There was a ladies conference coming up and I had been asked to be the Master ofCeremonies. I met with the speaker before the event. I listened to what she was planningto speak about. It all sounded good. At the end of our conversation, she asked if wecould pray and I said, “Sure”. She opened in prayer and I was listening and agreeing. She quoted, I think, every Bible story in the scriptures, and it was a long prayer. In fact, the prayer was so all inclusive, I honestly had no idea what I could possibly add to it, so Ijust said, “Amen”. The woman was shocked. She asked, “Aren’t you going to pray?”. I told her, “I did. I prayed along with your prayer”. it was true, I did not know what I could add to her prayer, but I was also intimidated by her long bible stories filled prayer.
From where I sat, this woman was what people would call a “prayer warrior.” The other question in my mind was, “What am I”? I do notpray like that. I pray simple prayers, and usually on the short side.I hear, in Christian circles, a statement like, “So and so is such a prayer warrior.” It puts images in my head that are not accurate. What is a prayer warrior, really? It is not the length of the prayer, or even the content of the prayer that determines how effective a prayer is. It is the faith. We must pray, believing that God is able.
When I worked for Youth for Christ (Youth Unlimited) years ago, I had a weekly prayer meeting with a bunch of high school Christian kids who had been in church since birth. Prayer meetings were pretty boring for them. After we listed our requests, I told them, “Unless you truly believe God is able to do what we are asking, I do not want you to pray.”One of the kids had lost a school musical instrument months ago, I think it was a trumpet. He asked if we could pray that God would find it for him. We prayed on a Friday. On Monday morning of the next week, the instrument was on the desk of the school administrator. When I got to school there were kids, Christians and non-Christians, waiting at the front entrance of the school to tell me how God had answered that prayer. They were thrilled. The news went through the entire school. Our prayers were remarkable, we simply believed and God did it. Prayer meetings became a big deal the rest of my time I spent at that school.
The bottom line here, my friend, is this. Don’t be intimidated in prayer meetings by remarkable sounding prayers. It is the prayers that are full of faith that move mountains. “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20
Dear Father,
Thank You for hearing my prayer. Fill my heart with faith so that I can see mountains moved and lives changed. Thank You for the place of prayer in my life, I simply ask for a greater measure of faith to fill my heart. Thank You
In Jesus Name,
Amen