Prayer that Changes History

The greatest untapped resource that I know of is the prayer of God’s people, says Henry Blackaby. 

Andrew Murray writes, We must begin to believe that God, in the mystery of prayer, has entrusted us with a force that can move the Heavenly world, and can bring its power down to earth.

And Oswald Chambers states, The key to the missionary problem is not the key of common sense, nor the medical key, nor the key of civilisation or education or even evangelism.  The key is prayer.

How easily we forget. 

Throughout Scripture it is evident that the character and nature of God does not change, but His actions do.  How?  Through the prayer of His people. 

Remember when Abraham bargained with God over Sodom in Genesis 18:22ff?  The men turned away…but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?“

So Abraham begged for 50 righteous men, and God changed His mind.  Then forty-five, forty, thirty, twenty, and finally ten.  Though the story does not end well for Sodom, God was prepared to alter the course of history because of Abraham’s request. 

And Moses’ conversation with God in Exodus 32.  The people of Israel, in their selfishness and fear, had melted down jewelry and created an idol in the image of a golden calf.  God, burning with righteous rage, says, “I have seen these people, and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.”

But Moses went to bat for Israel, and, in vs.14 we see that God’s intended action changed… “the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”

The prayer of one man changed the history of a nation.

There are many similar stories in the Bible; stories of how God’s anticipated action was modified because of people who stood in the gap on behalf of others.  And the stories continue today, how lives and tribes, countries and communities are transformed because of how God moves when his people pray.  

We read that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, interceding on our behalf.  If that’s how He’s spending His time, isn’t it worth joining Him?  Don’t you want to see history changed, whether it be the history of one person or that of a nation, because of the prayers you’ve been a part of?  I do!

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Next blog: Prayer that Changes the History of a Family