2000 Years Later: Does Prayer Still Matter?

This morning I was burdened with the subject of prayer. Quite honestly I was a little ashamed at how little I do pray, in light of the many things going on around me. There are mornings where I check prayer off my "to do list" and then go on with my day, certainly obeying what God called me to do, but keeping my fingers crossed that my little ho-hum prayer made it through the corridors of heaven and into the ears of My Father. While having my coffee this morning, I read Matthew 9:38 : "Ask The Lord of the Harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the field." It got my mind spinning.


Why did Jesus find prayer so important?
Why did he often times stop his day to be alone and pray?
If he had healing powers, a voice to calm the fiercest storms, drive out the scariest of all demons, yet still saw extreme value in prayer, I need to ask for this same passion and desire.

As I dig further into this Scripture, I came across a wonderful sermon on prayer and ways God still uses it today.  Maybe it will inspire you, like myself, to know with confidence that God indeed hears your pleas and is working His will in this world because of them. With no further adieu, I give you Mr.John Piper...

"My aim and my prayer through this message is that you might feel yourself captured by a cause and a vision a thousand times greater than your life. I pray that you will feel yourself to be part of the coming victory of God. I know that many of you feel: Look, you don’t know what I am dealing with. I just want to survive another day. I just want to keep my marriage together and raise a couple decent kids, and keep my nose clean.

Believe me, I’m not opposed to that. My aim is not to burden you. My aim is for you to feel the liberating, energizing power of seeing your all-consuming problems in connection to God’s global victory. God cares about your marriage, your kids, your singleness, your health. But these only have their greatest meaning in relation to the victory of God. I promise you it is not oppressive to see the littleness of your life in connection to the largeness of God’s victory. Every just war that has ever been fought for a great ideal has given meaning to the loneliness, and the amputations, and the widowed moms.

The connection that I want you to see today between your life and the victory of God is the connection of prayer. Your prayers are God’s way of accomplishing the victory of Jesus Christ over this world. I know that for many of you this is way beyond what you usually pray about. I think God wants to change that. I hope that praying for the victory of God in this world will become part of your life. Don’t object by saying, “I’m too small. I’m unsophisticated. I’m not educated. I’m just an ordinary, simple person.” God chose a simple, peasant virgin to bear his Son. And he chooses simple people of faith to bring his victory by prayer. O don’t rule yourself out of this great calling.

The apostle Paul was probably the greatest missionary witness to the victory of God that ever lived. God used him for tremendous breakthroughs for the spread of the gospel. Listen to his repeated plea for prayer as a means to his gospel-spreading ministry:

2 Thessalonians 3:1, “Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you.” The word runs and triumphs by means of prayer.

Ephesians 6:19, “[Pray] for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.” Paul’s boldness in the gospel came from God by the prayers of simple Christian believers.

Romans 15:30, “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf.” The wrestling of Paul to be faithful in all his sufferings was sustained by a wrestling in prayer by the brothers in Rome.

Colossians 4:3, “Pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison.” Open doors for the spread of the gospel come in answer to prayer. Therefore, in the life of Paul it is plain that prayer is God’s way of gospel victory.

Today the enemies of the church of Jesus Christ are not political or national or ethnic. Paul said, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Until our King comes from heaven, we wish the destruction of no man. As Christians we do not kill our enemies, we pray for our enemies, as Jesus taught us to do (Matthew 5:44).

The great battle today is fought not with swords but with the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. It is fought for the souls of men. It is fought in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is fought with words of truth and deeds of love and justice. And all of that backed by prayer. The victory will come and will come by prayer." (taken from  Prayer and the Victory of God)