So here is the last of our three motivations for praying: It gets things done. Now don’t hear me wrong. The last thing I want you to go away from this series of posts thinking is that God is like a slot machine - I put in my money and out comes what I want. No, as the previous two posts have emphasised prayer is an expression of, and way of enjoying our relationship with God. But the Bible tells us that prayer really does get things done.

In Luke 11:9 Jesus says, 'I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.' Similarly in James 4:2, James says, 'You do not have because you do not ask.'  It makes me wonder what might get done in our generation if we gave ourselves more fully to prayer.

Now let’s be clear, these verses aren’t saying ask for whatever you want and you’ll get it. God loves us too much to always give us what we would naturally ask for. But when we pray in line with his will we can expect big things. 

That naturally raises the question "how do I know what God wants so that I can ask for it?” And the answer to that is that we have a book full of God telling us his will. The more we immerse ourselves in God’s word, the more our desire and prayers will come into line with his will, and the more in line with God’s will our prayers are the more effective they will be, and then the sky’s the limit!

So ask yourself the question, what would you love to see happen in your lifetime? London reached for the gospel? A deep hunger for godliness in the church? God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? The people of St Helen’s to live in radical and sacrificial ways? The unreached nations of the earth to hear the gospel? If you want it then get on and pray persistently for it, on your own and together, and as you do it’s just possible you might change the world forever, because prayer gets things done.

Image: Kenneth Lu (Creative Commons)