I believe in prayer. I believe in the power of prayer. I believe prayer is the most underutilized resource and weapon given to the Believer. Through prayer, we have the power to change the trajectory of our lives and intervene on behalf of others.
Prayer is a weapon. It is our ammunition against an unrelenting enemy whose purpose is to destroy. There is authority and power against a legion of evil forces when we bend a knee and raise our voice.
I don’t believe in prosperity prayer or name it and claim it. Nothing in scripture supports that illogical thinking. But I do believe the words of Jesus are true, we simply do not have because we don’t ask. I guess I take that a bit further, we don’t have because we don’t believe. We don’t believe that prayer makes a difference. We don’t believe in the power of prayer. We don’t believe that through this connection to God, there’s change, there’s hope, there’s freedom.
How can I say that? Easily. See, if we did, our lives would look dramatically different. Our world would revolve around prayer rather than trying to make prayer fit into our lives. It would be a priority. It would take precedence over anything else in our lives.
Jesus was a man dedicated to prayer. His life and ministry flowed out of His intimacy with the father. We cannot credit everything to the deity of God, Jesus was indeed fully man. Everything He did, and every miracle He performed, were made possible through that connection He had with the father. That connection was prayer.
When Christ bent a knee He was surrendered to the will of God. He was vulnerable to the Spirit. He was postured to be used. He was filled with everything He neeeed to accomplish the will of the Father.
It was that posture in the Garden of Gethsamenee that empowered Him to walk that road to the cross. The battle was fought and won on bended knee. But in that same Garden, another war was raging but there would be no triumph. His disciples were asked to pray. Jesus pleaded with them to pray, to tarry one hour. They couldn’t. Their flesh overtook them and the desire to sleep prevailed. Their battle was lost.
I believe their collapse of faith and every reckless decision made immediately following the garden is because they failed to persevere in prayer. We will never know if Peter would have affirmed who Jesus was in his life rather than deny Him repeatedly. But I often wonder.
I believe Peter and the disciples had the same opportunity to receive the power of the Spirit to overcome and conquer. I believe the Holy Spirit was waiting to fill them. They chose to sleep.
Could you not tarry one hour? That was the question presented by Jesus that dark and agonizing night in the garden. I believe that is still His question for us today. Could you not tarry one hour?
We need a posture shift. We need to become Believers who pray. It will change everything about your life.