PARK PLACE OF ST. JOHN Life Style
Chaplain’s Corner Power
issues, power over evil forces, power to heal any disease, power to change social structures, and power to reconcile broken relationships. Power to work supernaturally and even miraculously. In a shocking statement to His followers, He said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:12-14). Uh, did He say the “same works” He had done and “even greater works”? Jesus never misspoke. What He said, He meant. That leaves those of us who love and know Jesus with a dilemma and an amazing promise. The dilemma? Christians have proven to be poor prayers. After all, Jesus said it! The promise? There is power in prayer to change lives: individuals, families, religious groups, organizations, governments, nations, the world—anyone and anything. However, the prayer Jesus taught about, and the New Testament letters emphasized so strongly, needed some important qualifiers. It must be “in Jesus’ Name.” It has to be passionate and intense. It has to be faith-filled. And it has to be both bold and persevering. Christ-followers who pray like this see amazing results. I’ve urged believers to “level up” in their prayer lives in 2025. I’m taking steps to level up on my own. Jesus delegated His power to powerful praying. If people, if our nation, if the world ever needed Jesus’ power unleashed through prayer, it certainly is now. We need to level up and make prayer the priority Jesus did this year. If you’re in, don’t just raise your hand—raise your voice—by praying like you never have before!!!
Here in our elderly years, we have to contend with weakness. But if you are a Christ-follower, you have power. Yep, power. What power, you ask? Ah. Prayer power.
There’s an account in the Gospel of Luke (8:40ff) about a man who came to Jesus because his young daughter was dying. The account says Jesus is surrounded by a huge crowd, all pushing and shoving to get to Him. We may think our American culture is in turmoil. There’s lots of division, arguing, and protests over a lot of hot topics: politics, immigration, inflation, violence, sexual beliefs, natural disasters, and the media. And the list goes on. But Jesus also lived in a culture where there were tons of issues people argued and fought over: the Roman army’s occupation and mass killings of Jews (tens of thousands of crucifixions), a terrorist group seeking to overthrow them (the Zealots), the Herod kings (they weren’t even Jewish), Roman taxes, immense poverty, a social hierarchy where woman and children were lower-class people, mass illiteracy, and many diseases that ended life prematurely. And there was arguing over religious issues everywhere. It was a mess. Even among Jesus’ inner circle of disciples, you had a lot of conflict. In this crowd of yelling, shouting, pushing, and shoving, this man was pleading for Jesus to come and heal his dying daughter. This was prayer with unspeakable desperation. It was also prayer with faith in Jesus’ power to work supernaturally. If you researched the major topics Jesus preached about, you would find prayer at the top. He told His followers that prayer was power. Power to move mountain-sized life
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