The Power of Prayer in a Hurting World
(2 of 4 featured posts by Dennis Wadley)
You know how prayer so easily becomes trite little “god phrases” linked together so that they sound spiritual, but somehow they are devoid of not only power, but even meaning? Sometimes we need to shake up our prayer life, or jump start it, if it has died on the vine!
James has some pretty intense things to say about prayer. Read James 4:1-3 over a couple of times:
“What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Isn't it the whole army of evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can't possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don't have what you want is that you don't ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don't get it because your whole motive is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”
Please don’t rush through this…pause right now…really…slow down and read the last two sentences slowly and with strong emotion, that’s how they were written.
Are you asking God for anything? If so, what is it?
Are you not receiving what you are asking for? If not, why might that be?
I want to honestly admit to you that my family is desperate for prayer. It all started when we were robbed at gunpoint in the township that we work in South Africa a few years ago. We had just visited the house of a man who was dying of HIV/AIDS. He was skin and bones and the smell of death filled the room he was in. We walked out of that house and got into our VW van. As I slowed down to turn the corner a young guy, probably 18 years old, stepped out to cross the street. I stopped to let him pass, but instead of crossing the street, he pulled out a gun and pointed it at my head. I glanced to the left and to the right and saw guns coming out all around our vehicle, in the hands of other young men. We escaped the situation with only a few things having been stolen, but that day we were made desperately aware that our lives were completely resting in God’s hands.
We had to come face to face with the reality that being missionaries didn’t mean God wouldn’t let us die. Through the generations, so many missionaries have been martyred! As a matter of fact, people all over the world die for their faith every day. Who were we to expect that our lives were not expendable in the Kingdom? We had bought into a lie that somehow we deserved life and liberty. The lesson reminded us that our days are numbered and that the number is only held by God. In one sense, we realized that we didn’t have anything to worry about, but in another, we understood that prayer is our best weapon against the incredible amount of evil that awaits us in the community we work in.
I sent out an email to everyone I could think of asking them to pray for us. The response was amazing. Hundreds of people signed up to pray DAILY for our family and for our friends in Philippi. Hundreds more signed up to pray WEEKLY for us and the ministry. As a result of that increased prayer, we immediately saw a huge difference in the things that were happening in Philippi. There was nothing we could attribute it to, other than prayer. Praying about something that touches God’s heart is incredibly powerful. We initially asked for prayer for our safety, but realized that this was also a golden opportunity to seek prayer for every aspect of the work we were doing in the community.
Your prayers make a difference. You can actively participate in ministries all over the world through your prayers. You can touch the life of a child who has been orphaned as a result of the AIDS pandemic. You can minister to a fellow Christian who is sitting in a cell in China as a result of sharing their faith (Hebrews 13:3 “Don't forget about those in prison. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, as though you feel their pain in your own bodies”). You can bring about change in your own government, community, family and your own life as you pray God’s will into those situations.
Don’t miss the opportunity you have to change the world. Don’t let it be said of you someday that you didn’t make a difference in the world because you didn’t ask! Include prayer in your daily routine. As you wake up, greet God and commit your day to Him. As you watch the news on t.v., turn your shock, thoughts and frustrations into prayers for your community, government and world. As you drive, pray for the things God brings to your mind. As you stand in a line at the grocery store, ask God, “What do you want me to pray about right now?” As you talk with a friend or family member and the share something important, immediately ask them, “Can I pray for you right now?”
PRAYER is powerful. It is crucial. It will change our world if we engage in it.
Now it is your turn to add to this BLOG stories about how God has worked through your prayers. Share ways that your prayer life has been sparked or jump started (if it was previously dead). If your prayer life isn’t alive…share that too and I will pray for you.
James 4:2b-3
“You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.”
Please consider joining the Bridges of Hope International prayer team. Send me an email at: Dennis@bridges-of-hope.org
Dennis Wadley
Bridges of Hope International
www.bridges-of-hope.org