Power of Prayer
Luke 18:41
“What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied.
Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Within the passage of Luke 18, the story unfolds. A blind man is sitting by the roadside, begging. He is going about his daily business when he hears a crowd passing by and asks “What’s happening?” They tell him Jesus is passing by. More than likely, he has heard the stories of Jesus; knows He heals the sick, casts out demons, raises the dead. He has hope and cries out to Jesus. “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The crowd rebukes him and tells him to be quiet. But with more vigor and persistence, he cries again “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stops and orders the man to be brought to him. Jesus asks “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord, I want to see,” he replied. Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight: your faith has healed you.” (Luke 18:41-42)
This morning as I read the verse in Luke 18 of Jesus asking a blind man, “What do you want me to do for you?” My memory flooded back to a time and an event that happened several years ago. I was working in Corporate America for a global company. As a Consultant, I wore many hats. Two of the hats were relationship and project management with various projects and vendors. There were multiple projects ongoing simultaneously with several “irons in the fire.” Most of these were high priority projects with competing timelines, multiple details to be managed, troubleshooting issues, resolving conflicts to move forward without interruption or delays. In an already hectic schedule, I received a frantic text from a colleague. She was requesting my assistance with a project that I was not involved in. Blindsided. Like the man on the side of the road, I found myself asking “What’s happening?”
There was an immediate need for data. The timeline to receive, analyze and report it was only 4 weeks away. The issue: testing had not been completed. To worsen the situation, samples were in multiple locations around the world and had not been shipped. So, processing of samples, shipping, testing, analyzing, data sets created, analyzed and reported had to be completed within 4 weeks. In the best of situations with one vendor, these tasks would have taken several months. But 4 weeks with multiple vendors? IMPOSSIBLE! And, it was dropped into my lap!
Instantly, I did the only thing I knew to do. Pray! “Jesus, HELP, Have mercy upon me!” The magnitude of the project, high expectations, level of leadership involvement, vendor relationships on the line, with the potential for mega dollars to be lost. 
How was I going to move the project forward, check all of the boxes, and deliver satisfaction to all customers? There is NO way that I could do that by myself! I continued to pray “You are the God of the impossible. So, I am trusting You. I have enough faith to believe that You will make the way. And I thank You for the answer!” That was the beginning to my prayer.
Multiple times each day I would have to bring the situations and issues to the Lord. I sat back and marveled, even chuckling at times as I saw His hand remove obstacles. He removed roadblocks and created pathways of communication that had never existed. He tore down negative attitudes of “I can’t” and replaced with “We can”. There was miscommunication, misunderstanding, misplaced samples, natural disasters closing airports, shipment delays, data delays and yet, the impossible task was completed and delivered within the desired timeline! MIRACLES DO HAPPEN! ONLY JESUS!
I recount this story to encourage you START PRAYING and NEVER stop! What if the very next prayer is the answer you have been seeking? God cares about you, your family, your work; every detail of your life! He knows your frustrations. He knows when you ache over a wayward child. We knows the pain of being single and yearning for a mate. He knows the difficulty and all that you have to do as a single parent! He understands the devastation of losing a child. He feels the depth of your grief and mourning when a loved one has taken their life. He knows it all and still cares; loves you! He calls us to come to Him; bringing all of our cares. Yes, ALL of them! He is the God of the impossible! Let Him do what only He can do. We have to pray, trust and obey! Jesus is asking “What do you want me to do for you?” Tell Him.
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:20
Road Blockage Photo Credit: Matthew Hamilton
Woman Praying Photo Credit: Ben White
