We Agnostics

Yes, we of agnostic temperament have had these thoughts and experiences. Let us make haste to reassure you. We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.

Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another’s conception of God. Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him. As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps. We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.

When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we found ourselves accepting many things which then seemed entirely out of reach. That was growth, but if we wished to grow we had to begin somewhere. So we used our own conception, however limited it was.

We Agnostics

Yes, we of agnostic temperament have had these thoughts and experiences. Let us make haste to reassure you. We found that as soon as we were able to lay aside prejudice and express even a willingness to believe in a Power greater than ourselves, we commenced to get results, even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.

Much to our relief, we discovered we did not need to consider another’s conception of God. Our own conception, however inadequate, was sufficient to make the approach and to effect a contact with Him. As soon as we admitted the possible existence of a Creative Intelligence, a Spirit of the Universe underlying the totality of things, we began to be possessed of a new sense of power and direction, provided we took other simple steps. We found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him. To us, the Realm of Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive; never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.

When, therefore, we speak to you of God, we mean your own conception of God. This applies, too, to other spiritual expressions which you find in this book. Do not let any prejudice you may have against spiritual terms deter you from honestly asking yourself what they mean to you. At the start, this was all we needed to commence spiritual growth, to effect our first conscious relation with God as we understood Him. Afterward, we found ourselves accepting many things which then seemed entirely out of reach. That was growth, but if we wished to grow we had to begin somewhere. So we used our own conception, however limited it was.

Other A.A Info

From the Los Angeles Times

Joseph Zuska, 93; Navy doctor developed treatment for alcoholism
 

By Jocelyn Y. Stewart
Times Staff Writer

May 24, 2007

Inside a rusted Quonset hut at the Long Beach Naval Station, Dr. Joseph J. Zuska operated a clandestine program, treating sailors for an illness that in the eyes of the Navy did not exist.

It was the mid-1960s, a time when alcoholism and its accompanying behavior were treated as violations of Navy policy, punishable by time in the brig. Yet the atmosphere on base and at sea encouraged heavy drinking. The abiding image of the drunk sailor was a reality for many.

After a conversation with a retired Navy commander who was also a recovering alcoholic, Zuska began treating the illness as a medical problem. His underground program, the first in the history of the armed forces, eventually earned national acclaim, providing a model for other branches of the military and private industry.

Zuska died May 17 at Los Alamitos Medical Center of complications from kidney failure and other illnesses, his son, John Zuska, said. He was 93.

“He’s well-loved by thousands of alcoholics across the country whose lives he actually saved, including mine,” said Charley B. who served in the Air Force and was treated by Zuska beginning in 1969.

He asked that his full name not be used, following a tradition that honors the anonymity of Alcoholics Anonymous members.

In the years after Zuska retired in 1970, the rehabilitation program placed many notables on the path to sobriety, including former First Lady Betty Ford; Billy Carter, brother of former President Carter; and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

The program, which operated out of the Long Beach Naval Hospital on Terminal Island, included inpatient medical care, daily group therapy, psychological counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, lectures and movies on alcoholism.

The highly effective treatment allowed patients to “return to work and saved the Navy money by salvaging people,” said Dr. Ted Williams, director of addiction treatment services at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, who headed the Navy program in the 1980s.

Before the birth of the program, the prevailing belief was that nothing could be done for alcoholics. When doctors made the diagnosis, a sailor could be demoted or booted out of the Navy.

The turnabout for Zuska began with a question. One day in 1965, retired Navy Cmdr. Dick Jewell walked into his office and asked: What are you doing about alcoholism in the Navy?

“I had no answers,” Zuska said in a 1997 Times article. “The Navy, including myself, had no real understanding of the disease process of alcoholism.”

But Jewell, new to the world of sobriety, was full of enthusiasm and the belief that alcoholism could be treated. Zuska, who was the senior medical officer at the Long Beach Naval Station and a captain, had the power, if not the authorization, to put that belief into practice.

“That day they created what became the No. 1 system for treating alcoholics,” said Dr. Joseph A. Pursch, who ran the program after Zuska retired.

Though the program had not been approved by Navy officials, Zuska began holding weekly meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous in a conference room at the naval station, then moved to the Quonset hut when the number of participants grew.

