Do My Prayers Really Make a Difference?

Do my prayers really make a difference?  I have asked this question many times over the years, especially when things in my life seem to be getting worse, not better.  In fact, there have been times when I have been unable to pray, whether because of extreme mental anguish or just plain lack of faith.  I don’t want to belabor this point, but I want you to know, I understand what it is like to feel like you are praying to a God who is far away and doesn’t seem to be listening.  

So, the question is, do my prayers really matter?  After all, God is God and He will do what He wants, when He wants, right?  I am just one tiny little person on a huge planet.  Does God care to hear from me?  I know what I have been taught.  God hears our prayers.  He answers our prayers.  It matters when we pray. Honestly though, I have a hard time getting this truth to penetrate my heart sometimes. How about you?

Today I was reading something that changed my thinking on this topic.  I felt faith bursting in my heart and mind in regards to the effectiveness of my prayers, so I wanted to share it with you.  In the gospel of Matthew chapter 16 Jesus is asking the disciples, Who do people say I am? And who do you say I am?  They answered him with various answers.  Except Peter, who said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God… I will give you the keys of heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  Peter really got it!  He called Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Jesus said that The Father revealed this to Peter.  I believe that when we profess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, that The Father has revealed this to us as well.  Jesus told Peter that He gave him the keys of heaven to release heavenly blessing and bind up demonic forces, all because of Peter’s profession of the identity of Christ.  Could it be that we may have this same ability because of our profession?  I want to be very careful as I draw this parallel, realizing that Peter is the one and only rock, but I do believe there is a message here for us from Christ to us.  We too have been given a key to unlock the blessings of heaven, and that is prayer.  When we pray, something in heaven is unlocked, a door, behind which are countless blessings.  That door is opened and the blessings flow out over our loved ones and over the earth.  When we pray, asking that sin and struggle be bound up, Jesus says, yes!  

We can hold on to the words of Jesus to Peter, that we too have the power to unlock doors of grace and to slam shut doors of temptation and death.  I believe that there is a liar called the deceiver who will whisper in our ears that prayer doesn’t really matter, for the sole purpose of getting us not to pray.  Because when we pray, heaven moves and that deceiver loses precious ground.  When we pray eyes be opened to salvation, depression be bound, addiction be broken, The Father hears our prayers and He moves.  

We have been given a key, a key that unlocks the power of heaven.  How will we use it?  Will we let it sit on a shelf gathering dust or will we carry it with us wherever we go, taking it out and unlocking doors all over the earth?  I know I want to carry it with me using it consistently and frequently!  How about you?