Does Prayer Change God's Mind?

I learned a new story recently about prayer. It is found in II Kings 20:1-7 and is about Hezekiah. He became sick and was at the point of death when Isaiah, the prophet, came to him and said, “Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.” What ominous news! Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And he wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him, “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father; I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears, Behold I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs and let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

I see a few things in these verses: The first thing Hezekiah did when he heard the bad news was pray. Then he began by saying, Please. Next he reminds the Lord of how he was faithful with a whole heart, not just half hearted. And he did what was good in God's sight. And he wept before the Lord. And then in a short time, God changed his mind and told Isaiah to go back to Hezekiah and let him know he will be healed and will live another fifteen years.

I do find it interesting that Hezekiah asked Isaiah for a sign that this is true and we see another miracle in the next few verses: Isaiah asked him, “Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” And Hezekiah said “it is easy for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” And Isaiah called to the Lord and he brought the shadow back ten steps by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.”

In verse 20 we learn - “The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?” So his last fifteen years were filled with good things after the Lord changed his mind and allowed him to live.

There is a story in Geneses 18:16-23 of intercession when Abraham pleads with God to spare Sodom. He begins by asking if there are fifty righteous, will you spare the city and all in it? He then goes to forty-five, then forty, then thirty, then twenty, and then he gets down to ten because he thought surely his family would be among the righteous. But God knew that there weren't even ten righteous but he still had mercy on Lot and his two daughters. This is a great example of intercession. It is the act of intervening on behalf of another; mediation, negotiation, arbitration.

In Romans 8:26 it speaks of a divine intercession: “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know what to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”

But we are also called to intercede for others. I Timothy 2:1, 3 “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people . . .this is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

In the middle of a familiar passage of Scripture (James 5:17-18) about praying for the sick and the prayer of faith is a short story of Elijah. It says he was a man with a nature like ours. So he was no different from you and me. And he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three and a half years it didn't rain on the earth! And then he prayed again, and it rained and the earth bore fruit! This is power in prayer!

John 14:12 tells us the words of Jesus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”

Wow! Are we praying these kinds of prayers? Are we seeing “greater works or greater miracles than the disciples? Than Jesus? Is this possible? How big is your faith?