The doctor found an 80-bed barracks and turned it into an inpatient recovery facility. Word soon spread that lives were being changed, and higher-ups in the Navy found out.

“The brass was alarmed for two reasons: According to policy there were no alcoholics in the Navy at that time, hence there was no need for a treatment policy; and there were quite a few alcoholic admirals and generals on active duty in the Pentagon,” Pursch wrote in a 1987 column for The Times.

A commission was sent to investigate what was called an illegal activity, but it acknowledged that the Navy had alcoholics and that the treatment program Zuska had created was effective.

In 1967 the Pentagon gave Zuska approval for the first official Alcohol Rehabilitation Center, and by 1971, 70% of 900 patient admissions showed “demonstrated improvement.”

In the 1980s the Navy’s surgeon general sent doctors to Long Beach to learn from the program. The Navy eventually opened 33 rehabilitation centers around the world.

By the early 1990s the Navy had shut down the hospital and later scaled back the program in favor of outpatient treatment.

An increase in awareness about alcoholism and effective treatments in the military is attributed to Zuska.

Zuska was born in Chicago on June 9, 1913, and earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois. He married Martha Josephine Parham in 1939, and the couple had two children. In addition to his son, of Oakland, Zuska is survived by daughter Sky St. Cloud of Culver City and granddaughter Sarah Zuska of Berkeley.

During World War II, Zuska provided medical care to Marines during the Battle of Tarawa and at Saipan. In the Korean War, he was chief of surgery on a hospital ship attending to those wounded during the Inchon invasion.

Decades of experience in the military informed his view of the causes of alcoholism. What he saw led him to reject the view widely held in the 1960s that alcoholism was rooted in moral weakness or caused by an emotional problem.

Zuska recalled an officers club where he had to pay for coffee but wine was free. There were bar games such as the “pressure cooker,” in which drinks were 10 cents each until someone left; then they were full price.

People don’t fall off the wagon, Zuska said in a 1976 Times article.

“They’re pushed off by society’s insistence that they have a drink,” he said. “Modern society doesn’t relish the idea that some people can’t drink safely.”
——————————————————————————–

jocelyn.stewart@latimes.com

Other A.A Info

From the Los Angeles Times

Joseph Zuska, 93; Navy doctor developed treatment for alcoholism
 

By Jocelyn Y. Stewart
Times Staff Writer

May 24, 2007

Inside a rusted Quonset hut at the Long Beach Naval Station, Dr. Joseph J. Zuska operated a clandestine program, treating sailors for an illness that in the eyes of the Navy did not exist.

It was the mid-1960s, a time when alcoholism and its accompanying behavior were treated as violations of Navy policy, punishable by time in the brig. Yet the atmosphere on base and at sea encouraged heavy drinking. The abiding image of the drunk sailor was a reality for many.

After a conversation with a retired Navy commander who was also a recovering alcoholic, Zuska began treating the illness as a medical problem. His underground program, the first in the history of the armed forces, eventually earned national acclaim, providing a model for other branches of the military and private industry.

Zuska died May 17 at Los Alamitos Medical Center of complications from kidney failure and other illnesses, his son, John Zuska, said. He was 93.

“He’s well-loved by thousands of alcoholics across the country whose lives he actually saved, including mine,” said Charley B. who served in the Air Force and was treated by Zuska beginning in 1969.

He asked that his full name not be used, following a tradition that honors the anonymity of Alcoholics Anonymous members.

In the years after Zuska retired in 1970, the rehabilitation program placed many notables on the path to sobriety, including former First Lady Betty Ford; Billy Carter, brother of former President Carter; and Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

The program, which operated out of the Long Beach Naval Hospital on Terminal Island, included inpatient medical care, daily group therapy, psychological counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, lectures and movies on alcoholism.

The highly effective treatment allowed patients to “return to work and saved the Navy money by salvaging people,” said Dr. Ted Williams, director of addiction treatment services at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, who headed the Navy program in the 1980s.

Before the birth of the program, the prevailing belief was that nothing could be done for alcoholics. When doctors made the diagnosis, a sailor could be demoted or booted out of the Navy.

