The Power of Prayer

Today after I got home from work, I was sitting on my couch, rewriting the script for our children's worship this weekend. All of a sudden, I got hit with excruciating pain in an area that you don't want to have that kind of pain. I made it to the bedroom with Ben's help, in tears. Every movement was agony. He prayed over me and sang hymns. I prayed with him silently in between cries. Jonah came in and prayed with him (which I have to say was the sweetest funniest moment.. every couple of lines, he'd say, "What Daddy? Ok...." and repeat what Ben said. Love my kids!!!) Anyway.... we prayed. Still in pain. Ben emailed our group and I texted a few of my closest prayer warriors and requested prayer. My pain was so bad that my prayer was "Please Lord, help me. Please." Over and over again.... It eased up enough after a couple of hours that I was finally able to come back into the living room. Still in pain, but not to the point that it was. I talked to a couple of my prayer warriors and they were continuing prayer. We continued praying.  Shel's boyfriend's parents called and we all got on speaker phone together. They have a prayer group on Wednesday nights, so they prayed over me and Shelley too (that knee injury) over the phone. Ben, Shelley and I huddled up together and prayed with them. It's now been a couple of hours, and I'm feeling much much better. That's the power of Prayer my friends!

I know it's hard for some people to understand what prayer is and what it can do. Prayer doesn't have to be a scripted, this is what you say each and every time. In fact, God likes it when we go off script. He appreciates it when we are ourselves and are talking to Him as we would a friend. Prayer can be a long rambling full of uh's and um's. It can be short and to the point. It can even be as little as "Please Lord, help" or groans and grunts. It can also be silence, where you ask Him to know... He does know. He just likes us to talk to Him. Prayer does that. It opens up the lines of communication between us and God. It's important in our walk with Him to be able to talk to Him. It draws us closer to Him and helps us to love Him more. He already loves us.

Prayer shouldn't be only when we want or need something either. When something amazing happens, tell Him how much you appreciate it. Let Him know you love Him too and are excited for the things He does in your life. Tell Him how wonderful the sunset is, or how beautiful that owl's call is. Tell what awesome beauty He created for us to enjoy, or how much you appreciate the fact that it's been a mild winter. Or... how wonderful it is to know the people He's brought into your life. You know the ones... your family, your church family, your prayer warriors, your people you go to when you need to talk to someone who gets the walk you're on... the people He brought into your life to help you get closer to Him. We all have them. He sees to it that we do.

You can also do it any time and any where... in your car, in your shower, when you wake up in the morning, when you are on lunch, when you go to bed. One of the best places to pray is in a quiet room, when it's just you and God. No distractions, no noise. Just you and your Savior... where you can hear Him and feel His love. It's awesome!!!

So please... pray. If you have never really gotten the hang of it, it can go something like this, "God, you know I don't know what to say. You know what I need. Help me Lord. Help me be closer to You and learn how to talk to You. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen." Easy, right? It is, and it only gets easier as you do it.