Prayer Causes Things to Happen

Have you ever thought about what prayer really is? I mean, I think a lot of us realize that it is a means of talking to God. But why was it given to us? And why did Jesus pray? If Jesus was God, why did he have to pray? What is so special that Jesus spent hours upon hours in prayer (Matthew 26:39, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, John 17, Luke 22:44)?

This whole idea of prayer is something that has been working on me a lot over the past year. All throughout the Bible, we see such a heavy emphasis on prayer, but why is it so absent from the Christian body today? Why is it that we have resorted to repetitive, thoughtless prayers before dinner? Why is it that we struggle to stay awake when praying before bedtime? Why is it that we simply just throw up one or two sentences when someone asks us to pray for them? Jacob wrestled with God and said, "I will not let go until you bless me" (Genesis 32:26). When is the last time you said that to God? When is the last time that you wrestled in prayer?

When doing research on prayer, I have discovered a lot of why's, when's, and how to's. But I will leave out all of that research right now and challenge you to do that on your own. But I do want to bring up one reason for praying that I see as extremely important and often overlooked:

I have been studying Systematic Theology and have recently reached the point of studying the attributes of God. One attribute of God is that He is unchanging. If you need evidence of this, check out Psalm 102:25-27, Malachi 3:6, and James 1:17.

However, there are instances where it appears that God changes His mind. In Exodus 32:9-14, He withdraws His threatening judgment to the Israelites after Moses successfully intervenes through prayer. In Isaiah 38:1-6, God states that Hezekiah will die, but then He adds fifteen years to his life after Hezekiah pleads with Him in prayer. In Jonah 3, God states His plan to destroy Nineveh (vs. 4), but He relents after they repent and plead in prayer (vs. 10).

So what is my point here? My point is that God's attribute of being unchanging is an attribute of character, not an attribute of intention. In these times where He relented, His character did not change, only His intentions did. God stated that He would send judgment, and that was a true statement, provided that the situation remained the same. But with the intercession of prayer (Moses and Hezekiah) and the repentance (Nineveh), the situation changed, and therefore God's intentions also changed.

Hopefully I haven't lost you in my train of thought. But if I have, come back in for my conclusion:

God obviously responds to prayer. This was just evidenced in the passages above and is referenced all throughout scripture (ex. 2 Chronicles 7:14). And though it is not possible to change the character of God, nor is it possible to change the overall intentions of God, it is possible to change the present intentions of God through prayer. In fact, that is why prayer has been given to us. Prayer has been ordained to cause things to happen that would not normally happen if it wasn't for prayer. Why else would Jesus pray? Why else would He teach so much about it?

Some may wrestle over this fact because they may think it calls into question the sovereignty of God. Easy solution to that objection: maybe God has appointed the blessings to occur only if and when you pray for them.

So what generated this blog post? As you all know, recently, a major earthquake struck Chile. As a result, large tsunami waves were generated throughout the Pacific Ocean and were on route to destroy many other nations. I received a text message Saturday afternoon, asking me to pray for Hawaii, as they were supposed to be the first ones to get hit. According to news reports, waves up to 15 feet were supposed to destroy the shores of Hawaii, and it was past "Tsunami Watch" and was already declared "Tsunami Warning". What were we to do? It was at that time that myself and many others joined corporately in prayer. My specific request was that the Tsunami would miss Hawaii, if that even be possible. Several hours later, the headline read, "Hawaii Tsunami Warning Cancelled". What an incredible answer to prayer!

However, the storm was not done. It was headed to Japan and the same sort of damage was expected. Again, I called a few of my friends and asked them to join me in prayer for Japan. We specifically prayed that the storm would die out before reaching shore, recognizing that it would be impossible for it to just simply miss Japan without hitting another area. Sunday morning I woke up to read the headline,
"Japan Breathes Sigh of Relief as Tsunami Passes". I read more of the article and the expected 10 foot waves came in at only 4 inches! This was another incredible answer to prayer!

I am sure that many of you are reading this post and are pretty skeptical about the result of our prayers for the tsunami. In fact, I am sure that you are skeptical about prayers in general. A lot of people have resorted to the idea of "whatever happens, happens" or "whether I pray or not, it is still going to happen." My response to you: I will pray for you.

However, if you are skeptical, go back and watch some of the newscasts on CNN and other networks (they still exist on Youtube). They were declaring definite states of emergency in each of the areas that were supposed to be hit. People were evacuating, buildings were closing, the storm was getting bigger...yet it never hit. When studying the storm itself, it seems to deny all scientific reason that the storm never hit Hawaii, or Japan, or New Zealand, or Russia. It goes against all probabilities. It is a miracle!...literally.

Again, Prayer causes things to happen that would not happen if it wasn't for prayer. This revelation about the power of prayer has radically changed my life. I can't wait to get to Heaven and see the results of all of our prayers. Prayer is powerful and effective if used for the intent of which it was given to you. In faith, prayer moves the Arm that moves the world. Just think what this world would be like if all Christians would pray in this way.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krzwmhDMvv8

Don't take my word for it. Study the Scriptures to see the power of prayer in Bible times. Apply it to your life to see the power of prayer today. Determine for yourself what the purpose of prayer really is. But in all these things, just pray!