Do You Ever Wonder if Prayer is Really Effective?

You’ve probably heard the saying, “out of sight, out of mind.”

This is so true when it comes to the spiritual warfare that we face daily as Christian mothers. We often do not attribute the struggles that we can physically see to the spiritual battle that is taking place beyond our present reality. 

We blame our anxiety on our circumstances. We blame our wayward child on ourselves. We blame our marital conflict on our spouse. And yet somehow we fail to recognize that there is a different, much more sinister enemy at hand. 

I was reminded of the reality of spiritual warfare a few years back.

We had just moved into a new townhome on a quiet street, when I started to have this constant feeling of dread. And I wasn’t the only one. My little boy was constantly crying that he was afraid every time we were in our home. He was having nightly nightmares.

I remember one night waking up and feeling like there was a darkness in that next room that made the hair on my arms stand up. Over the course of weeks, I tried playing Christian music several times, but the stations wouldn’t come in clearly and the voices were jumbled.

The garage felt especially heavy and dark, as though there was some other presence there. It may sound crazy, but I just had this intuition that there was something evil in there. 

And it wasn’t just a feeling of fear that filled our home. Our marriage was tested, we felt distant from each other, and my own anger was hardly under control— not to mention my anxiety at an all-time-high from this sense of a near darkness. Though I tried to brush it aside as a result of many changes since moving, I just knew that something more must be going on.

After a few weeks, finally I called my prayer-warrior sister to come over and pray with me over every room of the house. 

We went, room by room and prayed scripture out loud, casting out any evil spirit there in Jesus name. We condemned evil in Jesus' name and prayed for the Holy Spirit to fill the space instead.

And do you know what happened? I felt the evil spirits leave. A peace filled our home. And literally, I never felt afraid in that home again. My son went to sleep peacefully. He didn’t wake up in terror anymore. My anxiety and anger dissipated. The Christian music stations suddenly came in clear as a whistle on the radio. I never had any issues with the garage again.

And I was amazed. I had never seen the power of Jesus quite so obviously as I did that day.

To be honest, there had been a lot of times in my life that I wondered if my prayers made much difference at all. I knew God was there, and he heard me... but I didn't really know if he would answer.

That day I realized that Jesus really and truly is stronger than any other spirit or power on earth. And in his name we do have power over the darkness. I saw the reality of the power of personal, bold prayer. It was there, waiting and ready for me to grab ahold of.

Ephesians 6: 11-12, “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take a stand against the Devil’s schemes. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Spiritual warfare is not always this obvious to us, even though we know it exists. Because it is not something we can physically see, we do not talk about it or recognize that it is the root of many of the struggles we face. Mainstream evangelicals often downplay or disregard the work of the enemy. And to be fair, we can't blame it all on the devil. We play a role in our sinful struggles too. But we can't "throw out the baby with the bathwater" and believe the devil isn't sometimes in the details too.

Your struggle may look more like an addiction, a wayward child or a broken marriage. But God can–and does–work miracles in Jesus’ name for those situations too! Those broken places are fruits of the enemy’s work. God never wants brokenness, fear, or hurt for us. Those are all byproducts of sin and the father of sin.

But that enemy must bow to Jesus because His power is greater. 

Jesus said that if we simply come to Him in prayer, he is able to answer.

John 14:13, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

That event gave me courage to begin praying with more boldness and faith, not only over my own home but over others as well. One day, when I was working at a local bookstore, I met a pastor and his wife who were visiting from another town. They were just about to head home because his wife was dealing with a horrible migraine, and last minute decided to come into the bookstore.

I clearly felt the Lord press on me to pray for that couple. I somewhat awkwardly asked them if I could pray for them before they left. I prayed for their ministry and I prayed for the woman's headache to be healed. After I prayed, the wife amazed me by saying, "you know what-- my headache is gone. That prayer really worked."

Again, I was amazed because there have been many times I prayed for healing for my own sickness and God did not relent. But this time, he healed that woman on the spot, the minute I asked Him. It was a miracle.

I can't pretend to understand the mind of God, or why he heals sometimes and not others. But I do know that He has shown me His power through prayer. And that often, if we are willing to ask him boldly, He will answer us with a "Yes."

So whatever evil is plaguing your family, do not lose heart. Instead, pray out loud in the name of Jesus and let him amaze you with the strength of his mighty power. Any brokenness in your home is not too much for the Lord to fix. He may just do exactly what you are asking Him to do. Why not find out right now!

One of the songs that spoke to me during that season in that townhome, was the song "In Jesus Name" by Katy Nichole.. check it out!

https://youtu.be/ihrUIPfvTh8?si=8zFXjhMeUgxVvw3K