Your Prayers Matter

by Andy Lee @WordsByAndyLee

A few years ago I was disenchanted with prayer.

I was angry and confused.

Grief stricken.

"Why do we pray if it doesn't make a difference?" I yelled to the sky.

The answer I found after months of anguish and wrestling was very simple. We pray because . . .

We are told to.

It's that profound my friends. We pray because we are told to pray.

I could tell you that prayer is our opportunity to bring heaven on earth—it’s an opportunity to partner with God. I could tell you that prayer changes us in the process and draws us closer to the Life-Giver.

I could tell you that prayer heals people on this side of heaven and sometimes it doesn't.

Sometimes faith is not the key factor to the answered petition. There are situations when we can have all the faith in the world, but other factors like God's will or the will of the person for whom we are praying alter the answer. The whole sovereignty of God and free-will dichotomy is beyond my comprehension.

And I've begun to notice that for each healed person in the Bible you can find a scripture about persevering through suffering.

But we are told to pray.

This verse was on my reading schedule the other day,

“The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray” (1 Peter 4:7 NIV).

The Greek words under the English translation mean "sane and sober". So we need to be sane (I'm not sure how we can control that) and not drunk. (I do know how we control that.) But we need to be that way so that . . .

We can pray.

And all I can think of is that Peter wrote this simply because, whether we see the evidence of our prayers working on this side of heaven or not, our prayers have got to be making a difference somewhere. Our prayers matter.

If they didn't, I don't think Peter would've written this. Nor would've John written about this vision in Revelation:

“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God's people” (Revelation 5:8 NIV).

Pray.

Be released to pray whether you see your prayers answered in our reality or not.

Pray.

Because. Your. Prayers. Matter.

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Your prayers matter - wisdom from author & Bible teacher Andy Lee, @WordsByAndyLee on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Andy lee is the author of A Mary Like Me: Flawed Yet Called and The Book of Ruth Key Word Study: A 31 Day Journey to Hope and Promise. She is a blogger, inspirational speaker, Bible teacher, and empty-nest survivor. Join hundreds of viewers on her Facebook Live broadcast Monday-Friday for the Bite of Bread, and visit her website at www.wordsbyandylee.com where Andy where Andy provides resources to help you dig deep to live fully.