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Prayer That Impacts You
Brian Mashburn
February 19, 2017
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Prayer That Impacts You
The student came home from school upset. He had studied the wrong material for a test in English, had a pop quiz in math on makeup material he hadn't covered yet due to sickness, was singled out and made fun of by his coach in front of the whole team, got an "its-not-you-its-me" text from his girlfriend, and had to get his car jumped to get home.
To top it off, the first thing he hears walking in the door was his parents pointing out all he has neglected at home, and all they need him to do today.
Not to mentions that his whole family was fresh off of a weekend trip to the funeral of his grandmother.
Understandably, he was undone. Totally overwhelmed. Normally, he would just busy himself doing what he could. Not today. He was bursting inwardly, barely managing to shut his bedroom door without slamming it. He collapsed to the ground and started praying at God. He begged God to intervene; to change things.
He couldn't totally explain why, but he ascended from his prayer feeling massive relief. He reported that, as totally as he felt overwhelmed before the prayer, he felt totally at peace after. All without one person or circumstance changing around him.
"The prayer changed me," he concluded.
There is an old Christian song by an artist named Scott Krippayne that has a lyric that has never left me:
"Sometimes He calms the storm,
And other times He calms His child."
Can prayer change things? Certainly. But will it? "Not always," experience answers. "But," experience will add, "prayer will most certainly change you."
If you would like a study on the prayer life of Jesus, there are copies of an excellent resource for you in the lobby. Two locations: South Exit Display Table and Small Group Central.