You’d think that hearing story after story of affliction and hard things would do the opposite of persuade me of the potency of prayer. Oh, quite the contrary. I’ve been gaining such a deeper desire for and understanding of prayer recently.
Doing community outreach here in South Africa I have gotten the joy and opportunity to hear a lot of the stories of the people here. More often than not, the stories are riddled with hard things. Separated families, addiction, or joblessness. My favorite part of these interactions is when myself or one of my teammates asks if we can pray for them. It’s not about me at all, but it’s the best thing I could possibly give.
To call on the name of the Lord, pray truth over someone, or pray protection over someone feels like the most important thing I can offer.
If I am being perfectly candid and honest, I haven’t always believed in the power of prayer. I used to go in and out of the belief that the only thing I can pray for is the Lords will to be done, everything else is futile. Man, is that so incorrect.
If we look at Jesus’ model of prayer in the bible, he prays for more than the Lords will. Even before He goes to the cross, in his prayer he acknowledges what he has to do is hard and also recognizes that the Lords will is what will and should happen regardless.
Prayer is about encouraging people, praying TRUTH over people, and ultimately about intimacy with the Father. It is not about what He can give us, but about spending time with the One who designed us and knows our every thought.
There are so many scriptures that explicitly explain to us the purpose of prayer. In 1 Chronicles 16:11 it says this: “Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.”
Why do we pray? To seek His face is one reason.
In Ephesians 6:18 we are given insight to who we should pray for and why. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
Essentially, pray to the Spirit all the time and request things and heck even pray for each other. What does it look like to take this truth as reality and actually pray for the people in our lives?
Are you a person who just flippantly tells people you are praying for them? Or are you a person that stops what you’re doing, pulls over the car, pauses the music, or picks up the phone and prays?
Prayer is powerful and the Lord hears it!!
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18)
While doing outreach in the slum communities, I am always delighted when I meet someone who is a strong Christian. These men and women have often encouraged me and challenged my in my own faith.
Last week a woman; Talent, called myself and the team that I was with over to her. We had been taking to a neighbor of hers and when she saw us leaving, I believe she yelled something along the lines of: “hey, I want to receive the blessings too!” You and me both sister!
We began talking to Talent and quickly found out she loved the Lord. Like many people living in this community, we also quickly found out that she had been through a lot of hard things in her life.
We asked her one of her favorite things about Jesus and how she knows Him as Provider. She told us a story about how years before, she had been traveling for work with her employer and she got a call that changed her life. Her 8 year old son had died.
On top of this unthinkable tragedy, she was also struck with the awful reality of the fact that she did not have enough money to pay for her sons funeral, something a parent should never have to even consider. To have even a cheap funeral here costs around 20,000 rand, the equivalent of about $1,360 USD.
People who live in this community are sometimes living off of only 5 rand a day…pennies. It is a common practice when someone dies for family members to spend the entirety of their days waking the streets begging for the funeral money; a task that can take up to 3-4 months.
My new friend continued her story, explaining that she prayed to the Lord, completely defeated and having no idea where this money would come from. Her boss at the time, completely unprompted, decided to not only cover the entire cost of the funeral, but also to provide food in abundance for the mourners.
Dang. Recalling the awful incident, Talent remembered how even though it was one of the hardest times of her life, she remembers feeling covered by peace of the Lord.
Sometimes the provision of the Lord comes in ways we never expected. This I know for certain though, that the Lord hears us. He rejoices with us and He mourns with us and He longs for us to commune with Him.
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14)
What do you believe about prayer?
DANG. This is so powerful. What an incredible story of Jehovah Jireh providing when we get to the end of ourselves, and a beautiful weaving of Scripture throughout. So proud of you, and so encouraged to continue praying specifically and with boldness!!