The turnabout for Zuska began with a question. One day in 1965, retired Navy Cmdr. Dick Jewell walked into his office and asked: What are you doing about alcoholism in the Navy?

“I had no answers,” Zuska said in a 1997 Times article. “The Navy, including myself, had no real understanding of the disease process of alcoholism.”

But Jewell, new to the world of sobriety, was full of enthusiasm and the belief that alcoholism could be treated. Zuska, who was the senior medical officer at the Long Beach Naval Station and a captain, had the power, if not the authorization, to put that belief into practice.

“That day they created what became the No. 1 system for treating alcoholics,” said Dr. Joseph A. Pursch, who ran the program after Zuska retired.

Though the program had not been approved by Navy officials, Zuska began holding weekly meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous in a conference room at the naval station, then moved to the Quonset hut when the number of participants grew.

The doctor found an 80-bed barracks and turned it into an inpatient recovery facility. Word soon spread that lives were being changed, and higher-ups in the Navy found out.

“The brass was alarmed for two reasons: According to policy there were no alcoholics in the Navy at that time, hence there was no need for a treatment policy; and there were quite a few alcoholic admirals and generals on active duty in the Pentagon,” Pursch wrote in a 1987 column for The Times.

A commission was sent to investigate what was called an illegal activity, but it acknowledged that the Navy had alcoholics and that the treatment program Zuska had created was effective.

In 1967 the Pentagon gave Zuska approval for the first official Alcohol Rehabilitation Center, and by 1971, 70% of 900 patient admissions showed “demonstrated improvement.”

In the 1980s the Navy’s surgeon general sent doctors to Long Beach to learn from the program. The Navy eventually opened 33 rehabilitation centers around the world.

By the early 1990s the Navy had shut down the hospital and later scaled back the program in favor of outpatient treatment.

An increase in awareness about alcoholism and effective treatments in the military is attributed to Zuska.

Zuska was born in Chicago on June 9, 1913, and earned his medical degree from the University of Illinois. He married Martha Josephine Parham in 1939, and the couple had two children. In addition to his son, of Oakland, Zuska is survived by daughter Sky St. Cloud of Culver City and granddaughter Sarah Zuska of Berkeley.

During World War II, Zuska provided medical care to Marines during the Battle of Tarawa and at Saipan. In the Korean War, he was chief of surgery on a hospital ship attending to those wounded during the Inchon invasion.

Decades of experience in the military informed his view of the causes of alcoholism. What he saw led him to reject the view widely held in the 1960s that alcoholism was rooted in moral weakness or caused by an emotional problem.

Zuska recalled an officers club where he had to pay for coffee but wine was free. There were bar games such as the “pressure cooker,” in which drinks were 10 cents each until someone left; then they were full price.

People don’t fall off the wagon, Zuska said in a 1976 Times article.

“They’re pushed off by society’s insistence that they have a drink,” he said. “Modern society doesn’t relish the idea that some people can’t drink safely.”
——————————————————————————–

jocelyn.stewart@latimes.com

Other A.A Info

12 Signs of a Spiritual Awakening ( Source Unknown )

1.  An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them

happen.

2.  Frequent attacks of smiling.

3.  Feelings of being connected with others and nature.

4.  Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

5.  A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears

based on past experience.

6.  An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

7.  A loss of ability to worry.

8.  A loss of interest in conflict.

9.  A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

10.  A loss of interest in judging others.

11.  A loss of interest in judging self.

12.  Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything in return.

 ”Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and
suddenly you are doing the impossible.”

~ St. Francis of Assisi

We Agnostics

Well, that’s exactly what this book is about. Its main object is to enable you to find a Power greater than yourself which will solve your problem. That means we have written a book which we believe to be spiritual as well as moral. And it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God. Here difficulty arises with agnostics. Many times we talk to a new man and watch his hope rise as we discuss his alcoholic problems and explain our fellowship. But his face falls when we speak of spiritual matters, especially when we mention God, for we have re-opened a subject which our man thought he had neatly evaded or entirely ignored.

We know how he feels. We have shared his honest doubt and prejudice. Some of us have been violently anti-religious. To others, the word “God” brought up a particular idea of Him with which someone had tried to impress them during childhood. Perhaps we rejected this particular conception because it seemed inadequate. With that rejection we imagined we had abandoned the God idea entirely.

