The Power of Prayer: Surrender, Doubt, and the Love of God

Can prayer really change anything?

It’s one of the most honest questions we can ask. Does prayer make a dent in the world? Does it influence God? Or does it simply comfort us when life feels beyond our control?

In Episode 183 of the All Saints Podcast, Bill Berger explores prayer not as a formula for outcomes, but as an act of surrender.

Prayer Begins Where Self-Sufficiency Ends

Alan Lewis once wrote: “To pray is to confess not the abundance, but the exhaustion of one's verbal, intellectual, and spiritual resources. It is surrender.”

Prayer isn’t a display of strength. It’s the admission that we are out of words, out of answers, and out of control. And yet Jesus says something that feels almost too bold: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” — John 14:14

Anything?

Interpreting “Ask Anything”

Historically, this verse has been misunderstood. It has been used to imply that if you pray hard enough, believe strongly enough, or eliminate all doubt, God must answer. But that shifts power into the hands of the person praying.

Jesus isn’t giving us a mechanism to control heaven. He is inviting us into trust. To pray “in Jesus’ name” means to align with His character, His mission, and His glory—not merely our preferences. Prayer releases the work of Jesus into the world. But not always in the way we expect.

The Role of Doubt

In Mark 9, a father cries out to Jesus: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.” That is faith. Not certainty. Not perfection. Not spiritual bravado. Faith is bringing our uncertainty to God.

We don’t clean up our doubts before we pray. We bring them with us.

Why Some Prayers Go Unanswered

If God answered every prayer exactly as requested, prayer would be terrifying. It would be like handing a nine-year-old the keys to a car. God may answer according to what we would ask if we knew what He knows. Some unanswered prayers are mercy. Some “no’s” are protection. Some “waits” are love.

This doesn’t make suffering easy. It doesn’t solve every question. But it reframes prayer as relational trust rather than transactional leverage.

Four Principles of Prayer:

1. Pray from surrender, not control. Prayer is not a strategy to manage God. It is surrendering our agenda to His.
2. Pray with honest faith—even with doubt. Faith is not the absence of questions. It is bringing those questions to God.
3. Pray for God’s glory, not just our outcomes. We ask boldly—but we trust His wisdom.
4. Pray as a way of life, not just a lifeline.

We pray in joy and sorrow, gratitude and confusion, abundance and need. Prayer isn’t a last resort. It’s participation in what God is doing in the world. Prayer may not always change circumstances the way we want. But it always changes the one who prays.

Reflection for Lent

• What would it look like to pray not to control outcomes, but to surrender control?
• What would change if you trusted that every yes, no, and wait was governed by love?

Study Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. When you think about prayer, do you see it more as a request, a surrender, or a strategy
2. Have you experienced an unanswered prayer? How did it shape your faith?
3. What does “praying in Jesus’ name” mean to you?
4. Where are you currently tempted to control rather than surrender?
5. Do you pray only in crisis—or also in joy and gratitude?
6. How comfortable are you bringing doubt into prayer?