Prayer Makes a Difference

By Paula Williamson guest writer

I have been asked what difference prayer makes. All we need to do is read the Bible to see what difference prayer makes. It is filled with miraculous stories about what happens when people pray. Our personal experience does not change scripture.

It Is Written

JAMES 5:13-18  Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. ¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; ¹⁵ and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, ^[o]they will be forgiven him.¹⁶ Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much. ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. ¹⁸ Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

The Impossible Becomes Possible

In scripture, countless miracles have occurred in answer to prayer. In James 5, the sick are healed, sins are forgiven, rain is withheld and released, and much is accomplished. If none of those things happen, God asks us to pray. That alone should be enough reason!

Prayer

Lord, help me hunger and thirst for Your Word so my life is equipped to know Your truths. Help me turn every worry and fear into a prayer. Help me turn every judgment or concern about others into a prayer. Help me trust You above all else and bring every concern to You in prayer.

Takeaway

Prayer matters.