Part two of this series is about prayer. My great-grandmother was a prayer warrior. Every morning, she prayed for every single person in our family by name. She taught me to walk around the church building every Sunday morning before service and pray over every seat in the building. She taught me to pray over the person who would sit in each individual seat, and to pray that they would be transformed by God through the service. Anytime someone came to her with a problem, she prayed about it. That was always her very first response.
I’ve mentioned in a few previous posts that words have immense power. But have you thought about that fact in terms of prayer? Prayer is one of the most powerful things we could do. Speaking to God Himself is an amazing opportunity. A lot of times, people are skeptical of prayer because we don’t always get an immediate response. Sometimes we can pray and just like that God gives us an answer, but it's not always like that. We have to be patient and learn to wait on God and put our full trust in Him. When we do that, God will answer our prayers. And keep in mind that when I say God will answer your prayers, that doesn't mean that He'll always give you the answer that you want. He might say "yes", "no", or “wait”. Here are my two favorite verses on prayer: James 5:16 ...the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. When people have problems, prayer is normally not the first thing they turn to. They turn to friends or other things that they think will help them. For example, when people get sick, what is the first thing they typically do? Call a doctor or run to the store to grab some medicine. But what if before doing any of that, they stopped and prayed? James 5:14-15 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up... You can pray alone, get your family or friends to pray, ask your pastor to pray for you, or all three. If you have faith that prayer will heal you or someone else you're praying for, then the Bible says that they will be healed. Prayer can heal anything and everything, even diseases incurable by medicine. The Bible says that all it takes faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). In case you didn’t know, a mustard seed is about 1-2 millimeters in diameter. This is just proof that faith in prayer is the most effective and powerful weapon you can have. With prayer, you can have a one-on-one conversation with God, the Creator of the universe. So next time you have a tough problem, turn to God in prayer first; then you'll see the power of prayer. In closing, I’d like to give you an example of what prayer can do. I was born with something called genu valgum. There’s a bone extending from my mid-thigh down to my knee cap and it’s supposed to be straight, but I was born with mine curved in both legs. This caused extreme pain constantly. It was awful when I was sitting, but standing or walking just made it excruciatingly worse. I tried different medications, leg braces, and physical therapy. None of it worked. I went to several different orthopedic doctors to hear different opinions, but they all told me the same thing: the only way to heal my legs was to do a complete reconstruction surgery that would leave me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. I’d never again get to play softball or basketball like I’d done since I was three. I’d never again get to run around with my five little siblings. I was devastated. Then, about two and a half years ago, my youth group prayed over me. Now, I had received prayer for my knees countless times before. I had begun to lose faith that God would ever heal me. But on this particular night, something was different. A guy in my youth group said he had a message from God. That message was this: “There is someone in this room who has been suffering from a disease her whole life. She’s been told that she’ll have to have extensive surgery and never be able to walk again. Bring her to the front and pray over her.” Keep in mind that no one outside of my parents knew about the surgery and wheelchair. That’s how I knew it had to be God. So I went to the front. The whole youth group prayed over me. Suddenly, I felt the bones in my legs shifting. When I looked down, my bones had been realigned to their proper position. I jumped up and ran around the room. I didn’t feel a single bit of pain, and haven’t since that night! Let my testimony be proof of just how powerful prayer can be if you have faith the size of a mustard seed.
1 Comment
|
MissionIn short, I started this blog because I want to give girls all over the world hope. All of the topics I write about on this blog are things that I have struggled with or am still struggling with. I want to help young women everywhere achieve freedom through Christ. Archives
May 2020
Categories
All
|