prayer...

if you search the bible... you find MANY scripture about the importance of prayer in our lives... as God has been molding me into this new creature in Christ.. one of the things He is really impressing upon me is the importance of prayer... and so in doing this... He leads me to pray for the church... I pray for the church I attend and am a member at... but He also leads me to pray for the churches of this world... that souls will be saved and lives will be transformed... and often on sunday mornings during the altar call you will find me at the altar in prayer.. not for myself... but for the people of God... that they will come to know God as their Father, their Husband, the Lover of their Soul, their Best Friend, their Savior... these are the roles that God desires to play in our lives... if we allow Him to be personal with us He will step up and be all that we need Him to be...

so this past sunday... as I walked around and spoke to people before the service started... a woman I have never seen before says to me... thank you for your prayers... and my first reaction was to tell her I did not pray for her... but I feel the Spirit say to me.. shhhhh... so I hug her and tell her she is welcome... and go to my seat and I ask God why would He want me to let her believe I pray for her and I don't know her? and He says... you pray for the church and for the community.. you pray for her... and I thought.. humpf... how about that...

so I challenge each of us.. to pray for your church and your community... for the people of God but also the people of the world... because it is through our prayers that God is changing hearts and saving lives... your prayers are important.. even when you think they are not...

James 5:15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.