The Power of Prayer

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”  – Philippians 4:6

Corrie ten Boom tells a story about the power of prayer in her book, Not I, But Christ: “A missionary was in great danger and one evening was alone in his house. Enemies wanted to kill him, but nothing happened. The next day one of the men came to him and said, ‘Last night we intended to kill you, but we could not. There were only four of us and about seventeen men stood around your house.’ The missionary wrote this to his friends at home. They came to the conclusion that on this particular night they had had a prayer meeting – seventeen had come to pray. Seventeen believers prayed at home. Seventeen angels stood around the missionary’s house.”

What a great reminder of the magnitude of prayer. Prayer is the heart and soul of every great movement of God. Why is it that we have a tendency to make prayer our last resort? Getting caught up in discussing prayer rather than actually going to our knees and crying out to the Lord seems to be our first response.

I have personally seen many answers to prayer in recent days concerning the renovation and many other situations happening in the church. When I talk about answers, I am not talking about things going the way that I prayed them to, but things working together to glorify our Father in heaven. Answers to prayer do not always go the way you want them to. The posture of prayer is bowing humbly before God and wanting what He wants. When the answer comes or develops, then we submit to the wisdom and direction the Lord sets.

I am so grateful for the prayer focus on Wednesday and throughout the week. I believe we are experiencing what we are because of prayer. It is amazing to see God’s hand at work in and through the church. We are a blessed people.

Well, the renovation is under way and things are moving right along. It is exciting to see the progress that is being made. I also have some great news concerning our chairs for our new worship area. Are you ready for it? Maybe I’ll wait untill Sunday to tell you. Okay, I’ll tell you. We have reached our goal of 400! This week we have all the chairs purchased. Praise the Lord! We have many things to celebrate as we move forward infaith.

Remember, Sunday we will worship in the Family Life Center. Come prepared to worship the Lord together and celebrate His presence.

Joy in Jesus!

Pastor Mike