Why You Might Miss Out on the Power of Prayer

Perhaps you’ve had the experience of making a purchase only to suddenly recognize that others also own the same item. For example, a few years ago my wife and I bought a used white Honda Pilot. Suddenly I saw white Honda Pilots everywhere! Did throngs of other people suddenly purchase that same car simultaneous with our decision? Or, did I suddenly have new eyes to see all of these similar cars on the road?

You know the answer and I am guessing you’ve had the same kind of experience. Whether it is a car, a blouse, a paint color in your home, or a pair of running shoes – our specific purchases awaken us to a new awareness of similar or duplicate items in other places. Specific commitment and ownership lead to new recognition.

Commitment to Prayer Creates an Enlarged Awareness

I have learned that real prayer is not just the activity of telling God what is on our mind but rather the intentional and insightful discovery of what is on God’s mind. It is not about getting my will accomplished in heaven but getting God’s will implemented on earth. It is not primarily the act of informing God of my desires but opening my heart to His desires.

Real prayer is not just the activity of telling God what is on our mind but rather the intentional and insightful discovery of what is on God’s mind. It is not about getting my will accomplished in heaven but getting God’s will implemented on earth.

When we engage in prayer, we have a cultivated sensitivity to the work of the Holy Spirit in us, through us, and around us. This commitment to seek His face gives us new eyes to see His hand at work. Much in the same way that I suddenly saw white Honda Pilots everywhere, real ownership of the priority of prayer in our personal lives leads to new vision to see God at work.

When we engage in prayer, we have a cultivated sensitivity to the work of the Holy Spirit in us, through us, and around us. This commitment to seek His face gives us new eyes to see His hand at work.

Ezekiel Hopkins, the renowned Puritan pastor of the Church of Ireland, wrote, “We do not pray out of hope to alter God’s eternal purposes; but we pray to obtain that which God has ordained to be received by our prayers. We ask, that we may be fit to receive what God has from all eternity determined to give by prayer and not otherwise . . . Prayer does not incline God to bestow that which before he was not resolved to give, but prepares us to receive that which God will not give otherwise.”[i]

This related quote has appeared on Facebook in recent weeks: “Complaining about God being silent when your Bible is closed is like complaining about not getting texts when your phone is turned off.” Similarly, whining about God not working in your life while neglecting prayer is like fussing that your car is not working when you have not even turned on the ignition. Those who pray meagerly see God at work rarely. Those who pray earnestly tend to see God at work repeatedly. Commitment leads to recognition.

Complaining about God being silent when your Bible is closed is like complaining about not getting texts when your phone is turned off.

 

Those who pray meagerly see God at work rarely. Those who pray earnestly tend to see God at work repeatedly. Commitment leads to recognition.

Participation Leads to New Opportunities

From a congregational standpoint, I have also seen that those who engage in regular life-giving prayer experiences with others have eyes to see additional opportunities for growth, ministry, and satisfaction to a much higher degree than those who are content to live in isolated self-reliance and spiritual apathy. Something powerful happens when we pray regularly with others.

The Holy Spirit obviously works in our private prayers. He also works in an expanded way through our corporate prayers. He speaks to, in, and through others as we pray, just as He did in the book of Acts (1:12-26; 4:23-31; 6:1-7; 13:1-3, among many other instances). He directs, unites, empowers, and commissions believers to do His will as they engage in seeking God’s face.

I have found that in any given church, those who consistently pray together have a greater passion for the gospel, a more satisfied demeanor in their service, and a multiplied fruitfulness in their character and ministry. Also, congregations that are led by their pastors to become a “house of prayer” are marked by a sense of “God at work” and are eager to join Him in expanded dimensions of vital ministry. When a church “buys in” to prayer, good things happen. Commitment leads to recognition of His leading and divine intentions of fruitful impact.

I have found that in any given church, those who consistently pray together have a greater passion for the gospel, a more satisfied demeanor in their service, and a multiplied fruitfulness in their character and ministry.

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Pursuit Produces Godly Fruit

Whether in our personal lives or our regular engagement in prayer with others, commitment leads to recognition. Recognition leads to fruitfulness. Recognizing the hand of God at work and being in step with the Holy Spirit will result in a greater degree of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

Whether in our personal lives or our regular engagement in prayer with others, commitment leads to recognition. Recognition leads to fruitfulness. Recognizing the hand of God at work and being in step with the Holy Spirit will result in a greater degree of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

This recognition leads to an attitude-regulating faith and the fruit of transcendent hope. We have eyes to focus beyond the challenging circumstances of life, the gut-wrenching decline of our culture, and the alarming trouble across the globe. Going back to my Honda Pilot story – we don’t just see a sea of cars or an annoying traffic jam, but we see something familiar and affirming. In a spiritual sense, we see God at work.

Paul captured it well: “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16–18). Commitment to seek Him inspires this recognition and reassurance.

Faith on the Earth

In Luke 18:8, Jesus asks the question, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” The specific “faith” He recognizes is in reference to those who “pray and do not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). As the end of this age accelerates toward culmination at record speed, we must hear the call to pray and not lose heart. And we must remember that commitment leads to recognition. Recognition leads to a life of fruitful faith. A life of fruitful faith brings glory to Him as our bland and blurred vision of spiritual reality is transformed to a 20/20 awareness of His work in this world.

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[i] Ezekiel Hopkins, Works, III:370-382