Prayer is powerful, people say. Prayer is not powerful. God is powerful and responds powerfully when we align and attune our hearts and minds with his in prayer. When we seek his will done his way in his timing, when we agree with him regarding what is good, right, just, and compassionate, he responds powerfully. 

Hezekiah provides a good lesson for how to pray. This paragraph, verses 16-20, is instructive. He praises God for who he is. He confesses that God is in charge. He admits his own powerlessness. He lays out the reality of the situation. He asks for what only God can do. He ends with the desire that everyone everywhere see God for who he is, that he alone is God. 

Prayers like this are not mere wordy re-runs and vocalized pauses. They originate deep within a person’s heart. They reach the very throne of God. They seek God’s glory. They get the person praying out of the way so that God can have his way. 

Praise God for who he is.

Thank God for what he does. 

Tell God what you need and how it aligns with his eternal purpose for the whole world and for your situation. 

Trust God from the bottom of your heart (Proverbs 3:5, 6).

Leave matters in God’s hands. 

Philippians 4:6, 7 in the New Living Translation gives us a good prayer outline:

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Hezekiah and the people of Judah experienced God’s peace when God did what only God can do. God guarded and delivered the king and the city.

What do you need God to do today that only he can do and that shows everyone how good he is?

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I will pray focused on who God is and what he wants.

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Our Father, Hezekiah teaches us how to pray. ”Lord of Armies, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.“ Thank you for his example. Continue instructing us in the school of prayer. Amen.