Can I Change God’s Mind Through Prayer? 预览

Prayer Changes Things

Because God has chosen to work in our lives through prayer, the Bible consistently encourages us to pray. These are not empty exhortations. The Bible promises us that prayer changes things. It really does. As we pray, the sovereign God, Ruler of all things, works through the means of prayer to accomplish His purpose. God uses prayer to bring to pass what He has determined will happen in our lives. This is part of God’s predetermined work.

It is also true that God, in His sovereignty, has ordained prayer as a means through which He accomplishes His purposes. He has known through all eternity what we would not pray about some things. But when we pray, things do happen because God has determined for them to take place through our prayers. God has instructed us to pray. He has told us to pray with determination, endurance, and persistence. Scripture says that the fervent prayer of a righteous man has great power and brings wonderful results. Jesus encouraged His disciples to ask for what they wanted to receive. He said that they would have whatever they asked for from the Father in His name. It really is that simple. The only thing it requires is faith.

God demands that we pray with faith. The Bible says that anyone who approaches Him in prayer must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. Jesus told us to exhibit childlike faith in prayer. In fact, He likened Christians’ prayers to their Heavenly Father with the conversations children have with their earthly fathers. Jesus said that even human parents, as evil and weak as they are, give good gifts to their children. This is all the more reason to understand that God, being a Good Father, will give good gifts to His children when we ask Him.

That is why we need to pray with faith. The Scriptures call this praying with confidence. We are confident because we know that God hears us. If the almighty God of the universe told us to come to Him and ask Him for anything we need, we should definitely be confident that such petitions will be answered.