May You Pray for God's Power To Be Displayed! Convo #5 in the "May You Pray" Series

Where in your life do you need a miracle? Or, where in the life of someone you love is a miracle needed? As we conclude our annual "May You Pray" prayer campaign, let's talk to God and with each other about this very thing!

In the beautiful prayer of Ephesians 1, Paul prayed for his friends:  “(I pray…) his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead...” Ephesians 1:19-20a (NIV)

Of course, we experienced God's power in salvation, but we can also experience this in so many other ways, as well. My family experienced God's incomparably great power in the life of our oldest daughter Anastasha, when He powerfully healed her from debilitating sickness. Then, just recently, we experienced this again in the healing of one of our unborn twin grandbabies. In this episode, I (Tosha Williams) share about these ways our family has seen our God work the miraculous - - - and these stories compel us to keep seeking Him to do the miraculous not just in our lives, but in others' lives, too!

Be encouraged as you listen to this podcast introduction. Then spend some time with the accompanying conversation guide "May You Pray for God's Power to Be Displayed." Use this guide for devotion driven discipleship, as you "meet with God" then "make Him known" about praying for God to do what only He can do!

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations  along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media. 

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Transcript

Pray for God's Miraculous Power

Speaker 1 0:00

I will never forget a certain week in my life when God challenged my faith like never before. My oldest daughter was very, very, very sick and we had fervently prayed for her, asking God to heal her. But on this particular week, there was something different that was happening in the spiritual world. As we prayed, we had been asking God to heal Anastasia, but now he had something to ask me. He kept saying to me do you believe I can do this? He kept asking me this over and over and over. He kept asking me this over and over and over. It was a scene in my heart that was perhaps a little bit like the scene that Jesus had on the beach with Peter, when he kept saying Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? For me, jesus was saying do you believe I can do this? Do you believe I can do the miraculous? I said yes, I believe. And then he asked me again and again and again, because he knew that in my heart I had doubt, even in the midst of his questions, even in the midst of believing in him what about you? Is there something in your life right now? Is there a place where you need to experience God's miraculous hand, and God is whispering to you. Do you believe I can do this? Do you believe, do you have the faith to believe, that I am capable of accomplishing this in your life? If that resonates with you like well, it still resonates with me in other areas of my life, then this final conversation in this year's May you Pray series well, it might just be one that encourages you, like it has encouraged me Today. We're going to talk about May you pray for God's power to be displayed. I'm going to cue the intro and then let's come back and talk about the things that our amazing, omnipotent, powerful, incredible, loving God can do in our lives as we seek Him. God can do in our lives as we seek Him.

Speaker 1 2:27

Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. Our goal is to catalyze devotion-driven discipleship in our own lives and relationships and then around the world. We do this through easily accessible biblical resources that help us meet with God and make Him known. We call this Seek Him, speak Him. You can find out more about this, our ministry and our resources at familydisciplemeorg. Hi, my name is Tasha Williams. I'm delighted to be on this journey with you, so let's spend this moment together, seeking God in His Word about what he first has to say to us.

Speaker 1 3:11

Not gonna lie, that season in which we were desperately praying for Anastasia to be healed, well, it was an all-around, desperately difficult season. It was so dark, we were fighting battles on so many fronts, and yet this situation with Anastasia was at the forefront of being so, so discouraging. It was in the midst of this season that there was one week in particular that God cornered my heart and said do you believe I can do this? And slowly but surely, I kept saying yes to him. God I believe, help my unbelief. And then he would ask me again do you believe I can do this? And I would say a little louder, a little stronger yes, yes, god, I believe you can do this Turned out he had something amazing in store for us.

Speaker 1 4:10

He chose to do the miracle. He chose to completely miraculously heal Anastasia's body. It was a complete game changer for her life. It was a profound miracle that impacted hundreds of lives. God's mighty strength well, it just does stuff like that.

Speaker 1 4:33

And ever since that experience, I prayed differently. I had been raised in churches that taught that there was no gift of healing and that God didn't do things like that anymore. And yet I saw it, my family experienced it. We have been part of the blessing, of that miraculous healing, and so I pray differently today than I did prior to that week, years ago, prior to that season of struggle. Now I pray on a regular basis that God's incomparably great power would be exerted in our lives, in my life, in the lives of the people I love and in the lives of the people that God has placed me into contact with.

Speaker 1 5:23

You know, I believe that that's the way that the Apostle Paul was praying when he wrote Ephesians, chapter 1, verses 19 and 20. As we conclude our series for this year through, may you Pray. We're going to finish with this final conversation, not that it's the last thing that we can pray, but it's the last thing we're going to focus on as we look at this prayer in this passage this year. Ephesians 1, 19 and 20 says this, and I'm going to add the words and I pray. That's not right there in the original text, but it's a continuation of all the other things that Paul had been praying for his friends. In Ephesus he wrote I pray his incomparably great power. For us who believe, that power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms. That's Ephesians 1, 19 and 20. Our God is seated on his heavenly throne and he is powerfully working in this world. So why not pray for his mighty strength in our lives?

