Praying the new year through
The New Year is upon us with its problems and possibilities. I’ve been thinking of many Christians who are suffering: dementia, depression, fatal diseases, a family member who disowns the others, a young man trapped in drug abuse, and parents who feel ignored and now face medical emergencies.
While thinking of all this, I am drawn to the power of prayer. I don’t mean all requests will be answered as one desires, I’m talking about the fortification of faith, the difference trust in the Lord Jesus Christ makes when so much pain and tragedy surrounds. Jesus felt that just a mustard seed of faith can turn the tide.
One southern Methodist pastor had a prayer rail across the front of the church where, following Sunday night worship services, members could kneel and pray. “A woman in Atlanta had, for some years, completely lost her sense of smell. One Sunday night she prayed at the altar at Grace church, completely committed her life to God, and asked him to heal her. The next morning, as she was cooking breakfast, she was suddenly aware of the aroma of bacon. She could not believe it and called in a man working in the yard and asked him if he could smell it. She told us the man thought she was crazy to get so excited over the smell of bacon cooking but it was really something to rejoice over for one who had not been able to smell anything for so long. Her sense of smell now is perfectly normal.”
One prominent New York minister often spoke on the power of prayer. He said “I recall the time when a man asked to see me following a Rotary Club luncheon in New York City. He said, ‘I’ve got a terrible problem. My business and my life depend upon getting the right solution.’ And then he added, ‘I am at my wits end. Let’s go to your office.’
When seated there I shut off the telephone and gave orders not to be disturbed. Quoting the Scripture passage, ‘For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them’ (Matthew 18:20). I said ‘Fred, there are three of us here. You and I and Jesus. In fellowship and with a common mind, as believers, let us claim the promise that He is with us. He knows all about you and all about your problem. So, let us talk it out, think it out, and pray it out, together with Him.”
Fred and I sat together for two hours. As we parted, we each promised to keep on praying about the problem. Nothing happened for several days. Then one day, on his way back from lunch, Fred started to step from the curb at Madison Avenue and 45th Street, and like a light turned on in his mind, came a clear outline of what he should do.
It was quite a different solution from the one Fred thought might evolve. But it proved to be completely right.
As a result, I can tell you that people do get problems solved, they are healed, things do turn around by the practice of humble, sincere, conscientious, continuing prayer.”
I am of the opinion that one Texas lady told me when I called her to tell her my mother had died, “God can do what we can’t.” The complexities and depths of the power of prayer are for those who patiently trust in God. The Holy Spirit cannot be stopped nor the difference prayer makes be eroded. Tennyson said in In Memoriam, “Our wills are ours to make them thine.”
Sin would tempt us to betray the best of God’s purposes within us. Sin wins when duplicity replaces discipline and apathy replaces resolve. The evil one fans your weaknesses but faith through prayer can bring the victory.
The apostle Paul, through shipwreck, imprisonment and beatings said, “My God shall support all your need.” May you always find it so, this year and all your years.