Apr. 16: Empowering Prayer

Many people believe in the power of prayer. My Muslim friends pray five times a day. In China we saw a Buddhist monastery which had a seemingly endless row on prayer wheels along its outer walls. An old woman spent her entire day circling the monastery, turning all the prayer wheels at she walked. As a Christ-follower I do not believe in the power of prayer as much as I believe in the power of the living God to whom I pray.

Prayer changes things, or better said, the living God to whom we pray changes things—mostly the pray-er. We’ve just come out of the Easter season but I can’t leave it behind. My mind keeps going back to the garden. Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane distraught, downcast, begging God to find another way. So intense was His prayer that the tiny blood vessels beneath the surface of the skin on His forehead burst and it was as though He were sweating drops of blood.

But He came out of the prayer time to face his arresters with confidence and boldness. As Judas and the soldiers entered the garden with torches and weapons Jesus went out to meet them and they “drew back and fell to the ground.” (John 18:3-6) Shrinking soldiers in retreat. What was it that made the difference in Jesus? The circumstances had not changed, but He certainly had—His attitude, His outlook, His resolve.

Are you carrying a burden right now? Maybe it’s physical; bad news from the doctors. Perhaps it’s financial; you’ve gotten into a hole so deep you can’t even imagine a way out. Maybe you worry about your children or grandchildren. What is it they weighs on your mind and robs you of sleep? You pray about it, you ask for a miracle, you beg God to “take this cup from me” like Jesus did, and yet it remains.

When you pray, it’s not so much that God changes your circumstances, but God changes you, the pray-er.

Look at Jesus’ prayer in the Garden. John, when he wasn’t falling asleep, eavesdropped on Jesus and later recorded what he had heard: “…Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:1-5)

Notice in that first verse that Jesus prayed for His own success but only so it could be used as a platform to point others to God. When Tony Dungy, head coach of the Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts, hoisted the trophy back in February the first words out of his mouth were to give the credit for their success to God. That’s the idea—pray for success, but only so you can use your new platform to point to God.

Jesus also prayed for people’s standing with God—whether they were enjoying eternal life or not. We become empowered when we shift from seeking to pray away our burdens to focusing on the spiritual condition of those around us.

Jesus focused on the work God had given Him to do—His purpose, His mission. He was able to look at the “big picture”; looking past His short-term current circumstances to His long-range future allowed Him to get through the ordeal at hand with strength and boldness.

~ Father, teach me to pray like Jesus. When you don’t change my circumstances, change me and equip me to face them. Change the focus of my prayer from me and my burden, to You and Your glory, purposes and priorities. Amen.