Do my prayers matter?

Do my prayers really matter? Can my prayers make a difference in the world?

Oct 10, 2025

Today I want to ask this question: do my prayers matter? I think this is something a lot of Christians will ask themselves about; I know I have. Do my prayers really matter? Can my prayers make a difference in the world?

We are going to read some scripture to answer this question.

Do my prayers matter?

The stories of Christians being persecuted and martyred for their faith have always captured my attention since I was young. More than ever before, these stories stand out to me. Stories of daring faith, courage, compassion, trust, steadfastness, and utter dependency on the LORD.

When I think of Christians dying for their faith, I usually think of the martyrs from the start of the church. Those disciples and apostles who gave up everything to take up their cross and follow Jesus and make His name known through all the world. I think of the stories I’ve read from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs—stories of incredible devotion to Jesus. I think of the Roman world with gladiator games where they would publicly kill and have wild animals gore Christians for entertainment.

I imagine something from long ago.

Do you know there are Christians being killed today? 1Do you know that there are Christians in labor camps where they are starved and can never be freed? 2Do you know that in one single country, about 35 of our brothers and sisters in Christ are killed a day? 3Do you know that hundreds of churches are looted, burned, and destroyed? 4Do you know about Christian women and young children being kidnapped, abused, and trafficked? Do you know that Christians are being tortured for Christ right now?

I didn’t know.

Now I do, and I can’t unsee what I have seen. I cannot unhear what I have heard. I know the truth. I know what my brothers and sisters in Christ are doing for Christ.

This is happening all around the world.

What can I do? I am only one person. I am only a young woman. What can I do?

What can you do? This question I have heard others ask. I have asked this. What can I do? What can I pray for? Does it even matter?

Yes, it does matter. Prayer matters. Not because of anything YOU can do but because of who we serve and pray to. Our God is the God of the impossible. He is able to do miracles.

Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, multiplied food, and taught how to follow God and live a life of godliness following His example.

The Lord’s Prayer

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:
“Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
—Luke 11:1-4

Jesus teaches us how to pray. To pray, “Holy is your name,” to our Heavenly Father; for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven; for God to meet our needs today—our daily bread. We can pray to God for forgiveness of our sins—that we would be forgiven as we forgive others. It is so important we forgive.

So this is how Jesus teaches us how to pray. He goes on and teaches us the importance of persistence in prayer. Don’t just pray once and be done or think God hasn’t answered. Keep praying. Keep seeking. Don’t give up.

Our Heavenly Father is a good Father. He cares for us and provides for us. All we have is from Him. We know that we can pray and ask God for things and receive.

1 John 5:14-15 tells us:

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

We have this confidence that when we ask anything of God according to His will, He will hear and answer us.

How do we know something is in God’s will? We read the Bible!

Jesus has told us His will for us—His commission to us to reach the world and tell all about Jesus!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
—Matthew 28:18-20

This is our call in life. We are all called to make disciples of the nations and teach them to know and obey God’s word. This is a universal call to all of us.

I believe it is important for us to pray for each other and to pray for the gospel to be spread all around the world.

Prayer is so powerful!

Baking cookies

The amazing thing is we can partner with God in prayer. God is moving. God is working in the nations. Christ’s name is being known. People all around the world are hearing the good news of Jesus Christ and are being saved.

We can partner with God in this.

We can partner with God in spreading the gospel!

We can pray for the nations and for God’s kingdom to come. For God’s glory to be shown. For the nations to come to Jesus and find eternal life and salvation.

God is not dependent on us. He is still moving and working even without us. But He lets us partner with Him. We can work alongside Him and pray to Him. I believe God delights when we pray, obey His word, and want to help Him.

Think of it like a father with his child. The father is making cookies, and his child wants to help him. With the child helping, it might be messy, and she probably can’t do much, but she can stir the bowl. She is happy to help make cookies. The father is delighted in his child’s help. He didn’t need the help. Goodness knows it might have actually been easier without the extra assistance. But he loves his daughter and wants to spend time with her. It is still the father doing everything—putting in all the right ingredients, turning on the oven, putting them in to bake, taking them out without getting burnt—but he loves to be with his child. She is delighted to stir the bowl (and eat the cookies, of course).5

I think God is like this. He doesn’t need our help, but I believe He delights when we do.

Stories of prayer

I was recently watching this video done by Radical6 (they are a wonderful organization that shines light on our persecuted brothers and sisters all around the world). They did a video on Turkey, and one of the pastors they were interviewing said something really remarkable. He was talking about the growth of churches and believers in Turkey and how the believers have grown in the past few years. He said how the church was growing because of PRAYER. Believes were praying for the ability to have more churches and for the gospel to spread, and God was answering their prayers.

An amazing missionary named George Müller7 had an incredible testimony of trusting in God. In his lifetime he cared for over 10,000 orphans. He never asked for money from others. Instead, he trusted in God for his and the children’s daily bread. With whatever they needed, Müller prayed, and God provided. The children always had food and lived in safety. God never let them starve or go without.

Prayers are powerful.

It is not our own doing but Christ in us. It is God who provides.

Praying with the Holy Spirit

What if I don’t know what to pray for? People are dying every day. Christians are being slaughtered for their faith. What can I possibly pray to help?

Sometimes we have no words to pray. That is when it is important to be praying with the Holy Spirit.

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
—Romans 8:26-27

So the Spirit intercedes on our behalf with groaning too deep for words. The Holy Spirit prays according to the will of God. There is comfort in this.

We don’t need to know what to pray for.

We just need to pray, and God will do the rest.

“Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

—Psalm 46:10

Discussion about this post

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