| Why Prayer is Essential |
Why Prayer is Essential
Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to
God for him by the church.
— Acts 12:5
Have you ever been in a situation where there seemed to be no way
out? Everything is going along just fine when, all of a sudden, a storm
cloud comes along and rains on your parade. Insurmountable obstacles
seem to be growing worse by the minute, and you find yourself
wondering what to do.
In Acts 12, we find the story of how God took a tragic, even hopeless,
situation and turned it around. It was done by the power of prayer, the
kind of prayer that storms the throne of God and gets an answer.
Both James and Peter were in prison. Tragically, James was put to
death. But Peter remained alive in prison. Though all doors were
closed, one remained open: the door of prayer. The church recognized
that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for
pulling down strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Prayer was and is the church's secret weapon. Although the devil struck
a blow against the church, the church gained victory through prayer as
Peter was miraculously released.
Sadly, we don't pray often enough. Yet it is essential that Christians
learn more about effective prayer, because we will face difficulties. We
will face hardships. We will face problems. So we need to discover
what God can do through the power of prayer.
Prayer for the Christian should be second nature, like breathing. We
should automatically pray, lifting our needs and requests before the
Lord. Jesus said that we should always pray and not lose heart (see
Luke 18:1).
Prayer is something we should never grow tired of and something we
should never avoid. We should be doing it constantly.
Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to
God for him by the church.
— Acts 12:5
Have you ever been in a situation where there seemed to be no way
out? Everything is going along just fine when, all of a sudden, a storm
cloud comes along and rains on your parade. Insurmountable obstacles
seem to be growing worse by the minute, and you find yourself
wondering what to do.
In Acts 12, we find the story of how God took a tragic, even hopeless,
situation and turned it around. It was done by the power of prayer, the
kind of prayer that storms the throne of God and gets an answer.
Both James and Peter were in prison. Tragically, James was put to
death. But Peter remained alive in prison. Though all doors were
closed, one remained open: the door of prayer. The church recognized
that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for
pulling down strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4).
Prayer was and is the church's secret weapon. Although the devil struck
a blow against the church, the church gained victory through prayer as
Peter was miraculously released.
Sadly, we don't pray often enough. Yet it is essential that Christians
learn more about effective prayer, because we will face difficulties. We
will face hardships. We will face problems. So we need to discover
what God can do through the power of prayer.
Prayer for the Christian should be second nature, like breathing. We
should automatically pray, lifting our needs and requests before the
Lord. Jesus said that we should always pray and not lose heart (see
Luke 18:1).
Prayer is something we should never grow tired of and something we
should never avoid. We should be doing it constantly.
| C4W Devotions are used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie P.O. Box 4000 Riverside , CA 92514 |