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Is prayer powerful enough to change reality? Explore faith, miracles, and how God’s Love reveals the magic in our world today.
The Power of Prayer in Times of Crisis
“If something doesn’t work out soon, we might be out on the street.”
I was catching up with an old friend from high school, someone who has stayed in touch and followed my work and career since the early days. Initially, the conversation was about plans for the year, how our families were doing, that kind of thing. As we talked, he happened to mention that they were intending to move across the country but were running into problems.
“What sort of problems?” I asked.
He explained that no matter who he went to or where he applied, he could not get a new home loan. For whatever reason, he was constantly being denied.
What initiated this interest in moving—apart from his family having grown tired of their current state’s laws and policies—was that their landlord had hiked up the price of their rent to an amount they couldn’t afford. And since it made more sense to spend that money investing in a home, they didn’t want to sink more money into renewing the lease if they could find any way avoid it.
To make matters worse, that lease was going to be over at the end of the month. Only one week away. If something didn’t pan out for them immediately, they could very well have no place to live.
It just so happened that, at this time, I was going through a kind of life crisis too. Due to the recent SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, my wife hadn’t gotten any really good film or television production work in about a year, which meant the pressure was on me to be bringing in the money. But that money was threatening to dry up, as—due to changes in the industry—my day job was looking less and less like it would be there in a couple months.
So while I wasn’t in as dire a situation as my friend, I could absolutely relate to the fear of “we could lose everything”.
I hate that feeling of helplessness. Where you see a friend or, heck, even a stranger, going through something really difficult and scary and knowing that there isn’t really anything that you can do. I didn’t know any bankers or have any recommendations or suggestions on what they could do. I know nothing about the mortgage and banking world. And it’s not like I could offer my home since we didn’t live anywhere near each other (and it’s not like I’d have the space anyway).
So I did the only thing I could think of. I prayed. But it wasn’t just the “I’ll pray for you” statement and a little “Hey, God, look out for this guy” thing. I set everything aside, left my office and found a quiet place to sit down. And then I prayed. Like, really hard. I put it right out there to God and asked for help for my friend.
Two hours later, my friend sent me a message: “We just got approved for a mortgage in PA! I’m on the phone with the realtor as we speak!”
I was floored! We talked about this for the next hour. Did my prayer just make something happen?
And if it did… does that mean magic really does exist in the world?
Why We Stop Believing in Miracles
I’ve talked before about how I don’t believe in coincidence. For some people, this experience of my friend getting a mortgage after my prayer might seem like a stroke of good luck, nothing more. But that’s not what I believe happened here. For me, it felt like a tangible moment where something deeper was at play; a moment where the spiritual realm pressed into the physical, and things changed. And I get it. People might say, “That’s just life. Things happen.” But isn’t that exactly the problem? Have we, by the time we reach adulthood, been trained to stop believing in magic?
When we’re kids, we believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. We embrace the impossible. But while we all eventually grow out of those beliefs—after all, no one’s waiting for Santa to deliver presents when they’re 30 (except maybe me and my wife… we’re dorks)—the essence of those beliefs is rooted in something magical. It’s not Santa coming down the chimney but there’s magic in a parent staying up late to put together toys, to hide eggs, to slip a dollar under the pillow. There’s magic in the care, the creativity, and the Love behind those actions. There’s something profoundly beautiful about it. But as we grow up that sense of magic gets extinguished.
It’s as if, with each passing year, we become more jaded, more practical, more “realistic.” We stop seeing the world as this place of wonder and possibility and instead, we view it through the lens of responsibility and routine. We’re conditioned to think, “Well, that’s just how things are.” But what if that’s wrong? What if we’ve been trained to see the world that way?
Because here’s the thing: God doesn’t work in limitations. He doesn’t operate within the constraints of what we’ve been taught is “normal” or “real.” Jesus didn’t come to show us a world that was confined to the physical laws we think we understand. He came to demonstrate a reality where the impossible was possible. So maybe the real question isn’t whether magic exists, it’s whether we’ve forgotten how to see it.
Faith That Shapes the World Around Us
What if the world is really like what Jesus showed us? What if healing diseases, helping the blind to see, and even raising people from the dead weren’t just relics of biblical history, but possibilities that still exist? Now I’m not suggesting that you or I could walk down the street and perform miracles on command. But what if we’ve underestimated the power we have within us? What if, by our very will—whether singular or collective—we can influence the world in ways we’ve stopped believing we can?
Jesus said that faith as small as a mustard seed could move mountains. Think about that for a moment. What if we’re all like little Jesuses—carriers of His Spirit—but we’ve been taught to see the world as too “real” for those kinds of things to happen? What if, like Neo in The Matrix, we’re living in a reality that’s more malleable than we’ve been led to believe?
When I prayed for my friend, I wasn’t waving a magic wand or speaking words of ancient incantations. My D&D books were nowhere near me! I was simply reaching out to God with sincerity and urgency. I let go of the practical, the rational, and the mundane, and I tapped into something deeper. Something unseen but very real. I asked God to move, and He did. It wasn’t about me commanding the universe or bending reality to my will; it was about aligning myself with the One who already controls it all. And I believe that—or something like it—is the key.
But if that kind of magic exists, how do we rediscover it? How do we tap back into that childlike wonder and belief that the world isn’t as rigid as it seems? Maybe the first step is in recognizing that the boundaries we live within—the ones society has placed on us—are not the same as the boundaries God created. Maybe we need to break out of the mental framework that says, “This is just how it is,” and start living as if the world really is full of possibility.
Discovering God’s Miracles Through Prayer
I think the first place to start is when you say you’re going to pray for someone, escape from the “every day”—the things that make up your reality—and really put in the clear-headed effort and time. Too often, we tell people we’ll pray for them, and then we toss up a quick line to God while brushing our teeth or driving to work. And don’t get me wrong, God hears those prayers, too. But maybe there’s something more to be gained when we really pray, when we set everything aside, get quiet, and focus.
Praying is about communication with God, and if magic in our relationship with God exists, that’s where it’s found. In those quiet, focused moments where we’re not distracted by the noise of life. It’s in those moments where we begin to move with God, to align our hearts with His, and to express His will into the world.
Maybe we are part of that magic. Maybe we always have been but we’ve forgotten. We’ve let the world convince us that it’s not real, that it’s childish to believe in things like miracles, divine interventions, or, dare I say, magic. But what if the reality is that God’s will—His Love, Compassion, and Joy—flows through us like a current, and by being intentional about prayer, about Love, about showing up for people, we’re participating in that magic?
This doesn’t mean we’re out here stopping bullets in mid-air like Neo. It’s about letting God move through us. It’s about being open to the idea that the world isn’t as locked down and limited as we think. It’s about believing that when we pray, when we act in Love, we are contributing to something far greater than ourselves. We’re participating in God’s will which is the truest and most beautiful magic of all.
So does magic really exist in the world? I think the answer is yes. But it’s not about the magic tricks or the fairy-tale fantasies. It’s about living in alignment with God, about participating in His work, and about being open to the possibility that the world is far more miraculous than we’ve been taught to believe.
Maybe we just need to see the world like Neo saw the Matrix. Not as a place bound by physical laws and limitations but as a place where God’s will flows freely, waiting for us to tap into it.
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When have you seen magic work in the world? Did this happen because of something you did or caused (like a prayer)? When have you had an experience like this that you were certain wasn’t coincidence? What do you think of this idea of magic actually existing in the world? Do you have any suggestions or recommendations on how to bring magic out into the world? Share your thoughts and experiences below!