The Power of a Living Prayer

[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,


From time to time I receive mean spirited private e-mails from people that are upset that I invite people to contact us and our forum members for intercessory prayer. Bottom line: I believe in PRAYER. If someone does not like it, well, it's their loss and I actually pity them. But let me give you my perspective on why I believe in prayer and invite everyone that desires it to contact us.

When I was a little kid during the late 1950's a little girl that had a serious heart condition needed to have 20 pints of blood in order to have a life saving medical procedure done. Unfortunately, she was blood type B- which was rare. So with time literally running out she ended up writing to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and asked him if he knew of any one or any place that she could get 20 pints of B- blood. Our President took it upon himself to personally contact the Walter Reed Medical Center and The American Red Cross to get her the blood that she needed. Her medical treatment ended up being a great success.

So why am I telling you all this story? Simple. If that little girl could get that kind of help by asking the President of the United States, just think what can happen when you ask God.

"The LORD is far from the wicked, But He hears the prayer of the righteous." Proverbs 15:29

---John Peterson

[tom]

I am as non-religious as they come, always have been.

I believe in prayer. I call it something else, but that doesn't matter.

There is no need for anyone to spend a second of their life being upset in what I believe.

Edit: Maybe that's not direct enough - There is no reason to be upset with John, me, or anybody else over our thoughts on prayer.

Tom

[gbjj]

God hears the prayers of his children.

I remember when I first accepted Christ, my wife and I were living on next to nothing in the Military. I needed to have 25 Dollars for an upcoming promotion board to get a new uniform. We had the money in the bank but I knew we would need some things later in that week. So I didn't tell my wife I had the need, but I prayed for the Money. I remember my prayer was that if it's your will that I have this then your going to provide the money. I needed the money first thing on a thursday morning to go over to the Clothing Center.

I remember riding Home on Wednesday from work passing the commissary and my wife saying we needed to go get some diapers for my daughter... so I said Okay here we are let's go get them. In my head I was saying, God I'm going to Honor my family and trust that if you want this to happen then you will find a way.... and still I told nobody, not even my wife.

late wednesday evening we had a visitor to our apartment, it was a good friend who we had given a washing machine to a while ago when we recieved a new one as a gift. They had sold the machine because they bought a new one and wanted us to have the money since it we gave it to them. The total amount of 25 Dollars.

I told nobody about my need except God Himself, It was an extremelly emotional situation for all of me and all of us when I revealed my situation, and I was in awe at how God had worked out the circumstances to answer this simple prayer and glorify His name. He was magnified greatly in that situation, and I was humbled to just be a part of the entire situation.

All Glory to God, in all things.

[farrout]

Thank you John for your great post.

Without prayer I would not be alive today. This year, I have been given not a second but a third chance at life & I'm going to make the most of it & be the best person that I can possibly be in all areas of life.

Have a great day,
Steve

[Mitch]

Thanks John for taking a stand on prayer. I am a walking testimony that prayer works.

[Andy62]

I believe that we all have within us a portion of the same creative force that created the universe and through the power of belief can call on that force to influence our lives. I am a Christian so I put it in that context,but I realize that different people approach this power from different perspectives [ there are over 30,000 branches of Christianity]. The important thing is that we all have the potential within us.

[Max McKinley]

Thank you John for this thread. Prayer is a vital part of my life. I am not sure if this is attributable to C.S. Lewis, but I for some reason I think he said it ... "Prayer doesn't change God, it changes me." It seems to work a bit of humility into me each time.

[gbjj]

Thank you John for this thread. Prayer is a vital part of my life. I am not sure if this is attributable to C.S. Lewis, but I for some reason I think he said it ... "Prayer doesn't change God, it changes me." It seems to work a bit of humility into me each time.

+1 on this one :-)

[Big Bear]

Hi John,

Great Post! There have been so many times when I have seen the positive effects of prayer.Prayer is such an important and vital energy.Great point Max!

peace,
jason

[Nathan]

Hey John,

Magnificent post my friend! I personally don't believe there is ANYTHING on Earth as powerful as prayer is. Nothing. So again great post my friend and All the best.

---Nathan

[Aaron Hoot]

Prayer definitely works! I have seen it down here and in my lifetime time and time again. I remember one time while I was in college an old missionary from Africa came through. He was about as unpolished as they come but God was all over that guy! To make a long story short, when he was there my family and I were broke. I had about $30 to get us through Monday to Friday. Well this old missionary got up and said that he needed to buy some cassette players for some Africans back in the bush. They didn't use batteries and were hand cranked. Guess what? They cost $30! I automatically thought "I hope some of these other folks can help because I only have $30". Well I started praying about it during the preaching and alter time and God got a hold of my heart. My family and I gave the $30 to this old man. We were real excited because we knew that the Lord wanted us to do that. We lived about a half a block from the church so weather permitting we always walked home. By the time we got home we had a bunch of groceries on our front porch! Man we were on shouting ground! One thing to always remember about prayer is allowing God to speak to our hearts and not us doing all of the talking.

Your servant in Christ,

Aaron

[hollyweed88]

That is quite a magical Christmas story. I also believe in prayer. I am happy your prayers were answered.
gbjj, I would check the spelling of my name if I were you. Seems you are missing a vowel. (just a little humor)
I listen to Coast to Coast late at night on the radio. A few years ago, they had a prayer for rain because the south states of the US had a terrible drought. The audience prayed together. The next day it started raining and kept on raining. They eventually had flooding. and the host of the show refused to do any more experiments, since there was no way to control the outcome of the prayers. That had been the 3rd of 3 successful prayer requests over a years time.