Does Prayer Really Work?

February 21, 2024

Do you ever wonder if prayer really works?

Sometimes it can feel as though you’re praying about something and Satan whispers to you, “Who do you think you are? What do you think you’re doing? God is not listening. Don’t waste your time. Your prayers don’t actually work.”

But, prayer does work. If the enemy is discouraging you, let me encourage you with scripture:

Ephesians 3:20 says, “God . . . is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes” (TLB).

Prayer works because God is in control. Prayer is going directly to One who actually has the power to turn a situation around. The basis of all miracles is God’s sovereignty. Why does he do one and not another? Because God is in control. We have to trust his wisdom and his goodness.

So, if God is sovereign, do our prayers actually do anything?

Yes. Scripture instructs us to pray. Twenty times in the New Testament it says, “Ask.” It’s encouraging to know that things out of my control are not out of God’s control. I may not be able to change a situation, but I can pray and God can change it.

John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Ephesians 6:18 “Pray all the time. Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit’s wishes. Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere.”

This doesn’t mean God will always give us everything we want (no good parent gives their kid everything they want) and it doesn’t mean he will answer our prayers exactly how WE see fit, but your prayers DO matter.

God wants to answer your prayers. He wants you to ask him. He wants you to go to him and seek him for answers.

I like this verse. It reveals the Father’s heart toward us:

Matthew 7:7-12 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”