SEEKING M RE GOD
Matters
By Jennifer Hayes Yates
Were you seeking to grow closer to God this year? Do
you want to see breakthrough? Your prayers have the
power to produce change.
The word powerful in this verse comes from two
Greek words combined: polys, which means “many,
great, large, greater than” and ischyo, which means
“to be strong, powerful, able, can do.”
The word translated effective is energeo, which means
“to be at work in, to produce, to work” (The NIV
Exhaustive Bible Concordance).
I think sometimes we fail to pray because deep down
we don’t really believe our prayers make a difference:
God is holy; God is sovereign; God doesn’t need my
prayers to make a difference.
But God says in His Word that our prayers are strong,
powerful, able to work, to produce, to cause an effect
to those who are righteous.
move mountains (Matthew 17:20), bring us peace
(Philippians 4:6-7), and move the hand of God (James
5:13-15). Even angels can be dispensed to come to
our aid (Psalm 91:11).
There are many ways we can grow in our prayer life.
Commit to daily time with God. Start a prayer journal.
Meet with someone each week to pray. Attend a
prayer retreat. Read a book or a Bible study on prayer.
One of my favorite prayer times is what I call “drive-
by prayer.” I meet each Wednesday with some ladies
to drive around our community and pray for the
schools, businesses, and homes we pass by. We are
doing business in heavenly places when we pray
(Ephesians 6:12,18).
How will you grow in prayer for the remainder of this
year? Commit to a new level of prayer and watch God
work.
Father, take us deeper in prayer with You.
Or maybe you believe you are not righteous enough
for your prayers to be effective. The word righteous
means in right standing with God. If you have
surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, then His
righteousness is now yours.
That exchange makes you a righteous man or woman.
The enemy doesn’t want you to believe your prayers
are powerful. He will tell you that your prayers don’t
really change anything—but he is a liar.
“The prayer of a
righteous man
is powerful an
d effective”
James 5:16b
Prayer draws us closer to God (Ephesians 1:18-19),
makes our hearts sensitive to His Spirit (Ephesians
3:16), and builds our faith (Jude :20). Prayer can
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