Prayer that Moves Mountains
When was the last time you REALLY prayed and asked the Lord for something?
I’m not talking about when you quickly thanked God for your cheeseburger and fries asking God to help it ‘nourish’ your body, or even the last time you prayed for God to bless your day as you hopped out of bed and got ready for work. When was the last time you fervently sought the Lord for something, day, after day, after day? When your prayer literally brought tears to your eyes as you consistently spoke with God, physically burdened as you asked him to act? When was the last time you asked him to move in your life in a way that only he could? To do something miraculous, something God-sized in your life?
Maybe it’s been a while, or maybe you’ve never prayed like that. Maybe you’ve been afraid of what would happen if he didn’t answer like you wanted him to, or maybe you’ve been anxious that you’re asking something too great for even God to accomplish.
But if you’re honest…you want to. You want to grab hold of a faith like that. A faith that leads your prayers that ask God to do what only He can. A faith that inspires Elijah to pray for fire from heaven, or Moses to pray for manna to rain down. You want a faith that really does believe God can move mountains, and you want a faith that gives you the boldness to ask him for that.
I’ll never forget the first time I can remember praying a mountain-moving prayer.
My dad was pastoring a church in Florida, and giving was way down. Dad had already made multiple cuts to salaries, insurance, and ministry budgets, but he was now going to have to make some even harder decisions to keep the church afloat. With a broken-heart he knew he would have to cut some precious staff members that he loved, and to make matters worse, everything was culminating right before Christmas. My dad was living his worst nightmare and his countenance showed it. Devastated for him, I remember asking what he needed to extend the time before he had to make a decision, because I was going to commit to be praying. He was extremely hesitant to even respond, but eventually told me, “Beth, the amount I need is unfathomable. I’ve already done everything possible to bring in any more money, so please just pray for wisdom and for the words I should say when I have to lay off these people. I would need at least $20,000 in the next two weeks, which, given our circumstances, is impossible.”
Impossible maybe, but I had read many stories of how God had done seemingly ‘impossible’ things in the bible, and so, for the first time I can remember, I dropped to my knees and fervently prayed.
Every single day, at multiple times during the day, I set aside time to seek the Lord and ask him to move like only he could. Each morning I spent time on my knees beside my bed, every lunch break I headed to my car to pray in the parking lot, and each evening I would hide away in our bedroom while Steve was gone so that I could beg God to move. I prayed every single day after that phone call and asked God to show up believing he was able and asking God to show himself to all of us.
Two weeks later I received a phone call from my dad. “Beth, you’re never going to believe this. I was at church today and out of the blue a man I barely knew walked up to me and handed me an envelope. He told me that God had told him he needed to give this to me for the church to use however was needed. Beth… I opened the envelope and he had written a check for $20,000!”
Tears flooded my eyes as I knew that I had begged God specifically for that amount. My prayers had been answered, and my faith was grown exponentially…all of our faith had grown.
I read a book years ago by Joni Eareckson Tada and in it she said that ‘faith may move mountains, but prayer moves God.’ It’s not that our prayers have a way of bossing God around, or that they are a way to get what we want in any situation, but prayer has a way of attuning our hearts to the Lord and placing us in a position to see him move in our lives as we desperately seek his will. God wants us to have faith in him, and over and over again in scripture we read where he tells us to ask him for the desires of our hearts. Never once does he promise to give us everything we want, but he tells us to ask and for whatever reason… we don’t.
Sweet sister…can I say something a little edgy to you? Perhaps the reason we don’t see God move more often isn’t because he’s not able or unwilling, perhaps it’s because we’re not consistently, fervently praying and asking him to move. Maybe the reason I’m not seeing God do the things I wish he would is actually because I’m not committed enough to ask him for them. Matthew 17:20 tells us that “if we have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move mountains”….maybe we’re not seeing mountains moved because we don’t have the faith we need to pray and ask God to move them.
Every January, my church walks through 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. During those 21 days, our church podcast is always filled with encouragement, often through powerful, miraculous stories of how God has moved in the lives of people within our church after they prayed. I would encourage you to check out the podcast and challenge your faith in your own 21 day prayer journey. Your faith is sure to be encouraged and inspired as you listen to each story, but my hope is that you don’t sit and listen to each story unchanged. I hope that the stories inspire you to drop to your knees and beg God to move in your own life. Ask him to do the things that only he can. Maybe you’re praying for $20,000 because of a deep need you have, or maybe you’re just praying for a renewed purpose in your life. Maybe you’re asking him to provide healing, to renew your marriage, or restore a friendship. Maybe you just need God-sized encouragement, but whatever it is I want to encourage you to make a commitment to fervently and desperately pray during these 21 days. Pray like you’ve never prayed before, committed and undeterred, and together, lets watch God move like we’ve never seen before.
Friend, I’m all in for these 21 days. I’m removing the distractions through fasting that take my focus off of God, and I have some big prayers I’m praying. Will you join me in doing the same? If so, let’s start right now….