If my people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
—2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJ
PREPARE YOURSELVES ( Job 38:3 ) before our awesome, Almighty God to devote time to prayer. Coral Ridge Ministries, with other members of the National Religious Broadcasters, invites you to pray for our nation for 40 days, beginning September 1. PLEASE MARK YOUR CALENDARS and tell your pastors, create prayer groups, and / or simply pray throughout your day for our repentance, for this nation, and for our children’s children’s future.
Here’s what Dr. Kennedy says about prayer, adapted from his message, The Privilege and Power of Prayer.
I want to speak to you about the privilege, the power, and the practice of prayer. What an inestimable privilege it is to be able to talk to the King of kings and Lord of lords anytime and never worry about getting a busy signal. Our Lord says, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). Prayer is a privilege, alas, that we esteem all too lightly and take for granted, and for some, even seldom use. Yet, how great is the power of prayer available to us. We read about prayer’s power in Scripture many times:
- Joshua prayed and the sun stood still.
- Samson prayed and destroyed more Philistines in his death than in his whole life.
- David prayed and killed the great giant Goliath with a boy’s sling.
- Elijah prayed and fire fell from heaven, consuming a bull on a waterlogged altar. A three-and-a-half-year drought also ended after the prophet prayed.
- King Hezekiah prayed and God extended his life by fifteen years.
- Jonah prayed from the midst of the belly of a fish in the depths of the sea, and the fish spat him out upon dry ground.
There are many more examples of the incredible power of prayer to change situations. And prayer can change our nation, too. Indeed, more things are wrought by prayer than most people dream of. George Mueller in 19th century England founded a great chain of orphanages on nothing but prayer. He told no one of his needs but God. It was an incredible leap of faith. He built orphanages, which took care of more than 10,000 children, and he had nothing to provide for them except prayer. Sometimes there was not a morsel of food in the orphanages, and yet they all sat down to eat. This happened numerous times. In some incredible way God provided for thousands of children at the very last moment . . . over and over again. On one occasion, after addressing seminary students, one young man asked, “Dr. Mueller, what is your secret?” Mueller stood up, turned his back on the audience, knelt before his chair, buried his face in his hands, prayed, and said, “Young man, this is my secret.” He prayed. He believed in a prayer answering God.
So what is the practice of prayer in our lives? The Bible tells us to pray “always.” Always! It should be the very habit of our life. Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God has sold countless millions of copies. He was a man so serene he seemed to float through life, because he had learned the secret of always being in prayer. Whenever his mind wasn’t fixed on some task he had to do, like the arrow of a compass, it immediately went back to the Pole Star of his life — to Christ. He lived in a spirit of prayer. If you are part of the family of God, I urge you to become a man or woman of prayer. Pray for your challenging circumstance, pray that the lost will be saved, and pray for our nation. Learn to walk in the Spirit, to lift up your hearts continually to Him. Only then will we know “the peace of God which passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:6), a promise affixed right after a text about prayer.
May that peace be yours.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working —James 5:16
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