Of course, that is where we struggle, isn’t it—with ourselves? We struggle with our attitude towards others. So Jesus says,
Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses (Mark 11:25 cf. Matthew 6:14-15; 18:35; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).
We also struggle with faith, or rather the smallness of our faith. How many times did Jesus chide His closest disciples, “O you of little faith”? (See Matthew 8:26; 14:31; 16:8 cf. Matthew 6:30; 17:20.) Jesus used one of these occasions to reveal a key to effective prayer. Jesus had taken Peter, James and John up a high mountain. While He was praying, Jesus was changed— “transfigured”—and shone like the sun (Matthew 17:1-2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:29). After they returned, a distraught father reported that the other disciples had failed to heal his son. Jesus immediately cast the demon out of the boy, and the story continues,
Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:19-20).
Our greatest struggle is with ourselves.
These disciples lacked faith. Yet Jesus pointed the way forward for them—and for us: “If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed… nothing will be impossible for you.” How small is a mustard seed? It is the smallest of garden seeds (Matthew 13:32). What is Jesus telling us? Even the tiniest grain of genuine faith is infinitely powerful! Do you think of your faith as small and struggling? Then apply the faith you have—small as it is—and God will honor it! It is not that your faith itself does the moving of mountains. Rather, God will respond to the faith you choose to exercise. Bring Him what little you have, and He will use it to do what is impossible for humans to do. In a similar passage, Mark 11:22-24, Jesus is clearly speaking of prayer. Your prayers will move mountains! Not because you are so great, but because the God who receives prayer is so great!
What an encouraging message! You don’t have to be a super-Christian to enjoy powerful prayers.