Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

   
 

     I have been struggling through prayer for quite a while now. I haven’t really been able to understand the point or the purpose of prayer.

 
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. Psalms 139: 2-4
 

     So in light of this verse why should I pray? He already knows EVERYTHING. Everything I have done, everything I would want to say or ask forgiveness for. Why spend time in prayer. Even in the Lords prayer.

 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Matt. 6:10-13.

    We have already been promised the Kingdom will come, we will be provided for, and that the lord will not tempt us beyond what we can bear. Why pray these things? There are over 500 times in scripture that we are either called to pray or people are praying. That is an overwhelming number. So should I pray just for obedience sake? I think that is a good enough reason. We are directly commanded in Matthew 26:41, Luke 18:1, Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:6, I Thessalonians 5:17, I Timothy 2:1 to pray. It is enough to pray just to be obedient to Christ, but in his great Mercy toward us he makes it something more for us. He CHOOSES to use our prayers.

In 1 kings Elijah is up against the prophets of Baal. He challenges them to cry out to their god to send fire down for the sacrifice. They pray and plead with their god and no fire. Elijah drenches the sacrifice with water 3 times and prays

” O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O LORD answer me, that this people may know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God; the Lord is God.” 1 kings 18: 36b – 39.

    God used Elijah’s prayer to show his power. God didn’t need Elijah to prove His power, but He used him. We can tell from this story that it isn’t the prayer that made the difference. The prophets of Baal prayed with all the fervor they could and nothing. If you pray to something with no power, then your prayers have no power. Tim Keller in his book “A Reason for God” (which I just finished today) says about faith that, “it is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you.” I think we can transfer that to the idea of prayer. God is powerful, it’s not our prayers. But in Gods grace he does powerful things through them. I say all of this to tell a story.

    When we landed in Brisbane, Australia we were greeted by a sweet couple who felt lead to let us stay at their home. All 50 something of us. They had heard about us coming from an old pastor friend of theirs. They didn’t know a single one of us but opened their home. We found out, through the course of a few days with them, that they had been trying to have a baby for quite some time now. Bill, one of the team leaders, felt very pressed to pray for them. I thought, ” well that will be nice to pray for them so they know we care for them and want them to be happy” not really thinking anything would come of this prayer accept for maybe some unity built between them and our teams. Just a few days ago we got an email from the couple and they are pregnant. The test shows that they got pregnant a week or two after we prayed for them. WOW! God had the power to give this family a child without our prayers but in his graciousness toward us, and ME, He used us to bring this about. He chose to give me this experience to build my faith and to fulfill His will.

 Thank you Lord! I will pray because you call me to and for some reason beyond my comprehension you use them for your glory. Thank you Lord for letting me be a part of your work. I am humbled.