Breakthrough Prayers

Miracles happen when people pray

And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. Gen 32:24 (ESV)

He stood exposed before the emperor and the archbishop. His writings were strewn on a table in front of him as evidence of his tyranny. If he renounced them all, he might still live. If not, the state and the church would put a bounty on his head. He asked for an evening to pray. During that night, he wrestled in prayer. He was being asked to deny the truth. He was being asked to put his life over God’s scripture. He knew that it had to be about God and not about Him. He would not lie for the empire or for the church.

The year was 1521 and the man was Martin Luther. In the midst of the crisis of his life, he prayed with all his heart. He came back the next day and looked his accusers in the eye and told them that he would not recant unless they could prove by scripture that the words he wrote were wrong. Thus began the reformation. A crisis had led to impassioned prayer. Wrestling in prayer had led to a breakthrough that rocked the church and changed it forever.

Jacob had deceived his father, his brother, and his uncle. It was all falling down around him. His brother was coming with an army of 400 men. The crisis caused him to turn to God in prayer. He wrestled with God and got an answer. He saw God face to face and did not die. It was a breakthrough in the life of Jacob. The deceiver would deceive no more. He was given the name Israel by God just as God had given Abram the name Abraham. He was the patriarch who be the father of a nation.

We don’t like crisis in our life. It is messy. It is painful. We would rather avoid them at any cost. Yet, it is often the times of crisis that cause us to pray and to surrender our lives to God. Miracles and breakthrough times in our lives often come when crisis drives us to our knees. It empties us and our lives so that we have nothing to lose by throwing our lot in with the Lord. Maybe that is why the Lord allows us to face disasters. The crisis creates opportunity for it forces us to turn to God and depend on Him. It asks for a miracle because we cannot control what is happening. It leads us to surrender because our only hope is Him. Crisis leads to prayer and prayer leads to miracles for nothing is impossible for God.