We’ve all heard the phrase, “There’s power in prayer.” I’m not sure if, as a leader, I should make this statement, but here goes. If I was to be completely honest, I have had my doubts if prayer really does work.  This next sentence is not meant to be a boast, but I really did spend hours and hours praying in my room, pleading, weeping, and calling out to God for something, some miracle, some breakthrough, but things seemed to be pretty quiet. Why? Let’s be honest. We have all heard the stories of what God has done in some far-removed place on the mission field, but like you perhaps, I wanted my own stories.

It was late on a Saturday morning when my wife and I went for our walk to take in the waning days of summer. While out, I received a strange and impassioned call from my son. Dad, you need to come home, he said. What? Why? What’s going on? I asked. I don’t know, he said, but some guy showed up at our door with his wife. They’ve left now, but they’re coming back. He was a real mess. You need to come home! 

With that, we turned around and made our way back and, within a few minutes of our arrival, there came a knock on our front door. Outside was a man in his late 40’s with his wife. What is this? I wondered. So much for my peaceful Saturday. I opened the door and standing there was a stocky, 200lb oil field worker with his wife. He immediately burst into tears as he came ploughing through my doorway, wrapping his arms around me, crying like a baby, as he buried his face in my shoulder! My mind was racing. What happened? Death of a loved one, or some other tragedy perhaps?

I spent the next couple of moments awkwardly trying to comfort this sobbing man as we led him and his wife across the room to our couch. Trying to be as pastoral as possible, and with a very concerned voice, I asked, What happened? What’s wrong?

In the meantime, my wife was steadily handing him tissues to wipe away the constant flow of tears. 

Then, between the sobs, he made a statement that I wasn’t expecting. I was out on my deck today enjoying the sun and having a few beers when something spoke to me and said, “You need to get saved.” I couldn’t drink anymore. I didn’t know what to do. I started crying. So I thought I should come here and give my life to Jesus!  I confess. I didn’t see that coming! Yet here we were in our living room, on a Saturday morning, leading this man to Christ! 

I remember asking him to repeat after me. I don’t remember what we prayed. It was nothing profound. What was profound, however, was the look on his face after we prayed. His entire countenance had changed. He really did look “different”. This man had truly come from darkness into light. He was a new creation in Christ Jesus and you could see it! 

I’ll never forget what he said as he continued wiping away the constant stream of tears which were running down his face. He took a deep breath and said, Ahhh, that feels better. And with that, this stocky, 200lb oilfield worker and his wife left our home. It was truly amazing! For the next several years we were able to watch this couple grow in Christ, And I’m happy to say that this gentleman and his wife are following Jesus to this day! 

You see, I often thought that God should do things in a way that I expected, organized, planned, between 10:30 and 11:30 on a Sunday morning, and of course, not messy. The reality is I had no idea that the Holy Spirit had been having a conversation with this man and would bring him to our house that day. 

What I learned in that process was simply this. Prayer is not something we do in hopes of wringing some favour out of God. Rather, prayer is what we do to prepare our hearts so we can join the conversation that God is already having with someone else.

Is there power in prayer? My questions were answered on that Saturday morning.

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