“Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven”.
I still remember the first time I was struck by these familiar words. I grew up going to church and had repeated the Lord’s Prayer so often I could say it in my sleep. Yet, for some reason it was not until high school that I was struck by the divine weight of these sacred words. Once I took the time to meditate on this powerful model prayer of Jesus, I developed a newfound love for the Lord’s prayer. Since this moment when the power in this prayer really clicked for me, I have felt as if I have discovered a new dimension in my prayer life.
For most of my life, I viewed prayer simply as something I did because scripture said it was good and that’s just what Christians did – they prayed. But as I got older and continued to go deeper in my faith, my shallow understanding of prayer no longer satisfied me. I finally asked myself, “Do I really believe there is power in my prayers?” I was convicted by my honest answer – often, I did not. I had gotten good at going through the motions, but if I am being truthful with myself, I have prayed a lot of empty prayers in my life. However, over the past few years, I have been blessed to be a part of various small groups and Bible studies that have directly challenged me to examine my beliefs on the power of prayer.
“Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes what they say will happen, it will be done for them” (Mark 11:23). Jesus assures the disciples of the power of their words. A few verses earlier in the same chapter, Jesus demonstrates this truth by cursing the fig tree. He wants His disciples to learn that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). And this same power is available to each of us as we believe and do not doubt. It is when our words are steeped in sincere faith that the power of prayer becomes a reality.