Grease for the wheels of Prayer, Part 1

Nitty-Gritty.  You have probably used that term before.  It refers to the small details of life where real difficulty is found and real work has to be done.  Nit and grit are things that have to be dealt with, but you only get to it when you are elbows deep in a project.  The shiny exterior of the project is no longer in view.  All you can see now are the little problems that add up to big irritation. 

So here is the Christian.  He is living his life in Christ week after week.  He goes to and serves at his church, leads his family, and works hard at his job.  The wheels of life, his life in Christ, are turning.  But in all the nitty-gritty of life, not all the gears are turning properly.  Some of them are gummed up to such a degree that they are barely turning.  One of the most common gears this happens to is the gear of prayer.  Not only is this prayer gear the one upon which communication happens, but it also is the one that connects the power of God to the many activities of life. 

This series of blog posts will focus on prayer.  The goal is to provide grease for the wheels of prayer.  Prayer needs to be in constant motion.  Not only does your relationship with Christ depend upon it, but so do all the areas of your life that need the power of God to bring movement and change. 

Today I want to show you what kind of power is found in this gear. This needs to be explored because the power of this gear is seldom seen.  There are a few reasons for this.  First, you can’t see its actual operation because this gear is sealed up in a gear box that connects to heaven itself.  Secondly, some of the prayer gears are so big and moving so slowly, the effects of prayer are like clock hands; you can’t see them moving in a simple glance.  Lastly, and most tragically, many don’t see the power of this gear because they don’t engage it.  Too much of the grit of busyness and worldly cares has made it hard to turn and so people rarely put it into full operation.  If the prayer gear was engaged more, more power would be seen.    

And so the question remains:  What kind of power is found in this gear, and how great is it?  There are two places where I see the power of prayer described in ways that stun and compel.

Mark 9:29 And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

The context of this verse shows an embarrassed and confused group of disciples asking Jesus why they could not drive out a demon.  Normally, driving out demons is not something you find on a person’s “To-do” list.  But these disciples had come to rightfully expect this ability because earlier Jesus had sent the disciples out on a mission and had been explicitly granted this power.  Did this power have an expiration date or was this an exceptionally powerful demon?  We don’t know.  What we do know is this; Even if they still had their divinely granted authority or this was just an exceptional demon, prayer was where the real power was found.  Why?  Because prayer moves the one who has ultimate, total authority. 

That means whether you have a special gift or not, you most certainly do have access to the one who controls all the gifts.   Having God is better than any gifting or ability, and you have God when you pray.  On top of this, prayer means you don’t have to worry about misusing a special gift, which, sadly, is likely.  But with prayer, even if you ask for something stupid, God graciously declines your foolish request. 

So prayer is that supremely powerful activity that runs no risk of abuse. 

The next passage that has always been to me the most shocking display of power in prayer comes from Psalm 18.  This is a lengthy psalm, for the main reason that it contains numerous, powerful descriptions of prayer.

David begins by setting up his situation.

Psalm 18:4–5 The cords of death encompassed me, And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me. 5 The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.

Then David tells us what he did about it.

Psalm 18:6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears.

David tells us that God heard his prayer, which is what we dutifully say when we pray as well.  We believe that God hears us when we pray.  But that is a sad place to leave it.  Just because someone hears you doesn’t mean they can or will do something about it.  David knows this is not the case with God.  When God hears, he goes to work.  Verses 7-19 contain a fearful description of God coming to work for his servant.  Look at a sampling of the things David says God does.

Psalm 18:7 (NASB95) — 7 Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry.

Psalm 18:9–10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down With thick darkness under His feet. 10 He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon the wings of the wind.

Psalm 18:14 (NASB95) — 14 He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them.

Psalm 18:16 (NASB95) — 16 He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.

Now, was David delivered amidst earthquakes and thick darkness and lightning?  No.  It did not happen this way.  In fact, later on in the psalm David speaks about how he conquered his enemies in typical forms of battle.  But that doesn’t mean David’s description of power unleashed didn’t happen at all.  The poetry is giving us a taste of the power that was set in motion when David began praying.  We have a hard time understanding and visualizing Spiritual power, but David’s poetic descriptions of physical power we get.  God was powerfully working, and David makes sure we understand the immensity of it.  And these same things are happening when you pray.  God may ask you to wait, but God isn’t waiting.  He is at work, orchestrating a trillion details to bring about the glorious answer that he decreed your prayer to bring about. 

So apply this grease to your wheels liberally.  Clear out the nitty gritty doubt and disillusionment that nothing is happening when you pray.  This only gums up your gears of prayer.  There is great power unleashed when you pray.  You may not see or feel it, but that is why God gave us the Scripture.  Through God’s word we can know what is true about our praying whether we see it or not.