The Power of a Sincere Prayer
Questions about Prayer?
People have a lot of questions about prayer.
How do you pray? How often should you pray? Can God hear you when you pray? Does God answer prayer? How does God answer prayer? Are the only options Yes, No, and Not right now? Is there a right way to pray? Is there a way to pray that will help me get what I want or need from God?
There are a million questions about prayer and I wouldn’t want to discount any sincere question about prayer from someone who is searching for God. And for anyone to suggest they have prayer figured out is to simultaneously ignore the profound mystery that is the discipline of prayer.
That said, I do believe there is much we can learn from scripture about prayer. I love the story of one praying woman by the name of Hannah. Her story begins with heartache and it ends with tremendous joy. The only problem with using her story to talk about prayer is that one might be misled to think that every prayer story ends the way we want, with us getting what we want if we would only turn to God in prayer.
Why Pray?
Anyone who has followed Jesus for any length of time will know and be able to verify that this is not how prayer works. God is not a genie in a bottle. He doesn’t answer to us. He doesn’t jump when we say jump. The power and promise of prayer are actually much better than that.
What the story of Hannah does teach us, I believe, is that God is near the broken-hearted. That God does hear us when we pray. Hannah’s story reminds us that God sees, God cares, and God knows.
So what happens when you turn to God in prayer?
One of the movies we like to watch with the kids is called, “Evan Almighty.” It’s the story of a man who prays to God for help, and God effectively turns him into a modern-day Noah.
In the movie, God is played by Morgan Freeman. And towards the end of the movie, Evan’s wife, Joan, is really struggling with what to do. Her husband is building an Ark. She’s not sure if he’s losing his mind or what. And that’s when she has this encounter with God, who she thinks is just her waiter, at a local restaurant.
God Sees. God Knows. God Cares.
Hannah prayed, she cried out to God in anguish, and God heard her prayer. God hears you when you pray, too. He knows exactly what you’re going through.
I love what Pastor Charles Stanley once said, “Talk to God. Trust Him. Wait for Him to work.”
There is power in sincere prayer. A sincere prayer from a humble heart that voices your need to God and your desire to honor God is powerful.