We were bothered with the thought that faith and dependence upon a Power beyond ourselves was somewhat weak, even cowardly. We looked upon this world of warring individuals, warring theological systems, and inexplicable calamity, with deep skepticism. We looked askance at many individuals who claimed to be godly. How could a Supreme Being have anything to do with it all? And who could comprehend a Supreme Being anyhow? Yet, in other moments, we found ourselves thinking, when enchanted by a starlit night, “Who, then, made all this?” There was a feeling of awe and wonder, but it was fleeting and soon lost.

Chapter 4 - We Agnostics

In the preceding chapters you have learned something of alcoholism. We hope we have made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and the nonalcoholic. If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer.

To one who feels he is an atheist or agnostic such an experience seems impossible, but to continue as he is means disaster, especially if he is an alcoholic of the hopeless variety. To be doomed to an alcoholic death or to live on a spiritual basis are not always easy alternatives to face.

But it isn’t so difficult. About half our original fellowship were of exactly that type. At first some of us tried to avoid the issue, hoping against hope we were not true alcoholics. But after a while we had to face the fact that we must find a spiritual basis of life - or else. Perhaps it is going to be that way with you. But cheer up, something like half of us thought we were atheists or agnostics. Our experience shows that you need not be disconcerted.

If a mere code of morals or a better philosophy of life were sufficient to overcome alcoholism, many of us would have recovered long ago. But we found that such codes and philosophies did not save us, no matter how much we tried. We could wish to be moral, we could wish to be philosophically comforted, in fact, we could will these things with all our might, but the needed power wasn’t there. Our human resources, as marshalled by the will, were not sufficient; they failed utterly.

Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously. But where and how were we to find this Power?

Other A.A Info

SEVEN DEADLY SINS

These considerations were taken from pages 48, 49, 66 & 67 of the Twelve and Twelve. The bold type presents definitions from Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary.

PRIDE: An over high opinion of oneself; exaggerated self-esteem; conceit, arrogance, vanity, self-satisfaction.

Have I been so proud that I’ve been scorned (disrespected) as a braggart (bragger)?
Have I acted prideful, consciously or unconsciously out of fear?
Have I used pride to justify my excesses in my sex conduct?
Do I like to feel and act superior to others?

GREED: Excessive desire for acquiring or having; desire for more than one needs or deserves.

Have I been so greedy that I’ve been or could be labeled a thief?
Do I long for the possessions of others out of fear of not getting enough?
Do I let greed masquerade as ambition?

LUST: To feel an intense desire, especially sexual desire; to long: after or for.

Have I been lustful enough to rape, if not physically what about in my mind?
Do I fear I will never have the sex relations I need?
Do I have sex excursions that have been dressed up in dreams or delusions of romance?

ANGER: A strong feeling excited by a real or supposed injury; often accompanied by a desire to take vengeance, or to obtain satisfaction from the offending party; resentment; wrath.

Have I been angry enough to murder?
Do I get angry out of fear when my instinctive demands are threatened?
Have I enjoyed self-righteous anger in the fact that many people annoy me and that makes me superior to them?
Have I enjoyed gossiping as a polite form of murder by character assassination?

GLUTTONY: One who eats too much. One with a great capacity for something; as, a glutton for work.

Have I been gluttonous enough to ruin my health?
Do I grab for everything I can, fearing I’ll never have enough?
Do I bury myself in my work, hobbies or activities?

ENVY: To resent another for excellence or superiority in any way, and to be desirous of acquiring it.

Do I agonized over the chronic (persistent or recurring) pain of envy?
Does seeing the ambitions of others materialize make me fear that mine haven’t?
Do I suffer from never being satisfied with what I have?
Have I spent more time wishing for what others have than working towards them?

SLOTH: Disinclination to action or labor; sluggishness; habitual indolence; laziness, idleness; slowness; delay.

Have I been paralyzed by sloth?
Do I get alarmed with fear at the prospect of work?
Do I work hard with no better motive than to be secure and slothful later on?
Do I loaf and procrastinate?
Do I work grudgingly and under half steam?

