What it looks like to believe in the power of prayer

Kate Sperry is a communications intern with OneWay this summer. Kate reflects on the power of prayer and its role at OneWay.

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Before my summer internship at OneWay, prayer was something I considered as a component of the Christian faith to help impact my relationship with God, but apart from this, I didn’t really consider the immense importance prayer holds in impacting the world.

What if it cost the world more to not pray than to pray?

That is the attitude I’ve seen reflected during my time at OneWay.

This summer, I’m part of a team of 25 interns, many of whom are devoting their summer to something that can often feel like an afterthought in the Christian life: prayer!

Each day, we start work with 15 to 30 minutes of prayer for OneWay’s ministries as well as events happening around the world. From there, as we go from meeting to meeting, prayer frequently shows up as the first item on the agenda. As the work day progresses, we turn to prayer spontaneously when it is needed. And when making decisions throughout the day — whether large or small — the team relies on prayer.

Add this all up and you can see that a significant portion of each day at OneWay is devoted to prayer.

Going a step further, OneWay has dedicated a whole summer toward the massive project of creating 100 Prayercast videos. This is a huge endeavor that has required hours upon hours of hard work by our team of interns.

This project led me to reflect on the ministry of Prayercast as a whole.

The mission of Prayercast is to activate world-changing prayer for the sake of the lost. The OneWay team does this by producing artistic and compelling prayer videos, which receive an estimated 3 million views each month. This engagement is the fruit produced by the ministry’s dedication of significant time and money to prayer.

I considered how an unbeliever might view this outpouring of time and effort. What would they think about enlisting the help of dozens of young, talented summer interns on a project like this?

I came to the conclusion that to most of the world, this effort would seem quite foolish. Who in their right mind would dedicate this much time and money to prayer when those resources could be aimed toward something more tangible? To the unbeliever, Prayercast would seem to be a waste when the time and money spent could be used elsewhere.

This reflection led me to a thought that I hadn’t heavily considered before:

“Wow! OneWay believes in the power of prayer.”

It is one thing to be a Christian and pray here and there whenever you think it’s beneficial to do so. But it is a whole other matter when it costs you more to pray than to not.

But it’s not the cost that draws the attention of the ministry — it’s the reward. The OneWay team believes in the power in prayer. They believe the reward far outweighs the cost. In fact, they believe the cost would be far greater to not expend their efforts toward prayer.

I am reminded of James 4:2.

“You do not have because you do not ask.”

Scripture tells us repeatedly the power of prayer. We are told that if we ask, we will be answered. If we knock, the door will be opened. If we seek, we will find. We are told that if we request anything according to God’s will, He will do it. If this is the power that Scripture tells us prayer holds, then the real question is, why don’t believers devote more time to it?

“All of our mobilization of people and money and workers around the world will be nothing but a drop in the bucket if God Himself doesn’t move supernaturally,” says Chris Ruge, director of Prayercast and Mission Network News.

We must ask God to move on our behalf to see any lasting impact in our world. OneWay’s ministry flows out of that core belief.

I am deeply encouraged to be part of a ministry that takes God’s Word for what it says and faithfully leans into the call to pray. The biggest and greatest impact we can make on this world is through the gift of prayer. I have had the privilege of witnessing how OneWay lives this truth out every day.

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An estimated 140,000 people will enter eternity today without a saving relationship with Jesus. If the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves, this should grieve us to our core. We believe there is nothing more powerful and more effective we can do to impact lost and unreached masses around the world for all eternity than to pray. Learn more in this free resource written by OneWay's Chris Ruge, Director of Prayercast and Mission Network News.