We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

Does Prayer Really Make a Difference?

Religion

Old Man in Prayer – Rembrandt

I know the traditional cliché that prayer is for our sake, not God’s. It changes us, not God, or God’s plans. Even C .S. Lewis said that! I have the greatest admiration for Lewis, but on this account I think he is dead wrong.

Prayer does certainly change us, but that’s not why we’re told to engage in it. We’re commanded to engage in prayer because it is a God-ordained means of impacting him and changing the world. Jesus didn’t say if we have faith and pray our attitude toward mountains would change. He said the mountain would move! Prayer changes what happens in world.

Did you know that there are more “if…then” clauses associated with prayer in the Bible than any other single human activity? For example, the Lord says, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” He then goes on to add, “Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place” (2 Chron. 7:14-15). The Lord is in effect saying, “I want to heal and forgive you, but I’m waiting on you to humble yourselves and pray.”

The purpose of prayer in this passage wasn’t to change the Israelites, but to impact God and heal their land. If they would pray, they would experience this. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t. In other words, prayer really makes a difference. Things really hang upon prayer. It’s not just a pro forma activity for our personal benefit.

In fact, there are dozens of passages in the Bible that explicitly state that God changed his plans in response to prayer. (e.g. Num. 11:1–2; 14:12–20; 16:20–35; Deut. 9:13–14, 18–20, 25; 2 Sam. 24:17–25; 1 Kings 21:27–29; 2 Chron. 12:5–8; Jer. 26:19). For example, in Exodus 32 God announced his plan to destroy the Israelites and start over with Moses, since the Israelites had proven themselves to be “a stiff-necked people” (Ex. 32:9-10). But Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites and changed God’s mind (Ex. 32:14). David later recounted the event when he wrote that Yahweh “said he would destroy them – had not Moses… stood in the breach before him to keep him from destroying them (Ps. 106:23).

Notice, Moses’ prayer wasn’t for the purpose of changing Moses. It affected God’s plan and was done for the sake of Israel. Had Moses not prayed, Israel would have been destroyed and God would have started over with Moses. Prayer really makes a difference.

If you’re having trouble believing that prayer could be this important, consider a counter-example. In Ezekiel 22 God first reviewed some of the sins for which he had judged the Israelites, including extortion, robbery, oppressing the poor and needy, and mistreating the foreigner by denying them justice (vs. 29). Then, amazingly, the Lord says,

I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD” (Ezek. 22:30-31).

Obviously God didn’t want to judge his people, despite their unjust practices, neglect of the poor and mistreatment of foreigners. So he looked for an intercessor – someone like Moses in Exodus 32 – to stand in the gap and prevent it. But on this occasion he couldn’t find anyone. The clear implication is that if only someone had been willing to pray, like Moses had at an earlier time, the nation would have been spared.

The undeniable biblical truth is that prayer doesn’t only change us. It affects God and changes things. So does the lack of prayer. Things really hang in the balance on whether God’s people will pray or not.

Prayer is the most important activity humans can engage in. In fact, the biblical narrative is significantly woven around God moving in response to prayer. From Cain’s plea for leniency (Gen. 4:13–15) to the Israelites cry for freedom (Exod. 2:23–25; 3:7–10; Acts 7:34); from Moses’ cry for help at the Red Sea and against the Amalakites (Exod. 14:15–16; 17:8–14) to Hezekiah’s prayer for an extension of life (2 Kings 20:1–7); and from Abraham’s prayer for a son (Gen. 15:2ff) to the leper’s prayer to Jesus for healing (Matt. 8:2–3), the biblical narrative is woven together by examples of God moving in extraordinary ways in response to the prayers of his people.

John Wesley was only slightly overstating the matter when he taught that “God will do nothing but in answer to prayer.” At the very least, the extent to which Gods’ will is done “on earth as it is in heaven” depends more on prayer than on any other human activity. As the Lord’s brother put it, prayer is powerful and effective (James 5:16) – not just in changing us, but in saving nations and in bringing about the Kingdom.

Related Reading

Sermon: The Salt and Light Revolution

What does it mean to be the salt and light? In Greg’s sermon last weekend, he explores how followers of Jesus can step out of the crowd in ways that bring these good things to the world around us. Visit the Woodland Hills website for this week’s sermon resources.

Why is the Lord’s Prayer So Formulaic? (podcast)

Greg considers if Jesus was acting out of character when he taught the Lord’s prayer.  Episode 476 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0476.mp3

Tags:

Spiritual Warfare: What is it?

The Kingdom is “not of this world,” and neither is its warfare. Jews had always believed that God confronted spiritual opposition in carrying out his will on earth. In the Old Testament, these evil forces were usually depicted as cosmic monsters and hostile waters that threatened the earth. For a variety of reasons this belief…

What Hinders Answers to Prayer

Prayer is powerful and effective, but it’s not magic. There is no automatic guarantee that what we’re praying for is going to come to pass, even when we’re praying with faith and in accordance with God’s will. Prayer is a form of co-laboring with God to change the world in a Kingdom direction. Yet, it’s…

Featured Sermon Series: Scandalous Love

  The Scandalous Love series is often considered one of Greg’s and Woodland Hill’s most foundational series. In fact, it was so important that it subsequently led to the Can’t Stop the Love series. Defining the true character of God is at the heart of what ReKnew is all about, so we wanted to host…

On Driving and Unsurpassable Worth

Our friends the Livesay’s live and work in Haiti, and their blog is amazing. They posted a reflection today entitled On Driving and Unsurpassable Worth. It’s so worth reading. From the article: Annoyed with someone?  Repeat after me: Unsurpassable worth, unsurpassable worth… Unsurpassable worth. Fine, be annoyed … but if keeping the annoyance from turning to rage…