Dr. Arthur Caliandro, long-time pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, had a therapist on his church staff. One day they were having a conversation about prayer. The therapist told him that prayer was the most therapeutic behavior for a human being. Caliandro was not surprised but he was excited because an expert in human behavior was telling him what he knew all along — prayer is powerful!

Do you desire power for living? Try prayer power! In Acts we read that in God “we live and move and have our being.” You see, we as human beings are not electrically powered, computer powered, hydraulically powered, or mechanically powered. We are God-powered! In Genesis it tells us that when God created us, he breathed his life-breath into us. Therefore, we must go to God as often as we can to receive the breath of life.

Jesus knew the power of prayer. The gospels demonstrate that prayer was the power source for Jesus’ ministry. Luke 5:16 (NIV) states that Jesus “would withdraw to deserted places and pray.” The Greek word “withdraw” means “he continually withdrew.” In other words, withdrawing to pray was his habit. Indeed, it was. In the gospel of Luke we find fifteen different references to Jesus praying. We find that Jesus prayed at every turn in his life. He prayed as he began his ministry. He prayed before choosing his disciples. He prayed as he served others. He prayed as he faced temptation and difficulty. He prayed at his death. He prayed after his resurrection. This begs the question: If Jesus, our Lord and Savior, believed prayer was this important for his own ministry, then shouldn’t it be just as important to us?

There is power in prayer. I remember the pew pencils in my church growing up. They had three simple words on them: “Prayer Changes Things.” Prayer does change things. When did we ever lose sight of that? Some of us don’t give prayer the time we give our cup of coffee in the morning. Make no mistake. Prayer changes things.

I recall being called to the hospital when I served a church in another city. A good friend of mine by the name of Howard was very ill. He had a blockage in his intestines and had developed a bad infection. It did not look good. I arrived at his room and we visited for a little while. He was very weak. I then asked if I could pray for him. He agreed. I put my hand on his shoulder and I remember a conflict going on between my head and my heart. In my head I remembered all my seminary training that taught me not to raise hopes in my prayers for those who are sick. I was taught to put caveats in my prayers. Well, my heart wanted to do something different. My heart wanted to ask God to heal Howard. My heart won the battle. I prayed boldly, “Lord, heal Howard of this affliction.”

A week or so later guess who walked into my office? Howard! He sat down and began to cry. He said, “I have been healed and I believe your prayer healed me. I don’t know if you felt it, but when you prayed for me I felt a warm wave come through your arm and hand and into my body. This was when my healing started.”

I don’t claim to be a faith healer but I do claim this: There is power in prayer! Howard’s experience taught me this again. This experience also taught me that we need to take a second look at how we pray. Many of our prayers are simply anemic. We put caveats in them like, “Maybe Lord, if it be your will, then….” Too often our prayers sound like we are trying to give God an out or preventing God from being embarrassed. God does not need for us to give him an out or protect him from embarrassment.

C.S. Lewis said, “When we get to heaven we will find that many of God’s ‘no’s’ were really God’s ‘yes’s’.” In hindsight, we have all experienced the relief that comes when God does not answer our prayers in the way we want but God never told us to quit praying! I’ve come to the place in my life where when I want something from God, I boldly ask God for it. Now, if God does not want me to have it, then God won’t give it to me. I won’t be upset. God knows what is best but I still pray boldly. God likes bold prayers. The Bible is filled with bold prayers.

I get weary of wimpy prayers. The book of James says that we “have not because we ask not.” Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Jesus tells us in John that if we “abide in him” he will give to us what we ask. We read these passages and believe them, but then we just pray for our hangnail or the callus on our foot. We need to come to the place where we trust God to answer our prayers. We need to pray big, bold, Bible-filled prayers and understand there is risk in prayer. I believe we will be judged by the size of our prayers. We serve a prayer-answering God.

Recently, the Roman Catholic church approved a new iPhone “App” (application) for confessions. You can just type in your confessions on your phone and be absolved. How convenient. You know what I thought when I heard about this? Big deal! I have had an “app” like this long be-fore there were cell phones. All of us have this “app” and it costs us nothing. We don’t need a cell phone or computer to use it. All we have to do is get on our knees. This “app” is prayer! The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins to God in prayer, God will forgive us.

We don’t need an iPhone app to learn how to pray. We don’t need a book to tell us how to pray. We don’t need to go to a seminar, retreat, or conference to learn how to pray. We don’t have to go to seminary to learn how to pray. All we need to do is pray! God is delighted whenever and however we seek him. The best way to learn how to pray is to pray. The Spirit will help us find our way.

