What If We Prayed Like
We Believed God Could Do It?
What would happen if we stopped treating prayer like filler and started praying like we actually believed God could move?
I have been convicted about prayer.
Not whether I pray. I pray.
I am convicted by what I pray for.
I wonder if somewhere along the way my prayers have become too safe. Too predictable. Too manageable. I pray for God to help. I pray for God to protect. I pray for God to give wisdom. I pray for things to go well. And we should pray for those things.
But lately I have been asking myself a different question:
Acts 12 says that when Peter was sitting in prison, the church gathered and prayed earnestly for him.
I love that word. Earnestly. There was desperation in their prayers. There was persistence. They were stretched out before God asking Him to do what they could not do.
And God moved.
I want to pray like that. Actually, I want our church to pray like that.
Ask God to Do What Only God Can Do
There is something about Acts 12 that I cannot get away from. The situation was completely outside of the church's control. Peter was locked in prison. Soldiers surrounded him. The doors were shut. Herod held all the earthly power.
So the church prayed.
They could not open the prison doors, but God could. They could not break Peter's chains, but God could. They could not overpower Herod, but God was never intimidated by Herod in the first place.
Maybe we have become so accustomed to asking God for things we can handle that we have forgotten how to ask Him for things we cannot.
I want us praying prayers so big that if God answers them, there is no question who gets the credit.
So let me ask you: What are you asking God to do right now?
Is there anything on your prayer list that requires the power of God? Anything that would cause you to stand back and say, “There is no way we did that. God did that.”
I want some prayers like that.
Put a Name on Your Prayer
One of the stories about prayer that has always challenged me comes from D. L. Moody.
Moody kept a list of 100 people he desperately wanted to see come to Jesus. He prayed for those names consistently. By the end of his life, 96 had come to Christ. The remaining four reportedly came to Christ around the time of his funeral.
I cannot hear that story without asking myself:
It is easy to say, “I want Mooresville to know Jesus.” I do want that. Desperately.
But let's make it personal.
Who?
Who is the person you desperately want to see come to Jesus? Who is the prodigal you want to see come home? Who is the friend who wants absolutely nothing to do with God right now? Who is the teenager who seems to be wandering? Who is the person trapped in addiction who desperately needs freedom?
Write the name down. Put it beside your bed. Put it on your refrigerator. Put it in your car. Put it somewhere you will see it every single day.
Then start calling that name out to God.
Here is a question that bothers me:
That is convicting because we can talk all day about wanting people to know Jesus. We can talk about reaching our community. We can worry about our children and grandchildren.
But are we praying for them?
Some Prayers Need Worn Out Knees
Jesus once told a story about a man who showed up at his friend's house in the middle of the night because he needed bread. His friend was already in bed. The door was locked. The family was asleep.
But the man kept knocking.
I always imagine one of my friends showing up at my house at 1:00 in the morning because he has Oreos but ran out of milk.
If he calls me, there is a pretty good chance I am ignoring the phone. But if he comes to my house and starts beating on the front door, everything changes. Now the dogs are barking. The kids are awake. The neighbor's dogs are barking. Porch lights are coming on. The entire neighborhood is in a stir.
Eventually, I am opening the door.
Jesus was not saying that God is an irritated neighbor who finally gives in because we annoy Him enough. His point was how much better our Father is.
If even an irritated neighbor responds to persistence, how much more can you keep coming to a Father who loves you?
Maybe you have prayed the same prayer a thousand times. Pray it one thousand and one.
Persistence is not telling God that we do not trust His timing. Persistence is saying we trust Him enough to keep asking.
Some things are worth praying about until your last breath.
What If Prayer Became
the Foundation Again?
I love the old story about Charles Spurgeon and the Metropolitan Tabernacle. People came from everywhere to hear Spurgeon preach. Thousands packed the building.
But when people wanted to know the secret behind the ministry, Spurgeon would point them somewhere else.
Downstairs.
Beneath the sanctuary was a room where people gathered to pray. While Spurgeon preached, they prayed. That room became known as the boiler room. Spurgeon called it the heating mechanism of the church.
That image has been messing with me.
Churches have a lot of machinery today. We have calendars, programs, budgets, staff, technology, strategies and events. And all of those things can be good.
But none of those things can save a soul. None of those things can change a heart. None of those things can bring a prodigal home. None of those things can break the chains of sin.
Only God can do that.
I don't know what would happen. But I want to find out.
Give God What You Cannot Carry
There is another part of Acts 12 that I love.
Peter is in prison. His future is completely outside of his control.
And the man is sleeping.
Think about that. James has already been killed. Peter knows exactly what Herod is capable of doing. He is chained between soldiers and the next morning could be his last.
And Peter is asleep.
Actually, he is sleeping so deeply that an angel shows up, light fills the prison, and Peter still does not wake up. The angel literally has to strike him!
Sometimes I cannot sleep because of an email.
Peter slept chained between soldiers the night before he thought he might die.
There is something there for us.
Maybe some of us are exhausted because we keep carrying things we should be casting.
You cannot control it anyway.
So pray.
Give it to God. And when you pick it back up tomorrow, give it to Him again.
He gave it to God.
Why Wouldn't We Pray?
I do not want us to become a church that talks about prayer more than we actually pray.
I want us to start asking God for things that are completely beyond our ability to accomplish.
Why wouldn't we pray that an entire generation in our community would come to know Jesus?
Why wouldn't we pray for marriages to be restored?
Why wouldn't we pray for prodigal children to come home?
Why wouldn't we pray for people trapped in addiction to be set free?
Why wouldn't we pray that God would send people from this church to the nations?
Why wouldn't we pray that people who are far from God all across Mooresville and Iredell County would hear the gospel and be radically changed by Jesus?
Are those prayers too big?
Good.
I want us praying prayers so big that if God answers them, nobody can look at First Baptist and say, “Look what they did.”
They will have to say:
GOD DID.
Three Things to Pray
Before you move on with your day, write down three things. Don't just think about them. Write them down.
ONE PERSON
You desperately want to see saved.
ONE BURDEN
You need to stop carrying and give to God.
ONE BIG PRAYER
So big that if it happens, only God can get the credit.
Then pray tomorrow. Pray the next day. Pray when you feel something. Pray when you feel nothing. Pray when you see movement. Pray when absolutely nothing seems to be happening.
Let's Find Out.
I don't want to write another article about how important prayer is. We know prayer is important.
I want us to pray.
Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. Keep calling names. Keep believing that God hears His children.
Acts 12 says the church prayed earnestly. I want that to be said about us. Not that we talked about prayer. Not that we had a prayer ministry. Not that we believed in prayer.
That we prayed.
And we kept praying. And we kept knocking. And we kept calling names. And we kept asking God to do what only God could do.