The Power Of Our Prayers
May 4, 2024 7:44 PM
Bro. John in Mo.
Sat.5/04/24
Greetings in the name of Jesus to all the Saints of God scattered abroad. Ten years ago, back in Dec.2014, I was driving down to see my Mother who was in a nursing home, due to frail health and dementia. As I pulled off of the interstate and came up to the stop light on the exit ramp, an older model Dodge van pulled up beside me on the right hand side of my truck. As I sat there, the man driving the van was loudly revving his engine, (actually I think he had one foot on the pedal and one foot on the brake.) and had pulled up just a little bit ahead of me, so I could not see who was driving. I thought to myself…”It’s probably some young kid up to no good.” As I sat there watching the van move back and forth each time he tromped on the gas and brake at the same time, the stop light finally turned green. As I slowly pulled away, the old van to the right of me suddenly sputtered and died. As I drove off, I kinda chuckled to myself thinking, “Well, big man… you were all revved up and ready to go…..what happened?”
As I was driving away a few seconds later, I looked back in my rear view mirror, and saw him still sitting there trying to start the van, blocking traffic with a long line of cars behind him. But then suddenly, something inside me quickly changed. I thought to myself.. “Lord..he needs help” Then even surprising myself, and with an even greater urgency, I blurted out loudly “Lord please help him!” A few minutes later, I arrived at the nursing home, and I gave the incident no further thought. Later on, while visiting with my mom, I reached for the remote control to turn her T.V. on, but all of the channels were scrambled. So I began to check to see if the cable wires were hooked up correctly. I could find no reason why the T.V. would not come on, so I went up to the front desk, and told them about the problem. A few minutes later, the maintenance man came in and began to work on the T.V. They had recently installed all new cable boxes, and all the televisions in the nursing home needed to be reprogrammed individually.
As the maintenance man began programming mom’s T.V., he and I began small talk about this and that, and finally ended up talking about the subject of cars. I was telling him about the new Dodge truck that I had bought back in 2011, and that I had to keep taking it back to the dealer to fix a few minor problems while it was still under warranty. He said that he also had a Dodge, specifically a van, that he had been having some ongoing problems with, and that it was still not running good at all. We both were talking about his van, trying to trouble shoot what the problem might be, when suddenly I remembered the incident at the stop light light that morning, just about one hour or so earlier. I said to him “You know, that’s funny, there was a guy at the stop light right up the road from here on the exit ramp this morning in a Dodge van, he was having trouble with his van too.”
I will never forget what happened next. He dropped his head down, pointed at his chest and said “IT WAS ME!” I was totally shocked! I told him that I saw what happened, and that I had prayed for him…he just kinda smiled and didn’t say anything. Ever since I became a Christian, I have always prayed for people that I see out walking the highways, or someone who looks downcast, or has been in an accident, etc. But that was the first time that I ever ended up meeting someone I had just prayed for a short time later like this. I mean really….what are the chances of something like this actually happening? (In the natural, the chances are probably astronomical, but to us believers in Jesus Christ, we recognize these kind of things as “divine appointments” ordered by the Lord.) I know for a fact that God does hear our prayers, and that prayer does change things, and I believe that is what happened when I prayed for this man.
The Lord does hear every single prayer of his children, and He answers them according to his will, and amazingly, He allowed me to meet and talk to the total stranger that I had just prayed for. Then, this total stranger ended up being the one who fixed my moms T.V., just one hour later! There are no coincidental happenings with a Christian. The providential ways of Almighty God are beyond the ability of our finite minds to comprehend. The whole incident was kinda humbling to me personally also. This simple little prayer that I prayed, caused several different things to happen. #1: The Lord showed me that I was being judgmental with this man. When we were at the stoplight, and he was loudly revving up his van, I just figured he was some young punk kid up to no good, or he was showing off or something. But I found out later from him, that van would not idle correctly, and that’s why he was revving up the engine, to keep it from dying.
The Lord convicted me of the sin of being quick to judge people, just by what things “seemed” to be. (In other words, just because you THINK you know, does not mean that you ACTUALLY know! Amen?) #2: God cares about all of his creation who find themselves in trouble. Psalm 46:1 says:”God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” When your vehicle quits on you at a stop light, right off a major interstate highway, and there is a long line of cars behind you and you can’t get the thing started, guess what? You’ve got trouble! The Holy Spirit moved on me that morning with great urgency, to intercede for that man, that his van would start, and that’s exactly what happened. Would he have gotten the van started if I had not prayed for him? Maybe. But then again, maybe not.
