The Power of Prayer

I remember reading of two different scientific studies on prayer, both of which were widely reported in the secular press. Both centered on the effectiveness of intercessory prayer where groups of people prayed for those who were sick. Some knew they were being prayed for and some did not. The result of the two studies was that prayer works… and that prayer doesn’t work. Take your pick.

Well, I doubt that there will ever be an empirical, scientific study that demonstrates the power of prayer. Prayer is just not so tidy and neat that we can demonstrate its power with surveys or point to it at the bottom of a test tube. Yes, we can share stories in which prayer seemed to be so powerful. But face it, even those stories don’t really “prove” prayer, do they. People do get well on their own, right? And we can all also tells stories in which we prayed for a healing that definitely did not take place.

Should it surprise us that scientific studies have difficulty with prayer? The scientific method is limited to the five senses; prayer inhabits the larger world of faith and God. James assures that the power of prayer is to be found beyond the world of the empirical. After telling us to pray to God when we lack wisdom and assuring us that God answers prayer, James says, “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt.” Petterson’s The Message puts James 1:5-8 like this—

Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.

The power of prayer is faith. There will be times when we will prayers for things that we will not receive—sicknesses that are not healed, marriages that are not saved, jobs that are not found, babies that are not conceived, churches that are not renewed. Our job is not to understand unanswered prayer; our job is to “have faith and do not doubt” (Matt 21:21). Ultimately God’s promise in prayer is to give you “what you need” (Matt 6:8). The power of prayer is the faith that assures us that He knows that need better than do we.