The Power of Prayer

Over the past four years at my job, I begin my shifts by praying for the crews I am working with each night for their safety, productivity, communication, and that the machines they operate run smoothly without any breakdowns. From the control room, I normally manage several monitors spread out throughout the production and receiving floors and a rolling progress report of everything run and/or received yet I still take a quick moment to petition God for the other twenty men and women on the night crew’s health and awareness of what surrounds them. Most of the time we survive our shifts (who really wants to work the night shift?), but for those myriad times when enough things go haywire, that power of praying for others has protected us from the worst of circumstances.

In ancient Judah, Abijah doesn’t stand out as one of the great kings because his heart wasn’t “fully devoted to the Lord his God” (1 Kings 15:3). But as Judah prepared for war against an Israel army that outnumbered it 2-to-1, Abijah knew what time it was:  Prayer time. Faithful people in his kingdom of Judah had continued worshipping God even as the ten tribes of Israel had driven out the priests of God and begun worshiping pagan gods such as Baal. Because of them, Abijah confidently turned to the one true God in his hour of need. As a result, Judah trounced Israel in war “because they relied on the Lord, the God of their ancestors” (2 Chronicles 13:8-9).

We are largely the same way:  run to God when we are in trouble, live on autopilot otherwise. If you don’t believe me, wait for a fire too big for us to put out such as bad news with our health or ending up a day late and a few dollars short on a utility bill necessitating a shut-off notice. Then we start praying for deliverance from the ailment or any sort of assistance to avoid losing vital services at home.

Our God welcomes anyone who comes and relies on Him.

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