Excerpt from Hope for Each Day: Prayer Releases God's PowerPray without ceasing. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
How many times have you heard someone say, "All I can do is pray"?
All I can do is pray? You might as well say to a starving man, "All I can do is offer you food," or to a sick person, "All I can do is give you medicine that will make you well," or to a poor child, "All I can do is buy the toy you most want for your birthday."
Praying unlocks the doors of Heaven and releases the power of God. James 4:2 says, "You do not have because you do not ask." The Bible says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6).
This is true not only for our needs but the needs of others. So often our prayers focus only on ourselves. But God wants to use us, through our prayers, to touch the lives of other people as well. For whom should you be praying this day?
(Michele says) I really love this; I've thought about it often since last August 1st, the day it's from in the devotional. I do have one change and one addition, however. I know, this is Billy Graham we're talking about! Believe me, I have more respect for that man than I can possibly describe here and now. But for me, I would put that last question, "For whom could you be praying this day?" This opens up so many more possibilities, and sounds more like the joy I'm finding prayer to be rather just another item on my to-do list, which it certainly isn't!
The addition is just that I wanted to continue the thought of James 4:2. "You do not have because you do not ask. (v.3) You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives." So as not to think we can just ask God for anything and it's done!
As for whom I could be praying, there is a certain individual that keeps coming to mind in prayer. I'm not really sure if God's bringing her to my mind, or I'm "bringing" her to God's mind... or both! But that's a mere technicality. I love her and am concerned about her, though not for any particular reason I can put my finger on. I just am, and I'm telling the Lord about it, that's all.
All I can do is pray? You might as well say to a starving man, "All I can do is offer you food," or to a sick person, "All I can do is give you medicine that will make you well," or to a poor child, "All I can do is buy the toy you most want for your birthday."
Praying unlocks the doors of Heaven and releases the power of God. James 4:2 says, "You do not have because you do not ask." The Bible says, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6).
This is true not only for our needs but the needs of others. So often our prayers focus only on ourselves. But God wants to use us, through our prayers, to touch the lives of other people as well. For whom should you be praying this day?
(Michele says) I really love this; I've thought about it often since last August 1st, the day it's from in the devotional. I do have one change and one addition, however. I know, this is Billy Graham we're talking about! Believe me, I have more respect for that man than I can possibly describe here and now. But for me, I would put that last question, "For whom could you be praying this day?" This opens up so many more possibilities, and sounds more like the joy I'm finding prayer to be rather just another item on my to-do list, which it certainly isn't!
The addition is just that I wanted to continue the thought of James 4:2. "You do not have because you do not ask. (v.3) You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives." So as not to think we can just ask God for anything and it's done!
As for whom I could be praying, there is a certain individual that keeps coming to mind in prayer. I'm not really sure if God's bringing her to my mind, or I'm "bringing" her to God's mind... or both! But that's a mere technicality. I love her and am concerned about her, though not for any particular reason I can put my finger on. I just am, and I'm telling the Lord about it, that's all.
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