All I know is that it was an urgency that came over me so suddenly that I blurted out loud, “Lord please help him!” #.3: God cares about even the smallest little details in the various things that effect the lives of his children. Although Mom was nearly deaf, she still at times enjoyed having the T. V. on, even though she could not hear it. It helped ease some of the monotony and boredom of her life in the nursing home. She was in her own little world, not able to really communicate with any of the other residents much because of her severe hearing loss, so that television was something that was important to her. If the maintenance man hadn’t made it to work that day, mom would have more than likely gone another day, or maybe even two, without her T.V. working. I only saw my mom alive one more time after that day, two weeks later she got her big promotion….to Glory Land.
This one brief little prayer caused three little “miracles” to happen. One person got convicted of being judgmental. (Me) One person got his van started so he could get to work. (Leonard the maintenance man) And one person got her television fixed. (My Mom) But just recently, the Lord has shown me that there is an even greater message that the Holy Spirit is revealing about this incident. My little prayer of “Lord he needs help!”…and “Lord please help him!”…even though I was sincere, this little prayer took me no longer than five seconds to pray, and look what happened in five seconds!
What might we get accomplished in the spirit world, if we spend one hour in prayer, or perhaps two hours, or even all day? We all have lost brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces, etc. Satan has greased the runners on their sleds, set them on top of a high mountain, stuck a lit joint in their mouth, put a beer in their hand, gave them a push, and they are now heading downhill rapidly on the slippery slope strait toward eternal hell. All of this all can be stopped by prayer! IT”S TIME FOR US TO GET HEAD-BUSTING FIGHTING MAD AT SATAN… GET ON YOUR KNEES AND START BOMBING HEAVEN WITH FAITH-FILLED INTERCESSORY PRAYER! GOD HEARS PRAYER!!
Folks, please listen to me… all of the distractions that are consuming our time, such as Facebook, smartphones, sports,TV’s, computers, etc. are all going to burn in hell….along with our loved ones, if we don’t get into intercessory prayer and do it now. (James 5:16) “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” We will answer to God for our wasting time with all of these gadgets at this late hour, when we could be and should be in intercessory prayer for lost souls.
People talk a lot about prayer, but few Christians realize how powerful prayer really is. Back in 2014, a few months before this incident happened at the nursing home, I was at home just going about my normal business, when suddenly the Lord spoke to me: “THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE UPON THE RIGHTEOUS, AND HIS EARS ARE OPEN UNTO THEIR CRY” When this popped into my mind, I thought to myself: “That sounds like Bible scripture” It WAS scripture…the exact word of God, but I had no idea where it was located in the Bible. I found it… it was Psalm 34:15. This was the Holy Spirit bringing scripture that I had been reading for years to remembrance for a purpose.
That word that the Holy Spirit spoke to me has forever changed my prayer life, and has greatly increased my faith when I pray. When I really get down to business with God in serious prayer, the following is the typical way that I might go to him in prayer. I usually will say something like: “Heavenly Father, I come unto thy throne of grace in the name of your dear son Jesus Christ” As soon as those words are said, I think of this as my “access key” to the room in which the creator of the universe resides.
I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I have his ear, and that I now can boldly bring my petitions to the Lord in sure confidence that I am being heard. When you start off a prayer like that, or something similar….YOU MUST BE ABSOLUTELY ASSURED IN YOUR OWN HEART THAT GOD HEARS YOU, IN ORDER TO HAVE YOUR PRAYER ANSWERED! Saints, let me absolutely assure you that He DOES hear your cry…when you go to him in prayer in the name of His Dear Son Jesus Christ. (and that is the ONLY reason He hears us, because of our faith in His Son Jesus Christ) There is someone reading this right now that needs to hear this word: Do not stop praying…your prayers ARE being heard, and the answer is on the way. Delayed prayers do not mean denied prayers. Persevere!
As I close, it still amazes me about what God did with that one little prayer on the way to the nursing home that day back in 2014. God was in it from start to finish. But to the Lord, it was just another day, after all… He’s been doing these kind of things every day for thousands of years for those who believe. And when we believe, God is “Able to do exceedingly abundantly all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20) Thank you Lord God, for the mysterious and wonderful ways of your divine providence! Come soon Lord Jesus! Maranatha!
Bro. John in Mo. 5/04/24
Photos courtesy Depositphotos
