Prayer

          While being a part of the ministry at Trinity Baptist Church in Christiansburg, we had the blessing of doing services at two nursing facilities in the county, one in Blacksburg, and one in Shawsville. At the one in Blacksburg, there was a woman who had a very difficult time sleeping so she would prop herself up between the back of a recliner and the wall just in case she dozed off, and would spend the time in prayer. I never hesitated to give her any prayer request that I had because I knew she was going to pray about it. Prayer has always been an important part in my life as I believe that we do have the ability to pray to God and that He answers. It seems that the older I get, the more needs I might have to express to others for prayer. Recently, we sent out a prayer request on behalf of my wife in regard to the removal of all her teeth. As a result, over fifty people have responded saying that they are praying for her healing and for the other issues that are going on in our lives at this present time. Do I believe in prayer? Yes, I do. Philippians 1:3-5 says, “ I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;”

         I often refer to this passage and others because Paul prayed for people. He prayed for those in the area of Philippi and many of the other cities where he and his team would go to start or to reinforce a local church. Colossians 1:3 says much the same thing for the saints that were there in Colosse. First Thessalonians 1:2 says the same thing about the church at Thessalonica. Was it just a figure of speech that people used in that day? I think not. I believe that Paul indeed prayed for the saints in every church from his missionary journeys. Yes, he probably had a long prayer list but he didn't have TV, Radio, Facebook, Twitter or any other type of media in which to rob him of his valuable time. What would occupy his time as he traveled from one place to another? What would it be that would grab his attention while traveling or even getting ready to travel? His long prayer list would occupy his mind and he would spend that time in prayer for the needs of each and every church. We sometimes feel it difficult to carve out ten minutes to spend in prayer. Our schedules are packed with appointments both for physical needs and for business appointments. It seems to be difficult to find a person in these days who has time to pray. That same church that I mentioned above would spend time from 6:00 on Friday evening until 8:00 AM on Sunday morning in prayer with people praying for 30 minutes around the clock, Friday through Sunday, ending with the men's prayer breakfast on Sunday morning. It was different to get up in the middle of the night to go and pray. Oh, and everyone would go to a prayer room in the church that was unlocked always with maps and prayer list provided to praying around the world. What about today? Do you find it difficult to find a prayer warrior or to be one yourself? Jesus prayed. Paul prayed. We need to pray also. Praise God that He still has a desire to communicate with us through prayer.