James 5:16 Confess faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much.
We all know that prayer needs to be an essential part of our lives. And if you're like me, we would love for the Lord to answer all our prayers instantaneously -- however, we know from experience this is not always the case!
Oswald Chambers was quoted as saying, “We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.
Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.”
While our prayers may not be answered immediately, we know the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman radically changes the world around us!
Charles Spurgeon once said, "We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer."
So let’s commit to spending more time in prayer today! Make sure you don't allow the enemy to rob your time to pray -- for it's in prayer that we tap into God's unlimited power that makes demons tremble!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Yeshua (Jesus) began His earthly ministry by being baptized in the Jordan river. The word Jordan in Hebrew is "Yarden" and its root is "yarad". It literally means to descend, which would make sense being that the Jordan descends from over 8,000 feet from Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea which sits more than 1,000 feet below sea level.
During the American Civil War in the 1860's, a fierce battle took place at Altoona Pass. It was a key supply point for the Union Army, so the Confederate Army led by General Hood sought to take Altoona Pass which held over a million and a half rations. When Union General Sherman realized Hood's plans, he dispatched General Corse along with 1,500 men to hold the city.
Writing to the Corinthian Church, Paul illustrates his exhortation using the metaphors of running a race and fighting a boxing match. Victory is achieved by bringing your body into submission to the will of God.
When I first gave my life to the Lord, like many of us, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. If God would have shown me, at that time, all the things that would have to change about me, I think I would have gone running for dear life!
During his first year of graduate study at the University of California at Berkeley, George B. Dantzig arrived late for a statistics class. He saw two problems on the blackboard. Assuming they were homework, he copied them and a few days later turned in his solutions. One Sunday morning six weeks afterward, the professor appeared at Dantzig's door, waving a manuscript. It turned out that the professor had merely written two examples of unsolvable problems on the blackboard. The manuscript was Dantzig's work readied for publication. George Dantzig later became known as the father of linear programming.
One of the most fascinating sites to visit in Washington D.C. is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. For 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, a platoon of 30 honor guards protects the tomb through rain, snow and even hurricanes! It's been guarded every minute of every day since 1937.
A foreign soldier was brought before his commanding officer and accused of communicating with the enemy. He had been seen emerging from an area where their troops were known to patrol. The poor man summed up his defense in a few words, stating that he had slipped away to spend an hour alone in prayer. "Have you been in the habit of spending an hour in private prayer?" demanded the officer. "Yes, Sir," he replied. "Well" said his commander, "never in your life have you been in more need of prayer than right now. Kneel down and pray aloud so that we all may hear you."