Power of Prayer

​We should Never underestimate the power of prayer. When you are praying according to God's will, your prayer is unstoppable, but how do we know what God's will is? We should carefully study of Scripture. Jesus made this promise to us: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7). We have to remember though we are praying for Gods will to be done not our Will that we want done. Sometimes things don’t turn out the way we want them. But sometimes they do, and we never may never see the outcome until years later. I was reminded this from a Facebook post that I was tagged in. Here is the Story from Brad himself! 
 
  DivineCrosses.org
December 23, 2017 at 7:28 PM · 
CHRISTMAS IN JULY 
You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
Matthew 21:22 
This may be hard to believe. But, it’s true. I’ve seen it happen. It’s happened to me!  I don’t pray for myself much at all. I’ve never felt I deserved to ask for anything.  But, my life changed almost 17 years ago when I prayed and saw something I still can’t quite explain to this day. This is the longest post I’ve ever written. It was time to write it down. It’s not about a Christmas miracle. It’s a story about a July prayer.  July 2001.   Things weren’t looking good. My wife was in labor for weeks it seemed. Our first born was on his way, 2 months early.. Daniel was to be his name. He was in the Lions den and I knew it.  I watched helplessly as Brandi lost consciousness over and over. She’d only jar awake long enough to throw up nothing she had eaten.   We were moved from delivery rooms to private rooms and back again as we waited for what was next.   I was scared. But, I couldn’t show it. I smiled at every nurse, doctor, family member, and friend who entered the room. I don’t remember talking much to anyone honestly. This was the hospital Brandi worked at, so I did have some comfort in knowing these nurses worked with her and would go above and beyond for her.  Something began going horribly wrong though. My wife was fading, and I couldn’t do a dang thing about it! A priest was asked to come in.  We took hands around the bed. The priest said a lot of stuff I don’t remember.  I tuned it all out as I closed my eyes. This was between me and God and I had something to say to Him.  I didn’t ask him to give me anything. I asked Him to take it from me instead.  I asked Him to take my life in exchange for theirs. I asked Him to take every ounce of strength He blessed me with and give it to my wife and Son. I wanted nothing from Him. I just wanted Him to take it. I begged for it.  My eyes opened, yet they didn’t really open. How do I explain this?  Yes, I could see everything in the room, yet my eyes didn’t physically open. I could look around and even see the priest who’s face who I hadn’t really looked at yet. I looked around the room and then through the window. It was the most beautiful blue color I had ever seen outside. It was all blue!  Suddenly, this color which I still can’t describe other than blue, poured into the room.  It consumed it! Everything was brilliant, beautiful, and blue.  It concentrated over my wife brighter than anywhere else. It radiated with a pulse of ever changing blues, but somehow, they stayed the same hue! I can’t explain it any more than that. I suddenly felt a peace I can’t explain either.  Then I felt a squeeze on my left hand and heard the words Amen...  That night was a long one. I didn’t sleep. I just held Brandi’s hand and her hair every time she woke up. I knew something was about to give.  That morning as dawn came, everything sped up and changed. Daniel was coming. But not easy. He had the cord wrapped around his neck three times. I remember yelling at God in my mind and saying Now!!! Take it now!!  My Brandi yelled out and pushed as I hugged her. I saw my son.  It was a mess in the room. Brandi was awake and alert but exhausted. She saw Daniel for only a moment. The nurses grabbed Daniel and took him to a little room off to the side and they grabbed me too.  I had a job to do. I was given and oxygen mask and told to hold it over my son’s face. I was fading... I remember one of them saying to me to hold it steady. I thought I was...  Later that day we received the news of what was happening. The doctor came in with his head lowered and said that Daniel needed heart surgery right away and that he was going to be flown down to Orlando soon. He took me out of the room and apologized for not catching this. I laid my hand on him and told him it would all be ok. How did I know this??? I didn’t even realize what I was saying to him!  I wasn’t myself. I could barely walk around. Yet Brandi only hours after having our son was walking around the room and asking for books on this condition so she could see what needed to be done. And, she was ready to go! She wanted out of there! I couldn’t move... so I just sat.  But it was peaceful. Everyone that came in not knowing what had happened and was looking to see our Son with us got a smile from us. We told them everything would be ok.  There were two people I remember clearly. They weren’t people we ever really knew well but we went to school together, and frankly I’m not sure we liked each other in school.  He came in the room and sat behind me for a while his wife tended to and checked up on Daniel. She was a nurse also I remember sitting there in a peaceful daze and he laid his hand on my shoulder from behind. It calmed me even more. I felt his prayer. I’ve never said thank you to either for staying with us. Whatever that prayer was, I had more peace than ever before. A peace that passes understanding.  Brandi was ready to go be with Daniel who was going 8 hours away. I remember telling her that she had to rest. She just had to rest.  I slept that night. My wife slept that night.   It had been days since we did.  We went home the next morning and gathered clothes and left for Orlando. I’ve never felt so much odd pain in my life. I could barely hold the steering wheel. My shoulders were on fire like it was the first time I’d ever used these muscles to lift my arms. My legs ached, and my back felt like pins and needles. We stopped a lot... I knew what had happened. God took it from me. He took my strength. My muscles were still recovering. But, that prayer Mike said. I have a weird feeling he asked for me to have some strength. Because I had just enough to get us there:)   We got there in time to see Daniel before he went in to surgery. He just stared at me. This tiny guy didn’t blink. He was only twice as long as my hand. And he was holding a pacifier as big as his face in his mouth. I’ve never seen eyes so deep. It was that deep mysterious blue again. I saw God in his eyes. It was even more peaceful. How’s that possible? Everything was going to be ok...  I won’t go into the next 16 years of surgeries, Shriners trips, and endless therapy and doctor’s appointments.. But, this past month Daniel went to his cardiologist for possibly his final visit as a minor.   We were told that his heart is perfect and it’s one of the best ones they’ve ever seen. That young man has more strength and will then I will ever have!! He got that from his Dad and his Heavenly Father. It all came flooding back to me the last couple of days spending time with him. I know I saw God. I know He exists. And if you want God to get you what you pray for. Just ask him to take everything you want from you and see what’s left. Everything you’ve ever needed will be right there. 
www.divinecrosses.com
 
We like to gravitate immediately toward the latter part of that verse: Ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. We love that, as though God were some sort of genie. But that isn't the case. We tend to forget about the first part of this verse: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you . . . If we are walking in fellowship with God and studying the Word of God, then we will start praying according to the will of God. As you can see from the Story that Brad Shared he was praying for Gods will because he was abiding in him. 
 
First John 5:14–15 says, "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him."
Therefore, we should never give up or back down. We need to keep praying. That is why Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7). Take it from this story that God does answer Prayers and yes, I may not all be the way we want to turn out as this story, but it will turn out to be glory to God. I don’t know for a fact but I’m going to guess throughout the 17 years it was not easy, and they kept their eyes on Christ.