The power of prayer.

          What is prayer? Why do we pray for others? Does God listen or change his mind based on our prayers? Are my prayers too weak to do anything? If God knows everything, why do we need to pray in the first place?
         These are questions that every person must face in their spiritual journey, particularly those who are Christians. These are questions that I face. God is showing me little by little what the power of prayer is and why He wants us to do it. This is not going to be an exhaustive, theological study on prayer which I would love to sit down and work out (which I am sure many would appreciate me not going into a 10 page blog), but a quick insight of what has gone on in my mind and life the past week.
            First and foremost, I want to say thank you for any person that has prayed for me at any time during this missional time or beforehand. Even if you just thought of me in passing and offered a quick breath of prayer for me, I cannot thank you enough. You see, God hears prayer, and he uses is it in amazing ways every day. Sometimes prayer can heal those who are sick, open doors for the gospel to be shared, mend broken hearts, or even uplift the downcast spirit. Prayer is the two-line communication we have with God. We talk (often too much), and He listens (at all times), and He often answers (but we rarely hear because we are still talking).
             It is my honest belief that honest, humble prayer help us conform our minds more and more to the likeness of Jesus Christ and His thoughts and attitudes towards things. As we ask for wisdom, for example, God bestows upon us Godly wisdom so that we can be a reflection of Him in this world. Prayer for others inspires us to move and help those we are praying for! A call, a text, an encouraging word  from the person who is doing the praying is often the result of prayer! St Augustine says it this way, "pray as if everything depended on God, work as if everything depended on you." I believe that some of the coolest answered prayers are those that spurn us on towards action.
            God wants us to pray so that we can do a number of things. 1. Acknowledge His sovereignty in every situation. 2. To seek His face 3. To conform our minds more and more to His kingdom and his work 4. To see supernatural things happen where He will get the glory from it so that it is without question that He is God of all!
            C. S. Lewis says this "prayer doesn't change God, it changes me!"
I have prayed often this week, more than I have in a long time. All my prayers have not been answered the way I would expect but of one thing I am sure. All this time I have spent with my head bowed before the King of Kings has programmed my mind to think more like Christ wants me to think. To live like Christ wants me to live. To serve as Christ calls me to serve. God has definitely answered several prayers this week, like bringing people to me who love Christ, but it is through the prayers that were offered that helped me to recognize that opportunity as my mind is continually being conformed to the likeness of His son (and trust me there is a long way to go). This is but one of the small aspects of prayer, and it is what He has revealed to me over this past week. But prayer is not limited to just our transformation of our minds, but an open door to see God do mighty and great things that we could never dream possible because we simply asked Him to do His will in our lives (and that is where the 10 extra pages could come in)
             And now I ask once again, pray for me! Since my last update and blog post, I have been overwhelmed with people's prayer and support of this ministry. It is an honor to have Christian brothers and sisters who are dedicated to serving God and lifting me up in prayer. Through prayer I know that God laid it on many people's hearts to just text or call me and encourage me, and the wisdom to do that comes directly from Christ!
I mean don't you know that your Heavenly Father wants to talk?
Take some time right now and spend time conversing with the best listener in the world, and take even more time listening to him speak to you. Start inviting Christ into your life and let him transform you!

And please let me know if there is anything I can pray for you for!
Phillip