Good morning!
Does God ever ‘pester’ you? He does me, although I suppose it is not fair to call it ‘pestering’.
Perhaps I should say He nags me. Hmmm, no that does not sound quite right either.
Ah, I know. He is insistent. That’s it. Insistent that I pay attention to something important.
That’s what has been going on in my heart recently. God has been all up in my business about PRAYER.
Now, let me start off by saying that I pray…every day. The fact of a prayer life is not what He has been speaking to me about. Instead, He has been reminding me of the POWER of prayer.
It all began a few months ago when a friend told me that he was going to do something that he and I both knew was outside of God’s will. Yet, he was bound and determined to do it. My heart was broken over it. Broken so much that I wept on the spot when he told me about his plans.
Being the controller that I am, over the next few days I tried to figure out a way I could change his mind. There was not a way. As I agonized over the situation (and that is what I did because I knew my friend’s decision would bring grave and painful consequences), the Holy Spirit reminded me that there was something I could do to change the situation. I could pray.
In fact, when my friend told me about his intentions, I rather boldly, but in love, told him two things: first, God cannot bless what you are doing; and second, I will not stop praying for you to change your mind.
So, I began to pray that God would intervene and change my friend’s mind. I knew, because of the situation, that I was praying IN THE WILL OF GOD. So, I knew what I was asking God to do was something that He desired to do. THAT RIGHT THERE, friends, is the key to powerful, effective prayer. PRAYING IN THE WILL OF GOD.
I would pray early and often. I would cry and pray. I would pace and pray. I would get on face before God and pray. For several weeks this consumed my prayers. I knew that God had the power and desire to change my friend’s heart because what I was asking lined up with Scripture. I had to trust God’s heart and His plan.
About four weeks after I began praying, my friend came to me and told me that a few days prior he had gone to bed with a heart set on doing what he had planned. He told me that the next morning when he woke up, the desire to move ahead with his plans was gone. GONE! I praised God for intervening.
Y’all, prayer is powerful. PRAYER THAT IS PRAYED IN THE WILL OF GOD IS POWERFUL!
I knew that fact. Yet, being a witness to God moving in such a powerful way in response to my prayers has blown my mind. How do I know God responded to my prayers? Because my friend told me that less than a handful of people knew about what he planned to do….and he doubted that any of them prayed for him to change his mind.
I take absolutely no credit for his change of heart. All the credit goes to God!! All the praise goes to God! He simply allowed me to be part of His work through prayer in the life of my friend. Hallelujah!
So, friend, PRAY! Whatever is going on in your life, find out what God’s will is for that situation and then pray in His will. If God’s will is not clear in the situation, pray that God will move in the way that He knows is best.
Prayer is our most powerful weapon. Prayer is effective defense and effective offense. Use it!!
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Grace and peace,
Leah
