Weakened by an affliction, Paul pleaded for release from pain. God did not take his pain away. He offered something better. His own grace and power.
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).”
Moses left Pharoah’s court and pleaded with the Lord. The Lord responded by shifting the wind, and the strong west wind blew the locusts into the Red Sea (Exodus 10:18-19).
Sometimes God changes the natural world in response to our prayers. He can do anything!
Sometimes we pray for a long time without seeing change. Consider the Israelites and have hope.
They cried for help. God heard, remembered his covenant and knew it was time to act. But first, He appeared to Moses and told him the rescue plan. When Moses went to Egypt, life got harder for the Israelites. Even Moses said, “You have done nothing to rescue them (Exodus 5:23)!” God sent ten plagues, one at a time. The Israelites journeyed to and then through the Red Sea. That was when they finally saw God’s answer to their prayers.*
*Read the whole story in Exodus 1 -15.
“Moses pleaded with the Lord to remove all the flies. And the Lord did as Moses asked and caused the swarms of flies to disappear (Exodus 9:30).”*
Don’t complicate prayer. It is profoundly simple.
Job said, “I call on God and expect an answer (Job 12:4).”
God said, “My servant Job has spoken accurately about me (from Job 42:7).”
As I looked through my journal, I read, “My daughter is sick. I don’t know why. Lord, you do! When you were here you healed people from morning to night. You are able to heal her. Are you willing?”
She’s better now. I almost forgot she had been sick.
My journal reminded me to pray, “Thank you, Lord, for healing our daughter! You are the Lord who heals (Exodus 15:26).”
You might wonder what value your prayers have. But the Bible says, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results (James 5:16).”
A wonderful result of earnest prayer that we see is a strong, healthy grandson and a daughter recovering from covid. We are grateful to the many who prayed.
To God alone be the glory!
When we learned she was in labor, we enlisted an army of people to pray for our daughter. She was very sick with Covid.
Her covid symptoms disappeared when she walked into the hospital to have the baby. They came back the next day, but she’s improving steadily and able to care for her sweet baby boy.
The Lord listens when people pray.
The Lord woke me up to pray for our pregnant daughter who was sick with COVID. I did not know her labor had begun. She delivered a healthy baby boy later that day. We are so grateful to God for the gift of our precious grandson.
The Lord woke me up to pray so he could answer my prayer.
Facing an undeserved death, Jesus prayed, “I want your will to be done, not mine.”
God responded by sending an angel to strengthen him (from Luke 22:42-43).
Sometimes God’s answer is strength to endure suffering.