If you need a tangible method to prayer then try what I like to call the TALK method. TALK to God. The first T is for thanksgiving. Begin your prayer time with thanksgiving to God. Share with God for what you are thankful. This begins your prayer time with a spirit of praise and joy for all that God has done and draws you closer to God. The A stands for ask. Ask God for what you need and want. Be bold and specific. Don’t worry. If God does not want you to have something, he will not give it to you. But ask for it. If it is in God’s will, he will provide what is needed for you to have it. Remember in your asking to not only pray for what you need but for the needs of others. We have a God who answers all of our prayers. The L stands for listen. After you have made requests to God, then spend time just listening to God. This takes practice but once you get the hang of it, it becomes the most powerful part of prayer. Finally, the K stands for keep a journal. Keep a prayer journal and write down what you are learning in your prayer time. Also, keep scripture passages in your journal to refer to during your prayer time.

We need to remember that the same God who created the universe is waiting to hear from us. The same God who parted the Red Sea is waiting to hear from us. The same God who enabled David to defeat Goliath is waiting to hear from us. The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is waiting to hear from us. The Bible tells us that faithful praying can move mountains!

You want to know how to get your prayers answered? We find the key in Mark 11:24 when Jesus says, “So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” There are three things in this text that we must do to get our prayers answered. First, we need to be specific. Jesus says, “Whatever you ask for….” Prayers need to have a target. If you need something, ask God for it. Don’t feel selfish or ashamed. Think of it this way — oftentimes we don’t discover what we really want until we begin to pray for what we want. God will work things out for us. If God does not want us to have what we are asking for then God will not give it to us. God will give us some-thing better.

Second, pray with passion. Jesus says, “Believe you have received it….” Wimpy prayers don’t move mountains. Remember when Jesus healed the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman. Jesus said to her, “Never in all of Israel have I seen faith like yours.”

Third, pray with faith. Did you notice the verb endings in this verse? They are in the past tense. They have already happened. So often God is ready to give us something and God is just waiting for us to get ready for it and ask for it. As the old saying goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

One of the greatest examples of the power of faith is seen in the second chapter of Mark when four men never gave up on bringing their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They carried their friend on a mat to a home where Jesus was teaching. The crowd surrounding Jesus was so large they could not even get in the front door. But they did not give up. They had faith that they could get to Jesus and he could heal their friend. They climbed up on the roof of the house and dug a hole through it and lowered their friend down to Jesus. Jesus was so impressed with their faith that he forgave the paralytic’s sins on the spot and told him to get up and walk. He got up and walked right out of the house! Praying with faith is powerful. Don’t ever give up on your prayers.

There is one more thing we must do if we want God to answer our prayers. It is in Mark 11:25, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against any-one….” The biggest block to answered prayer is a resentful heart. If you are choosing not to forgive someone, remember you are poisoning your soul and preventing God to move in your life and answer your prayers. If you are having trouble forgiving someone, then try praying for them every day. It is difficult to stay angry at someone you are praying for every day. Soon your attitude toward the person will change and the big mountain of resentment in your heart will dissolve. There is power in prayer!

Back in the mid 1800s there lived a man by the name of Alfred Nobel. He invented a revolutionary new chemical. It was an explosive that could be kept safe until it was time to ignite it. Nobel was a Christian and understood some biblical Greek. He decided to name his new chemical dunamis or dynamite. His vision came from Mark 11:23 where Jesus tells us that faithful praying can move mountains. This is exactly what dynamite originally did. It removed mountains so highways could be built! Nobel became very wealthy, as you might imagine. He set up a foundation. Perhaps you have heard of it — The Nobel Prize.

We have our own spiritual dynamite. It is called prayer and it can move mountains. There is power in prayer. It is the power source. Use it. If you hold on to God through prayer you will find that prayer does indeed change things.

You want more proof? Here is a portion of an email I received from a young lady who learned the power of prayer:

My name is Tamara. I’m 32 years old and I used to work at Channel 10 in St. Petersburg as the news producer of the 6 p.m. show. I now live in Atlanta and work for CNN.

I have never considered myself very spiritual/religious even though I’ve always believed in God. But two years ago, give or take a few months... I found your church as I was heading to the beach one afternoon. From the very first time I attended I not only left inspired and uplifted from your words, but I remembered what it was like to truly feel God in my life again. I hadn’t felt that in years.

In June of 2012 I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I am doing great and will beat this! My older sister was a perfect donor match and in seven days I find out if I’m in remission, which right now is looking pretty darn good! I have a lot to be thankful for and God has truly blessed me. He never gave up on me!

After being diagnosed... for a while I couldn’t pray. I didn’t know what to say. I was angry, confused, and I didn’t under-stand. I was a healthy, happy 32-year-old, my career was finally where I wanted it to be... how could this happen?

I don’t remember a lot about being in the hospital during my treatment.... I think I’ve tried to block out the long days...

but I do remember watching one of your sermons one day or night while I was in there and I can honestly say that it brought me back to God. I guess I could say... it brought my faith back into my heart. I can’t even tell you what the sermon was about, I can only tell you that you touched me once again... inspired me and uplifted me in a very dark place. After that I started to pray again and haven’t stopped since.

I’ve kept in touch with Tamara since I received that email and she is now cancer free. She is happy, healthy, and prays every day. She says the source of her strength in good times and in bad is the time she spends with God in prayer. Prayer changes things. What are you waiting for? Start praying! Amen.