Again I tell you, if two of you on earth agree (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever [anything and everything] they may ask, it will come to pass and be done for them by My Father in heaven. —Matthew 18:19 (AMP)
Day after day we are constantly hearing and seeing terrible news accounts of wars, bombings, disasters, killings, etc. around the world. Before we are able to deal with the effects of one devastation event another one comes up. There is a feeling of hopelessness that invades the world and more intensely the lives of these who suffer the loss of loved ones on account of someone’s heartless and evil act. There is feeling of futility to all the fighting and killing, and sickness and disease we see permeating throughout our world. At times it causes us to wonder if there is any point to doing the good works that we do. And often wonder if prayer does make a difference.
One thing I have also noticed is that as Christians and most people generally tend to react to the problems as they occur. We call for prayer and for all work together in any way possible to help the hurting souls struck by these misfortunes. That is very good on our part. Yes, Jesus has called us extend His love to others (Matthew 25:31-39). We should by all means not fail to do good works and show the love of God to others.
However, there is another aspect to this that is often missed. When we help others during their difficult times we are being reactive. But as Christians we must be proactive. Why? The word of God tells us that the devil is going about seeking to find people to devour (1 Peter 5:8)! He is busily about the work of stealing, killing and destroying lives. Somehow, we don’t get that. It is only when we face trouble that we remember that we need to pray and to work to counter his works. But we should be many steps ahead of the enemy to destroy his works before he destroys us, our loved ones and those who haven’t yet come to know Christ as their Savior and Lord. When we are proactive prayer warriors, we stop evil in its tracks.
How can you be proactive in this fight against the enemy? Pray, pray and more pray. Paul instructs us to always be rejoicing and praying (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). We must be unrelenting in prayer because the enemy will go to any means to steal from us, kill us or destroy us. We need a 24/7 connection to our Father God. Wherever and whenever, we can talk to God about what’s happening in our world. We can pray that His will be done on the earth. As we do this more and more, we will begin to see more of God’s hand in our lives for our good.
At times we fail to recognize the power of the words we speak in prayer and in our daily conversation. If we always speak contrary to what the word of God says we will for sure reap bad results (Proverbs 18:21). If we agree with the word of God about every detail of our lives, we will experience an abundant life.
Very closely intertwined with what we say is our belief system. We don’t believe that prayer can positively impact our world. We don’t believe that God can forewarn us of trouble and that through work of prayer we can prevent it. Often we silently tell ourselves that we are not seeing any change as quickly as we want to, so we give up and give into accepting everything that is not good. We faint or lose heart when Jesus wants us to keep praying. I have experienced for myself and heard of testimonies where prayer saved lives and restored broken families. I have seen people’s lives transformed because others were willing to pray until change came. I have known of those to whom God brought revelation which led them to pray and thus save others from accident and death.
Jesus’ outburst in the temple when He found people conducting business there bears an important truth for us. He certainly was not pleased by what He saw. One thing He expects is that we would be temples of prayer.That we would gather into His house to pray and be in constant communication with Him. We often think we gather with the main focus of worship – of course, we must worship this great God. Yet we have another important responsiblity when we meet – to pray. We must pray for our needs, for our country, for our government, for those who are sick, for peace throughout the world. We must pray for anything and everything because we want to set up God will and purpose on the earth. When we pray we must take authority over the wicked principalities and powers and establishing God’s rule in our lives and in this world. For certain, as we prayer in agreement, God says that He will honor our requests (Matthew 18:19).
I want to urge you, pray more. Pray without ceasing. Pray for the needs you see all around you whether near or far. Pray for protection and safety of yourself and others. Pray and believe that the Father will respond to your requests and send help. Pray proactively, don’t wait for trouble to come (Matthew 6:10). Pray and rejoice even before you receive the answers. Pray and change your world.