Many of us overestimate our own power to control circumstances and underestimate God’s power to change circumstances. God can and does change the situations of our lives through prayer. 

James gives this counsel in James 5:13-18: Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”

James tells us to pray in trouble, joy, sickness, when we sin...in all of life because the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. I learned this when I was mortally ill and the doctors repeatedly told my extended family to prepare for my imminent death. The only thing they said that could save me was a miracle. The doctors had done all that they could. And to their total astonishment, God did the impossible, even healing my mitral valve that was leaking torrentially - when they could not do surgery because of my tenuous hold on life. 

Many of us overestimate our own power to control circumstances and underestimate God’s power to change circumstances. God can and does change the situations of our lives through prayer. And there are times when we come to the complete end of our resources and discover that all we have left is God. And then we find out that He is all we need. That is a gift. 

As God’s sons and daughters he waits for us to come and ask for His help. In James, 4:2, he writes, “You do not have because you do not ask God.” Wow! That makes me wonder what God might have done in my life in places where I didn’t ask! We cannot change that but we can ask about those situations we face today. Here is the principle: When we invite God into our situations He joins us but when we choose not to He allows us to do our own thing. Obviously the former is the way to go. 

I love the fact that little kids think their parents can fix anything. The truth is that we need to be like those little kids because our Dad can, in fact, fix everything He chooses to fix. As parents we don’t have that power. Jesus does. But it takes the same humble faith on our part that we need Him and that He will show up. Sometimes we try to control what we cannot control rather than ask Him to change what he only can change. If you need something changed today, try talking to the Father!

Father, forgive me for overestimating my own power to control circumstances and underestimating your ability to change circumstances. I lift those things before you today where I need help and invite you to intervene. Amen.