Recovery Testimonials

Sober Since Seventeen
By: Jan P., Little Rock, Arkansas 

When people find out that I got sober at 17 and have been continuously sober for 15 years, they can hardly believe it. Some people even wonder how a 17-year-old girl could possibly have the kind of alcohol or drug problem that would require sobriety. Well, let me tell you…lots do.
I got high for the first time when I was 13. It was innocent enough; a friend came by the house with a joint and some beer, and we did it. For me, it was instant love. I had never felt that good in my life. After that, I got high whenever I had the chance. It was as simple as that. By the time I was 17, getting high was the most important thing in my life.

The funny thing is, I had a pretty good life. My parents were divorced, and I seldom saw my father, but I had a decent relationship with my mother. I had just about everything I wanted–a car, nice clothes, spending money, etc. I even had a boyfriend. So I don’t think I was hiding from anything; I just loved the feeling of being high.

During my junior year in high school, I smoked pot on the way to school every morning and during lunch every day. I smoked pot and drank alcohol–at least a little bit–almost every night. Every once in a while, I scored coke, speed, or ecstasy.

One night, a guy had some coke, and he said he would share it with me if I would get naked with him. I said, “Why not?” After we did the coke, we had sex. It was so easy, and I didn’t feel guilty or remorseful or anything. Before I knew it, I was sleeping with guys for drugs and money. I did not feel like a whore. I just thought of it as the barter system.

I turned up pregnant about a month into my senior year. I planned to get an abortion, but I kept putting it off until it was too late. I talked to a counselor at an adoption agency. She convinced me to quit using alcohol and drugs until the baby was born. She didn’t put any pressure on me to do anything else.

I told my mom about my situation when I was five months pregnant. To my surprise, she didn’t freak. In fact, once she quit crying and blaming herself for being a bad mother, she said that she would support me in whatever decision I made. That was the first time that the idea of keeping and raising the baby crossed my mind. At eight months, I decided to do that.

I gave birth to Nikki on August 11, 1985. She was beautiful and healthy. My mom and my friends rallied around me. They all came to the hospital to see me and the baby. I felt happy. And one of the reasons I felt happy was because I knew that I could start getting high again. I decided not to breast feed for that reason. When we got home from the hospital, though, I put off getting high for a few days, even though pot and alcohol were both available. I remember thinking that we needed to get settled before I started using again. At first, I gave myself a couple of days. Then it stretched into a week. Then two.

I ventured out on my own for the first time when Nikki was 18 days old. I went over to visit a friend who I knew beyond any doubt would have some good smoke. Sure enough, after just a few minutes of chit chat, she rolled one and fired it up. I hesitated for a moment, but it was only a moment. I think I got stoned on the first hit. As before, I loved it. We spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and talking over beer and weed. I was flying high. I almost forgot about Nikki.

I got home about 10:00 PM. My mom was furious, and she let me have it. For the first time in my life, I cursed at her and told her to shut up. I stormed off to my room, and when I slammed the door Nikki woke up and started crying. I picked her up and tried to comfort her, but it didn’t feel right. It’s like, I couldn’t hold her right. I couldn’t connect with her like I normally could. I didn’t have that warm, sweet feeling for her that I had grown to love. I don’t know how to explain it other than to say that it just didn’t feel right.

At first I felt angry and impatient. Then I started crying. I called my mom. She came in and took Nikki, and as soon as she did, Nikki quit fussing and went back to sleep.

Mom sat down beside me on my bed and put her arms around me. That’s when I really cried. Then we talked. We talked for three solid hours. It was the first time we had ever talked like that or connected in that way. I was surprised to learn that she knew a lot more about me than I ever would have guessed. She knew about my drinking and pot smoking, though not to its full extent. She said that she had never confronted me about it because she lacked the strength and confidence in herself to do that. She had, however, studied up on teenage drinking and drug use, and she knew a lot about it.

I asked her what she thought I should do. She said that she thought I should do one of two things: Either give Nikki up for adoption and play out my wild streak, or keep her and become a responsible parent. And the latter choice had no place for alcohol and drugs. I knew immediately that she was right, and to my surprise, it was an easy choice. I chose Nikki. I thank God for that decision.

