Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
General Christian
Relationships and Religion
The Power of Prayer

The Power of Prayer

Last updated on: November 20, 2023 at 11:29 am by Mark Williams

0 Comments

The Power of Prayer 2023-11-20T11:29:28-07:00 Mark Williams

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Williams/Williams

There is an absolute power to prayer.

What I have learned over decades is it is usually my prayer, when it doesn’t get answered the way I want it answered, it is me, and my timing, wording, heart intent, which caused the prayer to not be fulfilled.

Oh, it was heard. He heard it.

Like a child asking for a slice of chocolate cake five minutes before dinner, He quietly and gently said ‘no.’

I can ask for stuff….

I can ask for stuff, a lot of stuff and have over the years. And most of it went without any movement in my life, causing sometimes great disappointment. But I was young, younger than I am now, and my Dad, I know, heard it. How do I know He heard it? Because He’s Dad-Dad’s hear everything. At least that’s what my faith says. He hears everything and knows what I want even before the planet itself was put in orbit.

It took years—decades for me to learn to talk to Dad and get in sync with Him and not the other way around. I still don’t have it down, and probably won’t until after I go to Heaven, but it hasn’t been until the last few years I learned to surrender to The Plan—His Plan. Not every day. I still ask why, but I quickly go to the answer—do you trust Me?

Do you trust me?

What am I supposed to say—No, God of the Universe who loves me so much you hung your son on a tree for my crap? Yep.

Recently, He and I have been in sync. He has specifically answered direct prayer. Specific prayer with specific answers. Answers specific to what I was asking. I love it when that happens! I am in sync with the God of the Universe who calls me his son! I am the brother to the carpenter’s kid and rabbi named Jesus-the one I call Lord.

Who doesn’t want to do that?

He loves it!

I am here to tell you it’s not only possible—but He loves it! He loves it when we reach out to Him. He loves it.

Now, here is the theory. He is my Dad. He will let me run like a pony across the meadow unless I’m going to run into a tree and even if I will, He might let me. Kind of like letting me learn to ride my bike and maybe fall, not hard, just to let me figure out the balance and insert a little caution. Today, that could mean He might let me do things we, as a people group, think are horrible. Just to maybe bring us closer to Him.

But sometimes—sometimes He and I are in complete sync and He decides to show up to the play. If He does it with me, I know He does it with you.

…magical!

Oh is it magical! When God hears me. When I specifically ask for something, and he grants it. It’s not a pile of money, although the last Mega Millions at $2 billion I must admit, had some conversations with promises to build nursing homes and playgrounds with it took place. No, it was at 2:30 in the morning when anxiety woke me up and overwhelmed me with a list of the day and fears of failure. There was more to it than that, but you might have experienced something along those lines, waking up completely and not being able to get those thoughts out of your skull.

It was Satan.

Just enough to cause fear, anxiety, and loss of sleep. Enough to cause me to say I am not enough and a failure.

I remember scripture where if you ask in Jesus’ name, it will be granted. The rule to that is it has to be good for me, honor to God, and part of His Plan for me.

…get him out of my head.

I prayed to put Satan behind me, get him out of my head. I didn’t ask in a noble, humble voice with an English accent, like Christians are perceived to ask. Nope, I think I said something like Hey, you sonofabich, in my Dad and my Lord’s name, get the fu* out of here.*

30 minutes later I was asleep.

Sure, it could be from exhaustion, or a thousand other things, only for days, He and I had conversations and for days, He calmed me, soothed my soul.

It’s up to you. Lay your crap down and just talk to Him. Then, listen to the answer. It will come.

About – Inside Our Gooey Minds (patheos.com)

Home (markjwilliams.com)

Relationships and Religion

About Mark Williams

Mark Williams spent the first twenty-one years of his career as a Special Agent for the Organized Crime Division of the State Attorney General’s Office. As part of his duties, he investigated organized crime, homicides, and fraud cases submitted by other agencies to that office. He has traveled across the United States as an instructor for law enforcement in various capacities. After he retired, he became a high school English teacher at an inner-city school in central Phoenix where he is the fourth generation in his family to live in the valley. Mark was married for almost thirty-eight years and is a retired widower. He has three children and ten grandchildren. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

November 5, 2023

It's Early