In John 14:12–14, we discover one thing that God intends for our life by reading what Jesus said about the power of prayer. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”

In this passage of Scripture, Jesus said He was going to the Father and that the works He did, we would do—and even greater works! Jesus wasn’t talking only to His disciples. He wasn’t talking to ministers or Bible school students or those Christians whom people consider highly anointed. Verse 12 says, “He that believes on Me.” Are you a believer? If you are a believer—if you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior, then Jesus was talking to you! The works Jesus did, you’re going to do also. But you’re going to do more than that. You’re going to do greater works than He did!

If you are a parent, don’t you want your child to be more successful than you are—to do greater things than you have done in your life? That’s the way Jesus was. He did great works while He was on this earth, but He said to those who believed on Him, “I want you to do more than I’ve done. I want you to do greater works!”

But how do we do what Jesus did? How do we do even greater works than He did? He tells us in verses 13 and 14: “Whatsoever YE SHALL ASK in my name, that will I do. . . . If YE SHALL ASK any thing in my name, I will do it.” We will accomplish the greater works through the power of prayer!

Too often, things aren’t accomplished in our life because we don’t ask! Some people only ask God for things when they get into trouble. “Oh, God, please help me! Please forgive me! Please rescue me!” Don’t misunderstand me. God does help us, forgive us, and rescue us. But He wants us to pray and to ask Him for things according to His Word even when we’re not in trouble. Unfortunately, praying is often the last thing people do instead of the first thing.

How many times have you heard someone say, “Well, I tried such and such and that didn’t work, so I tried this, that, and the other . . . then, finally, I just had to pray about it.”? Finally had to pray about it? The first thing we should do is to pray!

Prayer was never meant to be a last resort. It was meant to be a source of continual communication between God and us. Prayer is the responsibility of every Christian. Prayer is so important that God commanded us in His Word to pray (Eph. 6:18, 1 Thess. 5:17, 1 Tim. 2:8).

Prayer should never be viewed as drudgery. Talking to God is a privilege! We shouldn’t have the attitude, Do I have to pray? No! We should be thankful we have the opportunity to pray!

Many of the problems we’ve faced in life could have been avoided if we had been praying on a regular and continual basis. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will show us things to come (John 16:13), but how can God warn us about something if we never talk to Him? If we spent more time in prayer, we would be able to pray on the offensive instead of having to pray on the defensive when problems arise. When we enter into a life of prayer, the Lord will show us things to come!

When the Lord shows you things to come, He may not give you the total plan. But He will tell you all that you need to know at that moment in order for you to be successful in life. And you will be able to hear His voice if you will stay sensitive in your spirit and continue to live a life of prayer.

One of the most important things we should want to do as Christians is to walk out the perfect plan of God for our life. How do we walk out that plan? We do it through prayer, through reading God’s Word, and through developing an intimate relationship with God. It is through prayer that we have a relationship with our Heavenly Father; it’s how we come to know Him better.

By developing an intimate relationship with God, we allow Him to start guiding us in His course for our life. We can rely on the fact that everything is going to be all right, because we know we are walking out His plan for our life. Since before we were born, God knew the plan for our life from beginning to end. Now we must choose whether or not we are going to walk in His plan, doing the works that Jesus did—and even greater works!