Speaker 1 6:40

Where would you love to see God's miraculous power work in or around you? You know, about a month ago our family gathered around my son and his wife, as they are expecting twins. Our family is so excited about these little ones who are on their way and we can't wait to welcome them into our lives. And yet on that particular night, they shared with us that while baby A was doing really well, our baby B was struggling. She was having a hard time, she was undersized and she had a hole in her heart. Our family gathered around Joshua and Casey and we asked God to do the miracle. You know, I don't know if I would have had faith enough to believe that God could heal within the time frame that we were asking him, except that I have experienced God's incomparably great power already. I've seen his hand move. So as we gathered around Joshua and Casey, by faith, we called out to God and said would you please heal miraculously heal baby B before Casey's next appointment? You know what God did. God answered our prayers. God heard our voice and he put his miraculous, mighty power to work on behalf of this tiny, tiny little baby. Within the span of a month, she went from being in the lowest percentile of weight to perfectly sized, and in the span of a month her heart had been healed by the one who's weaving her together in Casey's womb.

Speaker 1 8:25

We praise God for his incomparably great power. For us who believe this word, power comes from the root word from which we get the word dynamite and, as we can well imagine, dynamite changes everything, and God's miraculous power changes everything even more. In scripture, god said I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? That's Jeremiah 32, verse 27. Is anything too hard for me, god asked. My mind has always answered that question no, god, there's nothing too hard for me, god asked. My mind has always answered that question no, god, there's nothing too hard for you.

Speaker 1 9:11

But after I have seen God's incomparably great power work in my life and in the life of my loved ones, what I have known in my head is now truth in my heart. I believe it like never before, and that's why I come to you today in this final May you Pray conversation in this particular series, and say may you pray for God's power to be displayed. I want you to experience this amazing work of God in your life as well. The Bible says that God's power can change everything, and God's word says no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no one's heart has even imagined all the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Yes, we know that God is preparing amazing things for us with him in eternity. But I have tasted and seen that God is good in this life as well. He is trustworthy, he is faithful, he is good, he is kind. Nothing is too hard for him. So let's believe God about this, let's talk to God about this, let's boldly ask him to work and do what only he can do.

Speaker 1 10:40

So what miracle do you need today? Where in your life do you need to see God's incomparably great power displayed? Where do you need his mighty, strong hand to work? In your life, in your family, around you, through you Might? I encourage you with this as we conclude our May you Pray series. Would you spend some time with the Lord, seeking Him through this scripture in Ephesians, chapter 1?. You can use the corresponding conversation guide that goes along with this episode and talk to God, asking Him the questions God, what are you saying to me through this scripture? God, why does this scripture matter in my life? And God, how do you want me to respond to this truth? And then, when he answers that final question about how to respond, make sure that you do what he's telling you to do and then, as you obey him and walk in the path that he set before you, as you continue to seek him, then you can turn around and speak him into the life of someone else who's entrusted to you. For me.

Speaker 1 11:56

On that week, when God kept saying to me do you believe I can do this? I had two younger daughters at home with me and I told them about what God was doing in my heart and how I was fervently trying to believe him and have faith in him like never before. And then, when the miracle came, guess who got to be a part of that journey? Guess who firsthand got to see God better, because I had been telling them what God was doing in my heart. Same thing fast forward as we as a family leaned into prayer for our little baby bee, our little twin Guess, who is now walking in faith deeper because they've seen God work specifically in their lives and then someday guess who's going to hear the story as we seek him. As we lean into our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ, by faith and seek to follow him like never before and pray for his incomparably great power, him like never before and pray for his incomparably great power as we seek him in this, we can turn around and speak this over so many other people. I do this for you right now.

Speaker 1 13:15

Maybe you're saying, well, god does great things like that for you, but he would never do anything like that for me. Maybe you've never seen God work in a powerful way in your life. Well, let me just say to you our God is bigger. Our God is greater. Whatever it is that you are wrestling with right now, I challenge you. I challenge you to lean into God and to say God, I have faith. I believe you help my unbelief and then keep praying for God's mighty power to be displayed. I can't wait to hear what he does in your life. I can't wait to hear about the miracles that you experience, because you keep talking to God, because you keep asking him, because you keep leaning in by faith, because you keep praying for his power to go to work in your life just as much as his power went to work in Jesus as he raised him from the dead and seated him on his throne in heaven. Amen and amen.

Speaker 1 14:24

Yes, we're concluding our May you Pray series, but as a final prayer, I want to pray this specific blessing over you right now. This blessing brings us all the way back to the beginning of our May you Pray series this year, because, well, we started with May you Pray and start with praise, and then we talked about May you Pray for people each day, and then we prayed May you Pray to know Jesus better today, and then we prayed May you pray for hope along the way. And then now we conclude with may you pray for God's power to be displayed. And because we have experienced so much in this series, I want to go back to the very beginning and I want to praise God for all he's done and for all he's about to do, and with that, I want to pray this verse from Ephesians, chapter 3, verses 20 and 21.

Speaker 1 15:28

Now, to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us. To Him be glory, amen and amen. Oh friend, be encouraged, go with God. May you pray, not just now, not just in this series, but may you pray in the days to come like never before. God bless you, god, keep you, god, make his face shine upon you. Be encouraged Until next time.