Extreme Prayer
What Does it Look Like to Pray Extreme Prayers?
Greg Pruett
I could hear my village neighbor wailing—I just didn’t know why. My wife and I had just started our missionary career in West Africa, moving into a dusty tin-roofed shack that could have doubled as a solar oven. Someone explained to us in French that our neighbor's son was dying. When we saw the child, he was lying on the beaten earth floor of a grass-roofed hut, his breathing labored, pupils fixed and dilated. Despair crept into us as we realized he might not live long. I remember standing over him discussing with the local pastor in hushed tones what medical procedure might save the boy.
At some point, my wife and I said, “Hey, we’re missionaries after all. We should pray for the kid.” At the simple mention of prayer, I saw him blink, and his eyes began to focus around the room. I thought to myself, “We better hurry up and pray, because God is healing him!” By the time we finished praying for him, his breathing was normal. Later that night, the family laughed festively over their little boy whom they had given up for dead just hours before.
That’s when I first realized: God is real, and He wants me to rely on Him first, not as a last resort. That’s when He began teaching me not to pray about my strategies, but to make prayer the strategy.
When I became president of Pioneer Bible Translators in 2007, I remember thinking, “I need a really clever strategy.” I knew I needed a source of power for my new leadership position. We needed to double in size. We needed to buy property and build a facility. None of that had ever been possible before. And I knew that I couldn’t fake it. If none of those things happened, it would soon be apparent to everyone. I thought to myself, “Hey, I am a Bible translator, maybe I should read the Bible.”
I came across the “whatsoever” passages in the gospels and was stunned by the sweeping promises that God would answer certain prayers no matter how bold. What if this would really work? I decided to search Scripture, and then focus the whole strategy of Pioneer Bible Translators on praying the kinds of prayers God promised to answer with infinite power. That’s all the clever I could generate. Prayer became our strategy.
God’s answers to prayer have proven so powerful that this may be the only big idea I’ve ever had and will ever need. We can all learn to tap into the power of the sweeping promises Jesus makes when He says “whatsoever you ask…”I have come to call this approach “Extreme Prayer” because Jesus promises unlimited power.
God Answers Persistent Prayer
In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable to show that we should always pray and not give up. The widow begs for help, but a rotten judge resists her pleas. Finally, the mean judge complies. The bad news in the story is that Jesus compares God to a judge who is slow to meet needs. Have you ever noticed God seems slow?
Out of mercy, God chooses not to work in power until we’ve prayed persistently. What would happen if God worked mighty miracles in our ministry, but we never prayed? We might take credit and completely ruin ourselves with pride.
When God withholds His power until the community of faith persists in prayer, then God gets the credit for His miracles. He won’t tempt our egos by unleashing power for which we haven’t prayed. It would harm us. The good news is that diligence pays off in prayer. There’s nothing complicated about continuing to pray for the same thing.
God Answers Prayer in Jesus’ Name
Right before He died, Jesus repeated five times this spectacular pledge: “And I will do whatever you ask in my name”(John 14:13). In the Bible, a person’s “name” represents his nature. Praying in Jesus’ name doesn’t mean asking for a Ferrari and tacking on the magic words, “in Jesus’ name.” It means presenting requests that resonate with Jesus’ character, praying prayers through His authority that further His plans for the earth—Kingdom-of-God prayers.
Jesus promises to answer when we intercede on matters dear to the heart of God. Jesus says that as His disciples learn “the master’s business” and remain in His fruitful purposes, the Father will give us whatever we ask in Jesus’ name, that is, for Jesus’ sake (John 15:15-16). In prayer, we learn the passion of God’s heart every time He answers in power.
God Answers Prayers of Faith
Jesus declares that if we have a tiny bit of faith, mountains hop into the ocean with a word. He proclaims, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer” (Matthew 21:22). In Greek and Hebrew, the words for belief and faith imply faithfulness. Praying in faith doesn’t mean the “I do believe in fairies” approach to life. Rather, we live out our faith infused with the power of knowing that God is real and present. He longs to move in power as we faithfully submit to His Kingship. We “receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him. And this is His command: to believe…” (1 John 3:22-23). God answers prayer when our life choices radiate from our faith.
God Answers Unified Group Prayer
It’s not enough to individually pray. God moves in power as we unite together to pray. “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:19-20). Jesus taught that we shouldn’t stand at the altar under the shadow of broken relationships. Lack of unity hinders the power of our prayers. But whenever we pray together, God’s power manifests.
God Answers Specific Prayers
Mountains moving into the sea are visible, measurable results. Often our faith is hindered by praying general prayers. Asking, “God bless the missionaries” would be like praying, “God bless the mountains” instead of “Go cast yourself into the sea.” God could answer many of our prayers a hundred times over, and we would never know because they’re not specific enough for us to see the results.
Here’s how “Extreme Prayer” works: Ask God to show you the Kingdom work He wants you and your church, ministry, or missions team to do. Then listen for the Holy Spirit to guide you. If you are truly hearing from God, the thing He commands you to do will sound impossible—maybe even terrifying. There will be a long list of reasons why it can’t be done. You will need resources, teammates, and possibly many other things you don’t have. That’s how you make your prayer list—it’s a list of impossible things needed to minister in the Kingdom.
As a ministry, team, or church body, make a very specific “Strategic Prayer List.” Mobilize the whole church, team, or ministry to pray for the list daily. Gather faithful believers to persevere in unified, group prayer. Jesus promises that nothing will be the same after that!
Last year, Pioneer Bible Translators reinvigorated our commitment to this approach we’ve pursued for 13 years. We refocused on persevering in specific, unified prayers in Jesus’ name. We prayed for resources, people, unity, Bible translation results, and the establishment of new Bible translation projects.
Sometimes praying the same thing over and over can seem tedious. Many of us feel awkward when we pray for specific dollar amounts we need. It’s always hard to be comfortable praying for God to do something impossible.
But as we recommitted to praying the kinds of prayers that Jesus promised to answer with unlimited power, something changed. We had our best year in the last four decades. We translated more verses. We had more people come to faith in Jesus among the unreached. Our income increased. We were able to start 12 new Bible translation projects. We not only met our goals, we met some of next year’s! We learned again that prayer is the strategy!
The bad news about prayer is that doubtful, inconstant, individual prayer, inconsistent with Jesus’ nature from an unfaithful, divided body won’t likely be answered. But Jesus assures that God’s power will surpass our imagination when we faithfully unite to persevere in group prayer for the things in keeping with His character and plan. Jesus said that anyone who has faith in Him will do what He’s been doing. He promised we would do even greater things than Him as we pray prayers “in His name.”
I only know one way to find out if it will work for you. I dare you to try it.
We pray that as you take up Greg’s dare to try "Extreme Prayer" that the God of Heaven will respond in measurable, faith-building ways! Please also sign up to receive MRN’s emails that encourage and equip you to pray for our initiatives—let’s dare together in prayer!
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