Men,

How effective do you really think prayer is?

During the Men's Prayer time last Sunday I was struck by how I rarely ask God to do something miraculous. I don't mean to downplay miracles like His forgiving of my sin or His sacrifice for you and me on the cross, that's the greatest miracle you and I will ever know. What I'm talking about is asking the Lord to do a miracle among us. We talked during the men's prayer time about dreaming big dreams. About asking the Lord to expand our understanding of what he can do. Can we trust Him enough to ask for a revival, in our community or as one man said during our prayer time, even for our world. Or is that too big of a request? Is our God really able to start a wildfire of changed souls that will tear through our community, nation and world? And what difference can just a couple of praying men really make anyway.

You may have heard the true story of a missionary who returned from Africa and was preaching at his home church in Michigan.

He talked about making bicycle trips with money and supplies. It meant he would often spend nights by himself camping along the road.  One day he was stopped in a village by a man who said he and several friends had followed the missionary one night planning to attack him and steal his money, but when they approached his campsite they were surprised to find 26 armed guards surrounding the missionary. The missionary said he must have been mistaken, that he was alone, but the man said he wasn't the only one who saw the guards and that they were scared and ran off. As he was telling this story a man in the congregation stood up and explained he had left the golf course a few weeks before feeling an urgent need to pray for the missionary. He called several church members and they had met at the church to pray. The church member asked all of the men who had prayed with him to stand up. The missionary counted 26 men.

 The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (James 5:16b)

Our God is a generous God who loves to amaze His children with gifts beyond what they could imagine.

Let's make it a vow among us as Christian brothers that we will honor our God by asking and trusting Him to do specific and miraculous things.

Let's start now.

Ron

See you Sunday in the prayer room at 10:35 a.m. Let’s be prepared to be very specific in what we are praying for.