The Power and Wisdom in Prayer

Recently God has imbued me with some fresh revelation on prayer. It has been over the course of a couple weeks, and hasn't been more than random realizations or thoughts at different times. All that being said, I'm just trying to firstly remember everything I've learned, and then simply organize it here. Hopefully I will eventually finish this blog...


I wonder what the world would look like if the bible were true.

Matthew 17:20
"He said to them, Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." (context)

Now, don't get me wrong, I believe the bible is 100% complete and true and faultless, but follow me for a second:
How many times have we prayed or heard someone pray for something radical to happen? How often have we heard prayers like "please save so-and-so's life", "please let me become such-and-such", even "please let me marry her".
Yet how many times have we seen such things happen?
If Jesus wasn't lying, then that means if we even have the smallest amount of faith, anything can happen.
But this isn't the case...that stuff doesn't happen that often. Because if it did, it means that all kinds of people would not have died, and everyone would have their dreams come true, and quite honestly a lot of mountains would be in different locations right now.

Do you see what I'm saying?

Take that verse literally. "If you have faith like the grain of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move." I'm pretty sure that the grain of a mustard seed is one of the smallest if not THE smallest seed in all of creation. And it's metaphorically representing our faith. So that means that you can have little to almost NO faith, yet if you do believe, you can pretty much make anything happen.

So, either the bible isn't 100% true, or we have absolutely no faith in the power prayer has.

I believe the latter is true. I know that sometimes I can pray with some authority and faith, but a lot of the rest of the time, I'm simply petitioning God, hoping He'll do something but not really believing anything WILL happen. Now, don't get me wrong, there's a place for "prayer and supplication, and making our requests made known to God", but I feel like if that's all we're doing, we aren't getting much done but airing our grievances and wishing upon a star.

When it comes to really interceding for things, praying for revival and change, praying for healing, or for some kind of huge God-movement, we need the power of prayer. We can wish for it to happen as much as we want...but until we put some faith into it, and believe not only that something CAN happen but that something WILL happen, I don't think much will happen.

I remember when God first revealed all of this to me (I think it was at church, or slam or something, and it hit me in a matter of seconds), I thought...well if I simply believe, there's all kinds of possibilities! I could pray for God to turn me into a chicken, or move the rocky mountains to abilene, or, in all seriousness, for God to make his presence physically known in the room with fire from the sky and wind from nowhere. And I do believe that that stuff could happen, even though right now I'm not feeling very authoritative or that i have the faith for that crazy stuff...but that brought me to the great balancing revelation:

Authoritative prayer ALWAYS starts with wisdom.

Realizing the power that is held in prayer...and that old testament miracles CAN happen...brings both great faith and encouragement as well as reverance, fear, and respect. Because an understanding of the power inside of us shows us that we CAN'T abuse it. And that it can cause a lot of harm. For example, let's say we're in a prayer meeting and nonchristians are there. I could pray for God to send his physical fire, glory, and presence down from heaven, but, let's say that in that moment God gives me the discernment not to ask for that. I don't necessarily understand at the time, but if I had prayed that, maybe it would have freaked the nonchristians out and they would have never believed or come back to a church. Or maybe it would have been too amazing and it would have physically blinded all of us. I just don't know. I can't shoot out prayers like a shotgun once I realize the far-reaching effects intercession has. I have to first ask God to give me wisdom I need, and then pray in the spirit - making sure my prayers and intercessions align with God's will. Great power comes with great responsibility.

so thats all I can spit out for right now...I'll add thoughts over time. give me yours and I can maybe come to a better more rounded view of how to use prayer. Let's believe though.