By Aaron Joseph Hall

Recently our youth ministry held our first service in our new youth room! For the last 18+ years, we have been a mobile church setting up and tearing down in a school. We rented a small room downtown below our church offices to function as our youth room. But several months ago the time to give that space up came so a local business could move in.

After giving up our space our youth group had begun sharing a room in preparation for our church’s building to be finished and our new youth room to be ready. During our first Wednesday night service in the new youth room, I was reminded of what we wrote on the floor over a year earlier—prayers that would become the foundation we stand on every week!

Do you believe that? I have seen firsthand over the last several years how prayer is so vital. Not just in ministry but in my day-to-day walk with Jesus. Prayer baked into the walls of our youth room is another way of saying this is holy ground! When students walk into our youth room I want them to know this is a place where they’ve been prayed for, where prayers have been written (literally), and where they learn to pray themselves!

Here are three reasons why there is power in prayer! 2023 can be a year of powerful prayers and where you see God move in your life in ways you have never seen! It begins with prayer!

“Pray without ceasing.” - 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Prayer aligns our hearts with God’s heart

One of the biggest lessons the Lord has taught me over the years about prayer is it’s not about what I want but rather about aligning my heart with His heart! When I learn to live at the center of God’s will, nothing can derail what God wants to do in and through my life. Prayer helps realign my heart and desires to His so that I can join Him where He’s at work!

Prayer changes me

There have been many times when I’ve prayed to the Lord about someone only to have the Lord change my heart! Prayer has the power and ability to connect us with the Lord on a deeper level so that we will be positioned in a way where God can show us our true motives. And He’s done that more than once for me—praying for someone that irritates me only to end up repenting of my own arrogance and judgmental heart. Prayer changes me (us)—for the better!

Prayer prepares us for what God wants to do

The power of prayer is endless but one of the things I love about it is how prayer prepares us for what God wants to do! It goes back to the realignment of our hearts that gets us in a posture that God can use! God desires to use each one of us but oftentimes we are so preoccupied with other things we miss out on what God wants to do. Prayer that is heaven-focused and not a wish list will open our hearts to hear God’s voice and join Him where He’s at work!

In 2023, let prayer be the one habit you stick with, cultivate, and grow in. There’s no better investment than in your relationship with Jesus. It’s my prayer 2023 is a year that I grow closer to Jesus, my prayer life is stronger, and I learn to pray selfless, heaven-focused prayers. It’s then I will be in a place God can use me the way He desires—when I remove myself and focus on Him!

There’s power in prayer! It changes everything!

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” - Colossians 4:2

Aaron Joseph Hall, the writer behind AaronJosephHall.com and the youth pastor at More 2 Life Ministries, resides in Okeechobee, Florida, with his wife and four children. You can connect with him on Instagram and X.