Prayer is a Request for God to Get Involved

“11Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.” Revelation 22:11

Prayer gives God the “go-ahead” to get involved in a situation. With the exception of His gift of manifesting His essence in a package named Jesus, free will is the most powerful gift He offers man. It substantiates His claim of love; the cost of Love is free will. Without free will, the Author of Life, not the individual, would ultimately decide who would turn to Him. Prayer substantiates that notion. If we didn’t pray for ourselves and circumstances, God would be making decisions about who was receiving help, etc. Instead, God leaves a lot of those choices in our hands. Ultimately God is in control over events like natural disasters and disease, but I’ve observed that we have a lot more power than we acknowledge in determining the direction of the world through His gift of prayer. He is the POWER; we are the conduit or “boots on the ground” that executes His will on earth.

Prayer is powerful – especially for people who don’t know Him or enough about Him to ask for themselves. One of the last conversations I had with my own mother before she died, long before I started my “Research Project,” was when she looked me in the face and told me she had been praying for me. She seemed relieved when she was able to tell me, “I think you’ll be fine.” How many people, through the power of prayer, were instrumental in God nudging me and finally getting my attention through His words, “Those are your choices, not mine” – I’ll never know. That is the POWER of prayer.

Acknowledgement

“18’Have any of these prophets been in the LORD’s presence to hear what he is really saying? Has even one of them cared enough to listen?’ ” Jeremiah 23:18

Prayer also ensures that I am PAYING attention. To what? To just how much I CAN’T do for myself. To just how DEFICIENT I am at helping even the people around me. To how much power I DON’T have without God’s hand involved. To confirm my awareness of just how many struggles and challenges there are in the lives of the people I know personally. To acknowledge just how much misery there is in the world in general. Prayer means I UNDERSTAND, I realize the FUTILITY of my own efforts without the assistance of the Author of Life. Prayer means I acknowledge the plight of the dying world in which I belong.