Effective Prayer Moves God’s Heart

In the word of God, we have countless examples of sincere, pure, and simple prayers that moved God’s heart in the face of decisions He had made because of humanity’s disobedience.

We can read one of these examples in the passage cited above.

Thanks be to God for His infinite mercy, which He continues to extend to His people, and for revealing to His prophets many of the things He intends to do. In this case, He reveals His plan to Moses, and Moses, out of love for God and a desire to keep God’s name from being put to shame among the enemy nations, intercedes for the people. Verse 12 says, “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying: He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to wipe them from the face of the earth?”

Moses offered that prayer in God’s presence. The answer to his intercession was not long in coming. In verse 14 we read: “Then the LORD relented from the harm He had said He would do to His people.”

In these difficult times we are living through, we believers in Jesus Christ (His church) need to reevaluate where we stand and consider whether we are truly fulfilling our role as the salt of the earth and the light of the world (Matthew 5:12–13), so that, as disciples of Jesus Christ, through our testimonies and prayers we may season the earth with knowledge and grace of the One who loved us.

Every day we hear about events taking place around the world. Such as: natural disasters, deaths caused by every kind of abuse, human trafficking, attacks on human safety, etc.

In the face of all these situations, what are we doing? Lamenting them, declaring that they are God’s judgments upon the earth? Or are we taking every opportunity to be used by God to touch the lives of people who are in deep despair, without God and without hope, depressed and anguished? I firmly believe it is time for the church of Jesus Christ to leave the sweet comfort of home and go out into the streets of our cities and bathe them in those rivers of God, proclaiming the grace and mercy extended by a God who is eager to save every human being and who has given us the opportunity to be ambassadors of the kingdom, announcing the good news of salvation.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we have authority to change many things. In the spiritual realm. And one way to use that authority is through prayer. Are we praying for our communities? For our rulers and authorities? Do we pray for our pastors, who teach us the word of God, for the missionaries who carry the word throughout the world, and for our spiritual leaders?

The word urges us to pray for our rulers. (1 Timothy 2:2) And also for the peace of Jerusalem. (Psalm 122:6)

A prayer is effective when it comes from a vessel whose contents are wholly surrendered to God, where honesty, transparency, and sincerity move the arm of God, as in the case of Moses.

We pray to have a life of intimacy with God, to exalt His name, to express our gratitude to Him for the abundance of His mercy, for who He is. And for what He means to us as His people.

“Let us rise and stand in the gap for this nation and for the other nations of the world. So that the eyes of the blind may be opened and the light may shine in the darkness.”