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Service Opening

The service opens with worship songs celebrating God’s faithful, unchanging love, followed by prayers for the UK Petra community. The prayers include students, staff, prospective students, the university’s 65th anniversary, and students and lecturers during exam season.

Sermon: Can Prayer Change God’s Mind?

Preacher Ezra Iskandar addresses the question, “Can prayer change God’s mind?” He begins with James 4:2–3, which warns that people may not receive what they ask for because they either do not pray or pray with selfish motives. After briefly introducing the ACTS model of prayer—adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication—he focuses on prayers of request.

Ezra’s central point is that we can’t know God’s thoughts “before and after” well enough to conclude that our prayers changed God’s mind. For example, if someone recovers after prayer, God may have intended that outcome all along. Ezra cautions against assuming that one event caused another just because it happened first—a reasoning error known as the post hoc fallacy. He illustrates this with televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s reported justification for owning a private jet: he said he needed to avoid flying with “sinners” and protect his holiness.

Ezra also rejects fatalism—the idea that prayer is pointless because everything is already fixed. God, he says, is not a movie director scripting people to do evil and then blaming them for it. An Avengers analogy gets a laugh: actors who play Iron Man and Thanos can become friends after filming, but that doesn’t mean God assigns real people villainous roles in the same way. Ezra points to Joseph’s story, in which his brothers intended evil but God brought good from it.

To explain why prayer matters even though God already knows what people need, Ezra compares prayer to communication between a parent and child. His daughter loves Cinnamoroll dolls. A surprise gift might make her think her dad can read her mind, but asking for one and receiving it makes their communication meaningful too. Ezra jokes that he had to use a laptop because his daughter apparently deleted Pages from his tablet to make room for games. In case she watches the recording, he warns that she is banned from the iPad for a week.

Ezra concludes that prayer doesn’t change God, but it can change outcomes—and it changes us. Prayer is not useless, nor should it be used to indulge selfish desires. He encourages people to examine their motives, ask for good things, remain patient, and keep praying.

Closing Reflections

Rector Roli agrees that prayer does not change God and cites John 15:7: those who remain in God can ask in line with God’s will. He distinguishes between what God wills and what God permits, using David’s sin with Bathsheba and Job’s trials as examples. He also emphasizes that prayer changes people themselves.

Roli ends on a lighter note by congratulating Sawi on reportedly having a girlfriend and asking him to introduce her.

People Mentioned

• Ezra Iskandar — preacher
• Roli — rector, offering closing reflections
• Sawi — mentioned in the sermon’s examples and teased by the rector
• Unidentified worship leader and service participants — leading songs, prayers, and announcements