It was time to pray

I spent the last two weeks with someone close to me, who was undergoing medical tests. One night I woke up and she was sick. Really sick. She couldn’t catch her breath. I started to karate chop on her back (she asked, I promise) to break up the crud that was stealing her air.

She was in a battle.

So was I. Chop. Chop. Chop. Up and down her back I went, but inside I warred against principalities and powers on her behalf.

Anytime you bring up words like “principalities and powers,” it’s open to misunderstanding. Yet when I began my Come With Me journey three years ago, I couldn’t help but notice that Jesus prayed. He pulled away to be alone with God, sometimes all night.

If Jesus is the Son of God — and he is — why didn’t he just talk to God throughout the day?

What was happening in those alone times, and what does it tell you and me about prayer?

Prayer is intimate

Jesus spent time in prayer because of his relationship with God.

When we begin to see prayer as connection with God, something changes in our prayers. They aren’t a bunch of hurried words over a meal, and certainly not a duty. Prayer is living. It’s conversation. It’s communion.

It redefines what it means to be a believer, because we start to really believe that God is who he says he is.

Prayer is emotional and spiritual rest

In scripture, we see that Jesus was exhausted at times. He often prayed for people from sunup to sundown. There was a time that he barely made it to a boat before he curled up and went into a deep sleep. He was so tired that a massive storm didn’t wake him up.

I’ve been that tired before. Have you?

We can walk around in a zone, exhausted out of our minds. Whether it’s because we have a house full of people who need us, or a ministry that we love but it’s weighty, or because we haven’t lived in balance for a long time, we find ourselves mentally and spiritually empty.

Prayer took Jesus from the bottom of empty to full. It’s our promise as well.

Prayer is transformational

Prayer changes the world.

Prayer changes people and situations.

Prayer changes us.

I can’t tell you that one is more important than the other. It all works together as we pray.

[ctt template=”4″ link=”2SJ49″ via=”yes” ]Prayer is more than a posture. It is personally connecting with the power of God. #13thdisciple #ComeWithMe #revolutionaryprayer @suzanneeller[/ctt]

The night that I beat on my friend’s back, she started coughing and stuff started moving (gross!) and her airways opened. Her back was red and I was a little embarrassed at my enthusiasm.

“Wow, what was going on back there?” she said.

I didn’t know how to explain it. As I prayed, the situation transitioned from my limited abilities (chop, chop, chop) to spiritually battling for her.

I want that in every aspect of my lives.

I’m not talking about praying and things magically turning out the way I hope. Rather, I want prayer to align my life and my will with God.

There’s power in prayer, friends, and we desperately need to tap into it. Not for personal gain, but to rediscover what is available to us as believers.

Over the next year I’m hosting a series of 21-day adventures.

In just a few days I’m starting the first of that series. It’s called 21 Days to Revolutionary Prayer. Whether anyone joins me or not (and I pray that thousands do), I’m taking this journey for myself.

I long to go deeper. I long to walk with Jesus as the disciples did, because I’m a disciple. I desire to rediscover the power of prayer.

Will you invite your friends to join? Your Bible study group? Your family?

Most of all, I want you to join in 21 Days to Revolutionary Prayer which begins on November 1st. Every day we’ll take one step deeper together as prayer warriors.

If you haven’t subscribed to the blog, will you do that today? Will you tell a friend so that she can join us too?

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I’ll see you here on Tuesday, November 1.

Let’s discover what God has for us as we push deeper into the power of prayer together!

Suzie

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