whisper, “Lord help me,” remember this. You are not talking to the walls. You are speaking to the Living God and He is listening. And, if He is listening, then prayer makes all the difference!
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How To Let The Holy Spirit Lead