Pulpit & Pew
Prayer, still a powerful asset today
The worldview of the church may appear no longer relevant in modern times. God-fearers hardly recognize her earthly value until crisis and uncertainty gets personal. As America and the world engage in war, the people of God must awaken to rediscover the most powerful asset in our arsenal of weaponry. This powerful bomb shattering weapon is - prayer. “As for me, I will call upon God; and the Lord shall save me. Evening, and morning and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.” Ps. 55:17 Prayer is the dynamic that God has provided to His children to stay in touch with Heaven and focused on our daily lives. It keeps one centered and stable when chaos erupts. Paul gives us a fool proof formula to follow “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
Striking up a dialogue with the Lord brings deep satisfaction and contentment. Why not? He is our Creator, and we are designed with the purpose of communing with Him. Talking to the God who made the universe and having His rapt attention is a big deal. It is more than a boring, mundane routine or dull ritual. Robert Law nailed it down precisely when he wrote, “Prayer is a mighty instrument, not forgetting man’s will done in Heaven, but forgetting God’s will done on earth.”
Prayer is one of God’s antidotes for worry, apothecary for hurting, antecedent to miracles, aggressive assault on the enemy of our souls, access to the Throne Room and all His resources. Here we discover prayer is more, much more, than a panic button. It is a sacred, precious privilege. Prayer recognizes the existence of a power that exceeds our own.
Prayer helps to bring solutions to life’s problems, protection and assurance that God is with us no matter how bad things are. God encourages us to call upon Him “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” Jeremiah 33:3. The great privilege of prayer is discovering when difficult circumstances occur, that nothing is more valuable than a life connected to God in prayer. Your need may be weakness, so we pray for God’s strength. Our failures might beset us, but we pray for forgiveness for having come short of the high calling in Christ. Loneliness at times can compel one to seek His presence by celebrating in prayer His love toward us. Through prayer we can trade our ignorance for God’s insightfulness, our problems for His wisdom, and His healing for our sicknesses. God can do anything “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26.”
— Pastor Steve Crawford Parsons First Assembly of God
