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“Prayer changes things”

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Maybe you’ve heard it said:

“Prayer changes things.”

 

In fact, the prayers of those who seek after God are powerful and effective. Sometimes they release God’s power to willfully change a particular circumstance. The sick are healed, the lost are found, the blind receive sight, sins are forgiven, the dead are raised. That’s what happened when Jesus prayed to his Heavenly Father. And that’s what happens when devoted followers of Jesus follow his example in praying, “Yet not my will but yours be done.”

 

Pray changes things…but does it change you?

 

Prayer isn’t so much about changing the mind of God as it is about changing the heart of the one who is praying.

 

The heart of prayer is in drawing near to God.

“Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8

 

How do you draw near to someone you love? Do you give them a chore list of things to do and then leave them to accomplish it? Of course not. Instead, you find fulfillment in the enjoyment of their presence. You take interest in what they’re thinking and their desires. You discover of ways to please them and then act on them. You commit to a lifelong relationship of love and find new ways of expressing it, even when you don’t feel like being particularly loving or when you don’t feel you have the power to carry on. Some of the closest times Marcia and I experienced during our journey with cancer was when we were in our weakest and most helpless moments.

 

Isn’t this a picture of what drawing near to God should look like? It’s only when we humbly confess how weak and helpless we are that we can really draw near to him. It’s recognizing that it isn’t our righteous efforts that bring us close to him; he was drawing us close when we weren’t even looking for him! He sent his Son, he gave us his Word, and he brought his people across our path to demonstrate his truth and grace. Maybe you didn’t realize it at the time, but now you see how God has orchestrated events and people to draw you even closer to himself.

 

We don’t see this when we’re going our own way. We let busyness and prideful ambition and other sins keep us away from him. We draw near to God not by spewing a a to-do list, but by humbling ourselves, submitting to his will, resisting selfish temptations, and seeking his presence. Then he will draw close to you. (James 4:6-8)

 

Humbly drawing near to God changes us in transformational ways. And when we are changed by his grace, we see everything around us differently through his eyes. When this happens, prayer not only changes things…

Prayer changes US!

 

Do you want to be a “better person”?

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Have you ever found yourself asking God to make you a better person, to help you to gradually become more and more like him? It seems an honorable thought at first blush, and yes, our life as a believer is a journey of ever-growing and maturing in Christ. But God has already provided more.

When Christ rescued us, when he paid the price for our sins on the cross, he redeemed us fully. He didn’t give us a temporary ‘salvation permit’ that we would have to someday convert to a full license to join his kingdom. He gave us his all so we would see ourselves wholly (and holy) redeemed. There is nothing we can do, no effort or achievement we can accomplish that would make us more precious in his sight than we already are. In his eyes we are already presented without blemish. We are perfectly his. Yes, he sees us in our imperfect state, but he doesn’t regard us as such. If so, Christ’s work on the cross would have been incomplete. But it isn’t; we were wholly transformed into a new creation in his eyes. Paul tells us that whoever is in Christ IS now a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come! Our job is to accept that reality and to act as if it is true (because it is). Our job is not to continually strive to become better Christians but to be the children he declares us to already be.

Dan Stone used an illustration in his book, The Rest of the Gospel, that is helpful. Take a blank sheet of paper and draw a line from left to right across the middle of the page. Under the line write words that describes how you see yourself, your physical being and your often tumultuous soul: failure, never good enough, always sinning…etc. Now above the line, write words that describe how God sees you and your spirit which is already united with his spirit: His precious child, redeemed, fully his, holy. etc. You see, if you have asked Jesus to live in your heart, he gives you his holy spirit to guide and comfort you and to tell you the truth about who you are in his sight. When you ask the spirit to fill your life and lead you, Jesus sees his spirit at work when he looks at you. Believe it and act on what you believe. You are indeed precious in his sight.

Yes, there is also a transformational process of becoming more and more like him and yes, we won’t fully achieve that until we get to heaven. But learn to see by faith who you are “above the line”. as Paul says, reckon it to be true. Continually lean into him and experience him drawing close to you.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. James 4:7-8