The power of prayer. Part 2.
I hadn’t planned to write a second post on prayer, but I stumbled upon a verse that rocked my word. In fact, I’m still just trying to process it. (If you missed Part 1 of The power of prayer, you can find it here.) I go into this subject in the podcast above. Or, you can listen to the stations below or search for it wherever you listen: The Search for God by Stan. R Mitchell. I really hope you enjoy it and that it moves you a little closer to God. Source notes below: The larger point I intend to make is how often the Bible — and Jesus Himself — tells us to pray. How often the Bible talks about the power of prayer. Let’s look at several examples that bear contemplation. Here’s the first one. It comes from the book of Matthew, Chapter 9, NLT. It’s the last part of this verse I’ve highlighted that blew me away. (I’m providing the entirety of it for context.) Go ahead and read it first, then we’ll discuss. That verse is crazy, right? You have Jesus Himself — these are His words — saying to His disciples that we should pray for more workers. And it obviously implies that if we did so, then God would answer our prayers. Here’s a second example. This comes from the book of Judges, chapter 3. The people of Israel have sinned and created false idols. God punishes them, but once they pray for help, God delivers. Finally, I wanted to share this passage from Judges 10, which seems even more powerful. The crazy thing about this passage is the Israelites pray for help, and God says “no.” God even tells them that he will NOT rescue them. But their prayers make Him grieve, and if you read until the end of that story, you will see that God rescues them. I’m not even sure what to make of all of this. It’s just mind-blowing to me the power of prayer that is described in the Bible. And I think we all should be praying more. In fact, in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, the Bible says we should “Pray without ceasing.” That’s how important this is. Now, I know it can be hard to pray. For me, reading the Bible was easier to get addicted to than praying. One thing I found helpful was this acronym: ACTS. The ACTS prayer model is a common and simple way to pray that uses the acronym ACTS, which stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication: * Adoration: Praise God for who he is and what he has done. Adoration can help you feel confident that God will hear and answer your prayers. * Confession: Admit your sins and ask for forgiveness. Confession can help remove barriers between you and God. * Thanksgiving: Thank God for what he has done for you, such as his love, protection, and provision. * Supplication: Ask God for help for yourself and others, such as guidance, wisdom, and opportunities to serve. But in addition to praying, I hope these examples from the Bible help cause a greater desire in you to read and study the Bible more. All of the answers are in there, and it’s the most incredible feeling when God opens your eyes and shows you something you had never “seen” or noticed in some chapter you’ve read before. But you have to be hungry for knowledge and wisdom, and you have to put in the work of reading the Bible on your own. At first, it may not be satisfying. The devil does a great job of making it challenging. Of making the sugar highs of getting on your phone feel more fulfilling. But in time, reading the Bible will become addicting and satisfying. I promise. Plus, studies have shown that by reading it, there are nine major benefits: * Feeling lonely drops 30% * Anger issues drop 32% * Bitterness in relationships drops 40% * Alcoholism drops 57% * Sex outside of marriage drops 68% * Feeling spiritually stagnant drops 60% * Viewing pornography drops 61% * Sharing your faith jumps 200% * Discipling others jumps 230% Let’s circle back briefly to the power of prayer, though, because I know many people struggle to read the Bible. Let’s be real. It’s very hard for many of us to pra
