True Power: More on Prayer

A few weeks ago I shared some thoughts on prayer and I wanted to revisit the topic.

I know about prayer, I’m a pastor, I teach about prayer. I pray regularly privately and corporately yet I was moved recently by the power of the prayer around me, experiencing something I haven’t recently.

When was the last time you were moved by prayer? It’s easy to get into a rut, into a routine, to pray by rote, by routine and by default disconnect from the power source. You think you’re doing it, think you’re connected, but you really aren’t and so see little fruit.

James said: “you do not have because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2). We ‘ask’ God lots of things but do we really ASK as He would? Do we ask for the small things, not really believing God answers the big ones, afraid if we ask and He doesn’t come through that’ll impact our faith?

We settle.

Then there is another thing that disconnects us from the power source. “When you ask you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives” (James 4:3) James adds in the next verse and that’s the key to powerful prayer. God DOES answer prayer. As the saying goes, it’s either, yes, no, or not yet. Our motives then become the key when we do start to ask. Why are we asking and what is our attitude? Are we really willing to accept God’s will or do we want Him to punch our spiritual ticket? It has to be done according to His will and with the right motives.

So, if you’re struggling in your prayer life, take a look at what you’re asking for and then your motive. You might just start something pretty powerful and amazing. ASK BIG!! At the summer camp we run each you we started off asking for some underprivileged kids to go to camp and we ended up with over 20, a donated bus to pick them up, backpacks filled with the stuff they needed to camp and then, the great privilege of not just telling them but showing them about God’s great love. That’s powerful and it would not have happened if we hadn’t prayed while being connected to the power source.

That’s true power!