THE POWER OF PRAYER

The Apostle Paul said in Thessalonians: ‘Pray without ceasing.’

 In these uncertain times it’s easy to sit back feeling powerless and wonder what can be done; we feel as if we have to be doing something, yet we don’t know what to do. Well, my friends, we CAN do something – we can pray.

For the cynics among you, and I’m sure there will be many, you will be thinking  ‘oh yeah, what good is praying going to do?’ Well, what good is NOT praying going to do?

You see, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Let me give you some examples of answered prayer.

About four years ago I had quite a few debts mounting up and every morning the mail delivery would bring more and more bills. Although I budgeted each month, and paid as many bills as I could, ‘surprise’ bills would always catch me out and I never seemed to have enough money left over to pay them.

I was reading my Bible one morning and I felt so burdened that I actually fell on my knees and cried. Words tumbled out in prayer while tears streamed down my face.  ‘Lord,’ I asked, ‘why would you love me when I have such a hard time with my earthly relationships? Surely, Lord, I have proved how unlovable a person I am, so why would you love me?’

I was not knowledgeable about verses in the Bible at that time; Psalm 23 and 1 Corinthians 13 were the only two passages I knew so I was not prepared for what happened next. In my head came a thought:  ‘go to Isaiah 43, verses 1 – 4.’ What I read blew my mind away and in that second I knew God was real and what was more, He was actually listening to my prayers AND answering them! 

This is what I read through my tears:

‘’But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel; “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God. The Holy One of Israel, your Saviour; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you.”

I read the last line again: Since you are precious and honoured in my sight, and because I love you.     

God had answered me with my own words – my heart leapt at those words and my faith increased several hundredfold.   

I continued praying, only this time, I was giving thanks that not only had God listened to me He actually loved me. For the first time in a very long time, I felt as if I actually mattered to someone.

My heart started singing and I ‘felt’ an answer come into my head as to what I should do about the bills. It was such a simple solution I was annoyed with myself for not thinking of it before and once I put it into operation, the bills were paid off in a matter of weeks.  My debts were soon more manageable until they, too, were finally paid off and I could start each month with a clean slate.

During this time, I noticed that if a bill came in and I didn’t have the money, if I prayed for the exact amount a gift of money in an envelope invariably came through the letterbox within a day or so (sometimes within hours!) with the exact amount I needed.  I never knew who my benefactors were but they were just being obedient to God who would ask them to give to someone who was in need.

Not only were they blessing me, but God blessed them too – so it was always a win-win situation. With God on your side, it is always a win-win situation.

Probably a year or so later, I was getting ready to go to church one Sunday, and putting on my tired old coat with the torn lining I said to the Lord, ‘I’ll speak to you later about a new coat, Lord.’

When I arrived at my little church the pastor ‘s wife came up to me and asked if she could have a word with me. Thinking I had done something wrong, I quietly said yes, of course she could, expecting to be berated for something. But imagine my surprise when she said to me:  ‘I know this might sound funny, but the Lord has told me to buy you a new coat.’

You could have knocked me down with a feather, although I don’t know why I am always surprised when God answers my prayers, or even my unasked-as-yet prayers!  I told her about my conversation with God not 20 minutes before and we hugged each other. She bought me a new coat and I was able to give one that no longer fitted me (which I had been holding onto in the hope I would lose weight) to a friend who had had hers stolen.

At the time when I had a lot of debt, I was living on a very small amount of money and was waiting for a date for a tribunal to reinstate some benefit money that I had been receiving because of ill health. I had failed a medical and as a result, my benefit had been stopped immediately. This was a few weeks before Christmas – good timing, huh?!

(Incidentally, the doctor who failed me in my medical didn’t believe in my illness, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and shortly after the medical, he died of a sudden heart attack. He hadn’t had any previous heart problems.)

As I had six cats, three who were just kittens newly rescued from appalling living conditions, I needed every ounce of my faith in order that we all ate for the week. Each week I would work out what needed replacing in the larder, fridge, freezer and cupboards, make a list and pray for the items. I knew I could manage on £50 ($100) a week, which sounds a bit steep but 40 tins of cat food came to almost £20 ($40) a week which only left £30 ($60) for the things I needed.

Time and time again bags of groceries would be left on my front door step or anonymous envelopes containing EXACTLY £50 would come through my letterbox. Time and time again, God provided exactly what I needed and sometimes there would be a few surprises, little treats that I hadn’t expected or asked for.

A couple of weeks before Christmas, I received a stack of mail and the first envelope I opened had news from a good friend telling me that her Mother had just passed away.  As I didn’t have enough money to buy her a condolence card I thought I could ‘make-do’ with a notelet that I had, and write something suitable inside. It was also another friend’s birthday within a day or so, and I intending on using another notelet to serve as his birthday card.  As I didn’t have enough money for any stamps to send either card to each friend I immediately began praying that somehow, somewhere, two 1^st class stamps could be found, because both cards were important.

