The prayer of a believer is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

If you’ve walked down the halls of Central Christian recently, you might have noticed this as you near the KidZone area.

This is a “Prayer Wall” that Jennifer put up for our “People of Prayer” series and our children are encouraged to write down their prayers and clip them to the lines there. It’s colorful, it’s fun…and it’s REALLY powerful!

Here’s a smattering of some of the prayers you would read on that wall this week:

  • Help me a better sister…
  • I prayed for my dad while he was in the hospital and God saved him!
  • Pray for my uncle that he starts to believe.
  • Help my dog to feel better and be healthy.
  • My Grandpa is sick.
  • I pray for all the homeless people who don’t have what we have.
  • God, please solve world hunger.
  • Help me to be more gentle and obedient.

Such simplicity…yet SO POWERFUL! “Out of the mouths of babes…” as it were! Look at all they cover in those prayers: Prayers of intercession, words of confession, cares about our world, concerns about our behavior, and celebrations of what God IS doing!! That’s EVERYTHING that a “People of Prayer” needs to be doing!!

We are focusing on Prayer so much this month-not as a “Cute Program”- but as a purposeful change of heart! Prayer is a GIFT from Almighty God, and it’s how we mere mortals can present ourselves and our hearts to Jehovah! That’s why we always think of prayer going UP TO HEAVEN. But I think there is another dimension to our prayers-It’s God bringing HIMSELF down to us!

There was a Norwegian Lutheran Pastor named Ole Hallesby that preached in the early 20th Century. I saw a quote from him this week that really hit me: “Prayer is the conduit through which power from Heaven is brought down to earth!” In other words, prayer can also move downward.

God DOES answer prayers! And God DOES move in our lives! It may be something as simple as asking for my dog to get well. And it can be something so intercessory that we pray for family members (like an uncle) that isn’t saved and we WANT them to be saved! It can even be asking for INTERNAL CHANGE-like asking to be a better sister, or to be more gentle or obedient. Prayer works…because our God CARES!

Can you learn something from our KidZone “Wise Ones?” Can your prayer life be more honest? More introspective? Are you praying DANGEROUS PRAYERS?? We want to be a PEOPLE OF PRAYER…and we want you to pray with us! “The prayer of a believer is powerful and effective!”

Shalom, Don