Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. – Mark 11:22-24

The weather forecast for this morning was unlike one I had ever heard before.  The forecast called for extremely unstable weather – sustained high winds, strong gusts, severe storms, heavy rain, and possible tornadoes.  The radio announcer described the weather we’d experience today as potentially the most severe storm to hit the Great Lakes region in decades.  Strong words to describe conditions that could quickly become dangerous.

As the day progressed the sky got cloudy.  The winds picked up, a little.  It rained, a little.  And by the time I drove home from work this afternoon, I was under blue skies and reaching for my sunglasses.  I know that others in the region may have experienced some bad weather today, but that simply was not the case in my area.  Hour by hour, it became apparent that the doom predicted by the meteorologists simply wasn’t going to materialize.  As this developed, so too did the reactions from people.  I watched people at work, read comments on Facebook, and heard reporters on the radio speak critically of the weather forecast for the day.  “Where’s the storm?”  “Why do they scare people like that?”  “Once again they predict the worst and nothing ever happens.”  I heard more, but you get the idea.

So, what happened?  I’m sure there are sound scientific reasons that could be explained by a meteorologist, but let me give you my explanation.  I, along with many others in the area prayed it away.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We prayed the storm away.

In Mark 11 Jesus explains the power that prayer has in our lives.  If you believe and ask in prayer, it will happen.  Today’s weather was threatening and I had children who would potentially be out in those conditions. There was no way that I was going to just hope for the best – I took it to God.  I asked that God would let the storm would pass without endangering my children.  After praying, I went about my day confident that God would do what I had asked Him to do, and you saw the results.

Some of you may think that I am bragging – but I’m not.  I don’t think for a moment that God is sitting in heaven waiting for me to call the shots.  But He was clear that I am supposed to ask Him for the desires of my heart in prayer, so I did.  Once asked, I need to leave it in His hands, staying confident in Him to do what I have asked as it aligns with His will expressed in His word.  It’s simple: I did what God told me to do and God did what He promised to do.  Still don’t believe me?  That’s okay – I didn’t say it anyway, so you’re not disagreeing with me – you’re disagreeing with God.

Think about the power God is giving you through the prayers we bring.  What situations in your life or in the lives of people you know need to be restored, fixed, and improved?  Pray for God to act in these things without hesitation and without doubt.  He will return what was lost, fix what was broken, provide what is needed, protect you from danger, resolve what is plaguing you, and maximize the blessings He has chosen to give you.  God will heal sickness, improve finances, comfort hurts, restore relationships, build confidence, forgive sins, console the grieving, and so much more.

Put your total trust in Him, and unlike the weather, you’ll be blown away!