The next envelope I opened was a Christmas card from a wonderful couple in my church. And guess what! Yes, you’ve guessed! There were two 1^st class stamps enclosed with their card! Isn’t God amazing?

The build up to Christmas was getting harder and harder. I had written out all my Christmas cards but didn’t have enough money for postage. I had walked the streets delivering as many as I could by hand but some had to go further afield. I had 50 cards to post and I needed every single penny of the prayed for (yet to arrive) £50 for food so there would be nothing left over for postage.

Two days after I received the first class stamps, I received a phone call from a friend who went to another church nearby.  She was at the local hairdressers and said God had put me on her heart – would I call in because she wanted to give me something? I hurried up to the salon and found her under a drier.  She gave me an envelope which contained £50 and 50 2^nd-class stamps!

She said she had bought too many stamps but hadn’t known why – now she did, because they were obviously meant for me! Isn’t God good?

I could go on and on about the power of prayer and the Goodness of God and all the many blessings I have received over the years. But what do we do when it seems our prayers are not answered, or we don’t get the answer we want.

Sometimes when God says ‘maybe’ or ‘no’ it ‘s because we are not meant to have what we have asked for; or maybe our motive for wanting it was wrong or if we had what we asked for, it wouldn’t do us any good. Sometimes ‘maybe’ is a way of making us wait - much like our parents did when we were children when we asked for something which was perhaps out of their price range. Sometimes, we actually forget all about it and realise we didn’t really want it anyway.

God also tests us during this waiting time. He tests our morals, our motives, and our patience. Sometimes he says ‘no’ because He has something much better lined up for us but He wants us to wait until He thinks we are ready to receive it. It may seem hard but if everything in life came so easily would we be so anxious to thank Him all the time? I think not. If we had to save up for something we wanted we appreciate it all the more because we had to go without something else maybe, in order to get it.

Sometimes all it requires is faith and God tests us to see how faithful we are to Him and how much faith we have to receive the gifts He has prepared for us. During my lean times I lived on next to nothing and fed 6 cats and myself. I managed to get myself out of debt and even have a little left over each week. I didn’t do this by myself although an unbelieving person would say I did.  I could only do these extraordinary things through the power of prayer and my unshakeable faith in God Himself.

Finally, a date was set by the Benefits Agency for my tribunal hearing. I had endured 8 months without money, other than a small amount from another source. I was so nervous about the tribunal, I prayed non-stop for days and once again I heard a voice telling me to look up a Scripture, Psalm 37 verses 5 and 6 and again, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  

“Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, and the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

The day arrived, my hearing was set for 12.00 noon, and I sat before five people on the panel. A friend who had once been my boss accompanied me to speak in my defence but he was not allowed to do so.  I kept praying certain Scriptures over and over in my mind, recalling God’s promises and also saying ‘not my will, Lord, but Yours, be done.’

The panel adjourned for 30 minutes to discuss the merits of my arguments and when I was called back into the room, I couldn’t tell from their faces whether I had been successful or not. Eventually, the spokesman said that my appeal had been successful and all the money would be backdated and the weekly benefit would be reinstated straight away.     

I silently thanked the Lord but when I got home, I really sang His praises and spent a lot of time in prayer, giving Him the glory He deserved.

Prayer is me being me in the presence of God being God. Prayer is a relationship which builds up and strengthens over time. Prayer is worth the effort I put in, because I receive so much more than I actually ask for. 

People are often very dismissive about prayer. Maybe it is because prayers of their own have not been answered but maybe they were asking for the wrong things.  I often think that people who say prayer doesn’t work haven’t really got into a deep meaningful relationship with God. To give up so easily is such a shame and such a waste because God does bless His children all the time. Prayers don’t get answered if you don’t pray!  I would rather pray and the answer is ‘maybe’ or ‘no’ than not pray at all and spent the rest of my life wondering ‘what if?’

Sit down today when you have that cup of tea or coffee and just start out quietly praising the Lord. Soon you’ll forget the coffee and just want to spend any minute you can in the Lord’s presence.  Keep a prayer diary where you record the things you have prayed for, the date, and when it is answered. If you had a ‘maybe’ compare the outcome with what you asked for and do the same if you had a ‘no’. In each case, the outcome will be much better than what you originally asked for. 

If you don’t know what to pray for or how to start off, begin with the Lord’s Prayer, the one Jesus Himself taught the Disciples and go from there.

And for everyone who is struggling right now, here is another famous prayer:

“God grant me the courage to change the things I can change, the   serenity to accept those I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference, but God grant me the courage not to give up on what I think is right, even though I think it is hopeless.

Amen”

May you each know the joy of The Father’s love for you, now and always.

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