The Power of Prayer

The Power of Prayer

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain in the land for three years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.  James 5:17-18

How many times in our daily lives do we fail to pray? Don’t feel bad all of us could pray more. I am guilty as charged as well. Why is this? We know we should but we don’t. Are we really to busy to pray today?

There are lots of reasons and/or excuses we fail to pray but one of the main ones is that we really don’t believe it will do anything. We may gain this perspective based on past experiences when we prayed and didn’t receive the answer we desired. James 4:3 may have the answer to why that happened, it says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Also, in chapter 1 of James, it tells us that if we doubt we should not expect anything from the Lord, we will only be like the waves tossed back and forth by the sea.

The bottom line is that we would all pray more if we really believed in the power of prayer. In order for us to move forward in our prayer lives we must base it off of something more true than our experience. Our prayer lives will always be lacking if we base it off of ourselves. It must be on God’s word. 

God’s word is telling us that Elijah was a human being, just like us. He was not some kind of super human and God heard his prayer. His prayer changed the atmosphere around him not just for a little while but years.

Don’t underestimate the power of your prayer today. It might just change the whole world around you.