I reluctantly agreed to check out AA. I attended a few meetings, and although I did not like it, I remained willing to go if that was the only way to stay sober. Then I talked to an assistant pastor at my mom’s church. He knew about AA, and we talked about AA’s spirituality compared to the church’s religion. He suggested that I give the church a whirl, either in addition to AA or in place of it. I chose the latter. And it turned out to be a good choice for me.

I didn’t immerse myself in the church, but I did get involved. I joined a couple of groups–one for young adults and another for mothers, and I did some volunteer work. My faith in God grew stronger. I met some terrific people, both young and older, none of whom used drugs, and only a few of whom drank alcohol. I started dating again. I got a part-time job. I studied for and passed the high school equivalency exam. Then I attended trade school, got a real job, and saved some money. My faith in God continued to grow.

Just after Nikki turned four, she and I moved out of Mom’s house and into our own apartment. I was 22 years old. I was a responsible parent. I was a good mother.

Through all of these life changes, I relied on God and the church for guidance and support. When I got scared, I prayed and talked to trustworthy people. When I thought about getting high, I prayed and talked to the assistant pastor who had brought me into the church. When I felt depressed or lonely, I increased my involvement in volunteer work.

About a year after Nikki and I struck out on our own, I met a wonderful man on a church retreat. He was 27 and had been sober in AA for two years. We married one year later. He showed me AA in a different light than I had seen it at age 18. I gradually became “a member” of AA. I took my first AA sobriety chip on August 30, 1989, the fifth anniversary of the day that I made the decision, sitting on the edge of my bed with my mom, to be a responsible parent instead of a teenage alcoholic and drug addict.

So now I’m 32. Nikki is 14. She has grown up with two sober parents who love her dearly. To my knowledge, she does not use alcohol or drugs. My husband and I still attend AA. All three of us are very involved in the church. I truly love my life. I thank God every day for my exceedingly good fortune, which I call faith.

For me, AA and the church combine beautifully to give me the support I need for sobriety and for spiritual growth and change. I have heard other sober people say that they find the church incompatible with and unsupportive of AA. I have found just the opposite. A friend of mine summed it up nicely just the other day when he smiled and said, “Well, I guess Truth is Truth, regardless of where you hear it.”

Jan P.

Other Prayers

The Power of Prayers

Power Of Prayer - How powerful is it?

The power of prayer should not be underestimated. James 5:16-18 declares, “…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” God most definitely listens to prayers, answers prayers, and moves in response to prayers.

Jesus taught, “…I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” The Bible urges us, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

Power Of Prayer - How do I tap into it?

The power of prayer is not the result of the person praying. Rather, the power resides in the God who is being prayed to. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: 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 what we asked of him.” No matter the person praying, the passion behind the prayer, or the purpose of the prayer - God answers prayers that are in agreement with His will. His answers are not always yes, but are always in our best interest. When our desires line up with His will, we will come to understand that in time. When we pray passionately and purposefully, according to God’s will, God responds powerfully!

We cannot access powerful prayer by using “magic formulas.” Our prayers being answered is not based on the eloquence of our prayers. We don’t have to use certain words or phrases to get God to answer our prayers. In fact, Jesus rebukes those who pray using repetitions, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8). Prayer is communicating with God. All you have to do is ask God for His help. Psalm 107:28-30 reminds us, “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.” There is power in prayer!

Power Of Prayer - For what kind of things should I pray?

God’s help through the power of prayer is available for all kinds of requests and issues. Philippians 4:6-7 tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” If you need an example of a prayer, read Matthew 6:9-13. These verses are known as the Lord’s prayer. The Lord’s prayer is not a prayer we are supposed to memorize and simply recite to God. It is only an example of how to pray and the things that should go into a prayer - worship, trust in God, requests, confession, protection, etc. Pray for these kinds of things, but speak to God using your own words.

The Word of God is full of accounts describing the power of prayer in various situations. The power of prayer has overcome enemies (Psalm 6:9-10), conquered death (2 Kings 4:3-36), brought healing (James 5:14-15), and defeated demons (Mark 9:29). God, through prayer, opens eyes, changes hearts, heals wounds, and grants wisdom (James 1:5). The power of prayer should never be underestimated because it draws on the glory and might of the infinitely powerful God of the universe! Daniel 4:35 proclaims, “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’”