Prayer is our opportunity to deliberately and consciously participate in the work of God.   One important aspect of practical faith and effective prayer is to recognize that God is always in control.  If He is not the final authority in all things, then our prayers would be so much wasted effort.

Too often, however, we wait until things are very scary before we get serious about prayer.  We seem to operate under the delusion that most of life is under our control.  Since God gives us so much freedom to choose, we often forget that we are not the masters of our own fate.  Not even in the little things.

The daily walk may not seem to need much of God’s intervention of interaction.  Our routines may seem to go along most days on autopilot.

Even so, we all eventually face events or circumstances that are beyond our power to control or influence. At such times there is nothing at all we can do — but pray. And we often say that very thing, “All we can do now is pray.”

We say that because we realize that some things in life are completely in God’s hands. If the Lord sees fit to intervene, we may be helped and our situation improved. If the Lord has some other kind of plan in mind, we will be left to what may appear to be the “natural course” of events. The natural or usual course may include an early death, the loss of a business or job, a divorce, bankruptcy, or any number of other undesirable things.

But what about all the other circumstances of life? Are we actually in control of anything at all? Is there some kind of guarantee given or implied by God that we will wake up in the morning? When we take a walk, are we able to protect ourselves from accidents or injury?

When we drive along the familiar stretch of highway, are we the ones who keep ourselves and others around us safe? Are we as healthy as we are today because we have been wise (or even aware) in all our choices since early childhood?

The Bible makes it clear that God is the ultimate authority in our universe. He is in control of all things, all the circumstances of life, all the situations and events that unfold.

Our own experiences also will tell us that many “accidents” are far beyond our own power to control. While we should always do everything in our power to avoid harming ourselves or others, injuries and illnesses will still come. And death itself will one day come for us.

Prayer to God should always begin with a conscious acknowledgment of His sovereign control over all things. We may not always need to say it our loud but we certainly need to know and believe it in our hearts. God is in control.

Moses said this very thing when giving the Law or Torah to Israel: “Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.”  (Deuteronomy 4:39, KJV)

God is God in all the universe, in the spiritual and physical realms, and right here where we live.  God is God in my town and in my house, and where you live and work as well.  There is no other power or authority able to eclipse God’s will and power in any situation.

What about evil?  What about the devil?  What about human rebellion and sin?  These questions are all answered in the Bible.  In fact, the Bible is written to answer many of the questions that we will have as we grow in our faith and awareness of God and His ways.

Scripture provides us with revelation and many examples, in both the Old and New Testaments, of how God works in human lives and in the universe.   We see in the Scriptures that while evil is allowed to resist God and all that’s good and right, in the end God’s will always prevails.  In fact, we find that God actually worked His own will in and through some of the darkest points of human history.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ, for example, was not plan B on God’s agenda for our Lord.  Jesus was born to die for sins.

Judas, who chose evil and greed over God’s will for his life, joined with other evil men who each made their own bad choices: Religious leaders who chose power and arrogance over surrender to God’s truth, and Pontius Pilate who paid no attention to God’s Spirit.  All these ordinary sinners played a part in getting Christ to the cross where He was destined (and determined) to die for sin.  No one forced any of them to do evil, not even the devil.  Yet God allowed them to have their way, and Jesus was nailed to a cross where He perfected God’s ultimate and eternal answer to sin and evil.

How then, you may ask, does my prayer play any meaningful role in the big picture of God’s will?  After all, isn’t it reasonable to assume that godly men and women were praying for Jesus, pleading for His safe release?  I’m sure they were.

Prayer does not bind God’s hands.  Prayer makes us partners with the host of heaven.  Prayer adds our voice to the chorus of prayer and praise ascending from the whole earth.

Prayer is our opportunity to deliberately and consciously participate in the work of God.  While we will certainly pray for our own desires, according to the way we perceive things to be (and this is God’s will), we are also used of God to pray for His will to be done in the earth, just as Jesus gave us an example in the “lord’s prayer.”

We are expected to pray for our own selves, for our family and loved ones, our community, region and nation.  But as Paul instructed Timothy, we are also to pray for all people everywhere, and for all who are in authority, so that we may live decent lives (see 1 Timothy 2:1,2).

part of our mission, as redeemed followers of Jesus Christ, is to pray for everyone.  As believers, we know something of God’s will for humankind.  We know how deadly and destructive sin is in human lives.  We know how difficult it can be to trust God, to wait for Him, to believe what he has said.

As people of flesh and blood, we also know the temptations and vexations of daily life.  We know how dark and dangerous the world can be.  We know the struggles of other people, and how easy it can be to stumble into really bad choices.

As students of the Scriptures, we see and understand much of what is going on around us in the world.  We are not ignorant of Satan’s devices, of the power that evil can have on ordinary people.  We also know that God wants every human soul to be saved, to come to the knowledge of the truth (again, right there in 1 Timothy, chapter 2).

And as born-again children of God, we have God’s Spirit within us to enable us to also care about others.  Who, then, is better equipped to pray for the needs of both the lost and the saved of this age?

We have a duty to pray for the needs we see all around us.  We may become great preachers to teachers.  We may never travel to far away places as missionaries.  We may not have a lot of money to give to the poor, to missions, or even to the spreading of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  But we have God.  We can pray earnestly for our neighbors, for our family members, for those we wronged in the past, for those who wronged us today, and for every person God lays on our hearts.

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus promised us that what we prayed for in secret would be rewarded openly.  Real prayer warriors, then, may not get much fame or glory in this age.  People may never know what we do, or where we travel to in our prayers.  Our hearts and concerns may carry us to many places all around the world as we pray for people in need.

As we pray for this or that leader, this or that missionary family, this or that young person graduating from college, or the family we saw on the news, in a documentary, on a website… we can accomplish much good for the kingdom of God.

Armies, money, political power, computer equipment, talent and skills can only accomplish so much.  We see these things fall short of the goal again and again.  The gap must be filled with prayer.

Droughts and famines can be broken by prayer.  Wars can find peaceful and successful resolution by prayer.  A vote in the ballot box can do only so much, but godly prayers will accomplish much good for any nation or region.  People need God’s hand of blessing and power.  Every human soul needs His grace in salvation and spiritual direction.

If we know God, then we know that all things are possible with Him.  Nothing is impossible, Jesus said, for those who believe God.  Abram believed, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.  Not only that, but God kept His promise to make of one old man a great nation.  God can do anything, if we will simply believe and seek His face.

There are many promises in the Bible relating to prayer.  Maybe it’s time we start marking all those promises, writing them down for ourselves, and acting on them.  Let’s begin actively serve God in a ministry of prayer.

Stand in the gap for sinners who need salvation, for leaders who need clear and right direction, for Christians who need strength and faith to obey God.  Let’s be an active part of what God is doing on planet earth.

Jim