What IF ???

What if you knew that your prayer could save a life?

What if you knew that your prayer could change a life?

What if you knew that your prayer is HEARD and ANSWERED…in some way, right away?

What if you knew the DEPTH of how God delights, cares, and ANSWERS your prayers? Regardless.

I’ve seen God answer prayers in such miraculous ways at times…and others, what seems like painstakingly slow ways…but He always answers in some way, right away…even if the answer is to wait…He sends something to help me wait.

I’m learning so much about prayer right now…and I’m looking forward to capturing all that God is teaching me here sometime soon…but one thing I learned last Sunday was that the “prayers of a righteous man avail much.”  I’ve thought about that a lot lately.  Recently, while I was with my kids at a playground…I met a woman who was concerned about her unborn baby…the baby was VERY small, but her doctor said the placenta might not be working properly and they wanted the baby to be taken out.  She was hoping the baby could stay in longer, as she was not full term yet, and her first child had been very small too.  I told her I would pray for her…that it must be so hard to know what the best thing to do is…and then my kids started having a tough time at the playground…and I felt a little silly telling her I would “pray for her,” as my kids were having such a tough time listening.  “Oh well,” I thought, “I’m still going to pray and see what God does.”  I prayed.  The next week (I saw her on a Thursday), she came to PWOC on Tuesday, with a 3 DAY OLD BABY!!!!  She said he came quickly and was healthy…and came on his own that Saturday.  I was completely in awe.  I noted God’s glorious answer to prayer….(on a side note–I can still pray EVEN though my family is NOT perfect 🙂 …even if this is apparent WHILE I am telling the person I shall pray for them 🙂 ) This baby’s life was SAVED and the mommy’s heart was at PEACE.

A few months back, we prayed for an untouched people to be REACHED.  Then To ACCEPT.  Then To BELIEVE.  And pressed further into the Lord and asked for Him to bring forth a BODY….a body of believers…a church.  We’ve received notifications of each of these things happening…to one tribe and then another.  What can’t the Lord do???  REALLY???  I think He is just waiting for us to be bold.  ASK and you SHALL receive.

The prayers of a righteous woman avail much He reminded me last Sunday….ok, so I was still wondering about this…”Lord, I am not righteous” I thought…the Lord responded that when He looks down on His people, He sees His son…His righteousness in me.  And also, with Elijah and his prayer for the drought…If we are in touch with God’s will, and are praying God’s will, then our prayers WILL be answered…in amazing ways.

Last week, my husband and I prayed for a man…his wife came to share with us a request…her husband had a heart attack a few years back with one artery quite blocked.  A test done recently because of a hernia showed more heart trouble.  She shared her concerns with us.  We prayed.  And then I prayed with another friend about it a few days later.  This past Sunday, his wife shared that the doctors had discovered when he went in for the test and procedure, that he had 4 arteries blocked this time…and blocked much more than the first artery had been, in which he had a heart attack….he was able to stay alert for the procedure…and they were able to somehow clear all 4 arteries (incredible medical technology they have these days!!!)…he was back in church just a few days later.  His life was SAVED.

Miracle after miracle…the question that lingers in my mind now is–

WHAT IF?  What if I knew that the MORE I prayed, the more God would respond in miraculous ways—He would SAVE a life if I would just pray…even thousands of them…and learn to continually pray His will in FAITH.

What if?  Needless to say, I feel propelled into more prayer now–REGARDLESS…regardless of the circumstance around me, regardless of how I feel, regardless of whether or not I think I am righteous….it doesn’t matter.  “The Lord DELIGHTS in the prayers of His people.”  He wants us to pray for each other.  He wants to take us out of our own worlds.  He wants us to think about each other.  He wants us to be BURDENED for one another…and to LOVE one another…enough…to pray.  We feel compassion…and seek to love…and KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT HE CAN ANSWER (faith)—then He ACTS in powerful ways in response to our obedience.

What if you knew?

I think that people have a hard time understanding that such little effort on our part..to think of…to love…and pray… can be met with such POWERFUL answers…God is just that LOVING and that MIGHTY!!!