“Is there Power in Prayer?” by Andrew J. Schatkin
“Is there Power in Prayer?” by Andrew J. Schatkin
Ladies and gentlemen and you of all faiths Christian and non- Christian and you of all thoughts, views and opinions, I ask you to join with me in a discussion of the topic "Is there power in prayer?" This is a difficult and challenging topic and subject since most if not all people associate power with money and position and perhaps significant connections in the world and hardly associate or think of prayer in terms of power. I, however, am prepared to argue that prayer is very much a powerful tool I say this because prayer is an attempt and engagement with the spiritual and the spirit and the intellectual and goodness are the more powerful forces. In prayer, we harness our spiritual energies to reach out to a different and perhaps higher level of being. Prayer involves using our minds and spirits to connect with something other than materialism and material goods and raises us up as we pray to something more and beyond ourselves alone. In prayer, there is power and this power ultimately rules us and rules the world. I am afraid that it is incorrect to think and conclude that the world is ruled by power and money and goods and class status. In fact, in prayer our goodness takes over and this goodness as harnessed in prayer does rule the world and the power and money that many if not most people want to have passes and it is the spiritual world and goodness of prayer that ultimately triumphs. Prayer is an attempt to reach something higher and beyond ourselves and in this attempt the power of the good is the real and actual power. Prayer is the power of Mother Teresa; prayer is the power of Albert Schweitzer; prayer is the power of St. Francis. The power of these examples of goodness and sainthood endure through the ages but we all come to know and understand the power of sin and evil passes and is gone after a short life. Prayer connected to god and god are the ultimate power. In a world that is in many respects evil and encased in sin, prayer connected to god and his goodness does rule and triumph. Prayer has great power because the world is ultimately ruled by the good which prayer connects us with, however we may term, the good, whether god or spirit or Jesus, if you will. The great power of prayer is the power of goodness which does in the end rules us and the world. There is no other alternative.