The power of prayer

The power of prayer

I want to recommend the book and movie called War Room.¹ In this case, the book was based on the movie, not vice versa. Personally, I prefer the book because it puts into words what people are thinking and feeling. A movie can’t always fit that kind of thing in.

It took me only four days to read all 404 pages. I couldn’t put it down and ended up with less sleep than usual! I saw the movie, produced by Alex and Stephen Kendrick, on a plane, and we have the Japanese version on DVD, which was retitled The Power of Prayer (祈りのちから).

The story

I don’t want to share too much, so let me give you the gist. The main characters are a married couple—Tony and Elizabeth Jordan. He’s a successful pharmaceutical salesman, and she’s a real estate agent. They have a ten-year-old daughter, Danielle. They seem to have it made—with a nice house, good jobs, and a beautiful daughter. But under the surface, there is tension. Tony is stealing from the company, and when he’s home, he always argues with his wife. Their daughter would like to be closer to her father, but he basically ignores her. They usually go to church, but it doesn’t seem to affect their lives.

One day, Elizabeth visits the home of a potential client, Clara Williams (usually called Miss Clara, as is normal in the U.S. South), who is thinking about selling her home. Elizabeth becomes uncomfortable when Miss Clara asks her about her faith and her marriage. But she is intrigued to see Miss Clara’s prayer room. Though not prepared to take Miss Clara’s suggestion to make her own prayer room, she soon comes to see her need to spend more time in prayer—for herself, her husband, and her daughter.

As tensions mount at home, Elizabeth realizes that her family is worth fighting for—in prayer. In faith, she puts her family in God’s hands, and she sees God at work. Due to Elizabeth’s earnest prayers, her husband can’t cheat on his wife as he had planned (I won’t tell you how!), and Tony ends up being found out by his company and fired. This gives him time to cultivate a relationship with God and his daughter that leads to an interesting finish—second place in a Double Dutch jump rope contest. The rest you’ll have to find out for yourself!

A prayer closet

I’m not all that fond of the term “war room” since there has often been a war room in the White House, which is something far different from what the book and movie are about. But in the book, Miss Clara calls the room where she prays her “war room.” It is a regular closet she had cleaned out and where she puts up the names of the people she is praying for and specific requests for each person. As she says, “God loves to answer specific prayers.”

I think most of us know why it’s called a “prayer closet.” The King James Version for Matthew 6:6 says, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Of course, most modern translations have it as “your room” or “your inner room.” The Japanese could be translated as “your hidden room.”

When I designed our house 28 years ago, I planned my study to be where I spent my time with God in prayer. That ended up being a bad idea. For one thing, though the verse says “close your door,” there was no door! It was connected to our master bedroom. Also, being the study, the room now has two computers (for me and my wife), two printers, a copy machine, a scanner, and a few hundred books. If I were to try to pray there, there are a million and one ways for me to be distracted! Matthew 6:6 is not instructing us to literally pray in a closet (though that’s fine, and I know people who do) but somewhere we can concentrate on God, His Word, and prayer. That’s why it’s much better for me to pray in the church room. Do you have a prayer closet?

God answers prayer

It’s true that War Room, both the book and the movie, is fiction. But what is shown is not some fantastic story. It’s something that can remind us of how God has worked in our own lives. It’s very believable—even the stinky feet. I came away weeping over not only this story but also the memories I have of how God has worked in answer to prayer in my own life—like being fired leading to the best job possible or arriving in Japan with $3 in my pocket. Only He is worthy!

1. Chris Fabry, War Room (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015).