"Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17
"More Prayer." Those are the words God gave me for 2022. You know, the whole news year's resolution thing and seeking his direction. As usual, God's answer was short and sweet.
Days later he led me to a book I had started years ago, Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, by Jim Cymbala. I had forgotten what it was even about. Flipping through my highlights up to the bookmark, it didn't take long to figure it out. Prayer. Of course, right?
Filled with great scriptural and personal stories of the power and priority of prayer, I ended up unable to put it down, highlighting most of the rest of the book. Here are just a couple nuggets:
More people are dipping into drugs than are getting baptized in water. What is going to reverse this tide? Preaching alone will not do it; classes aren't going to do it; more money for more programs won't do it. Only turning God's house into a house of fervent prayer will reverse the power of evil so evident in our world today.
In Acts 4, when the apostles were unjustly arrested, imprisoned, and threatened, they didn't call for a protest; they didn't reach for some political leverage. Instead, they headed to a prayer meeting. Soon the place was vibrating with the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 4).
The air of evil destruction is suffocating these days. I don't know anyone who is untouched. God desires to fill us with his love and shine his light of hope to others through this divisive dark sky. He has equipped us to do so: Holy Spirit's guidance, fellow believers, his Word, his presence, his gifts. May we undergird it all with the power of prayer.
"After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." Acts 4:31
"Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Psalm 50:15
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3
"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16
"Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2
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