WhenPrayerChangestheStory Episodes

The healing of the lame man at the temple gate should have been a moment of celebration. Instead, it became the beginning of persecution for Peter and John. In Acts 3, God performs a miraculous healing. In Acts 4, the religious authorities respond with opposition and threats. But when Peter and John return to the believers, the church doesn’t respond with fear. They respond with prayer. Their prayer is remarkable. They don’t ask God to remove every obstacle. They ask Him to give them boldness to continue speaking His Word. And God answers. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.” — Acts 4:31, KJV This is the final part of When Prayer Changes the Story, and it reminds us that sometimes prayer doesn’t change the opposition around us—it changes us in the middle of the opposition.

Fear has a way of making our problems look bigger than our God. In 2 Kings 6, Elisha and his servant find themselves surrounded by the Syrian army. The servant sees horses, chariots, and soldiers—and assumes they are finished. But Elisha sees something his servant cannot yet see. Elisha responds with a powerful prayer: “Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.” God opens the servant’s eyes, and suddenly he sees the mountain filled with horses and chariots of fire. In Part 4 of When Prayer Changes the Story, we discover that prayer doesn’t always change our circumstances immediately. Sometimes prayer changes our perspective. What looks like defeat may actually be the place where God is preparing to reveal His power.