Did the title of today’s post, Prayer that Works, get your attention? If you’re like me, you want to know how best to pray.
Today I want to tell you about a wonderful book that I’m reading, Prayer that Works by Jill Briscoe. In this book, Briscoe takes her reader through the events of the prophet Elijah’s life that teach us how to ask God to help when problems are big and then how to watch God for miraculous answers.
I thought it was kind of funny that I stumbled upon this book last month. I saw that Jill Briscoe was teaching at a nearby church, and that triggered a memory that I had of seeing her speak at Women of Faith probably about twenty years ago. Here is a replay of her talk on that recent t nearby talk of hers: It truly is worth your time to listen.
Remembering how much I loved her teaching, I looked her up on Amazon, and this was the first book that I saw of hers.
Without much thought, I ordered Prayer that Works and started reading through it, learning a lot about Elijah and his prayer life. Elijah’s story caused me to really think about the power of prayer. God answered some pretty big requests: he brought fire and the he brought rain when Elijah prayed. A dead boy was even brought back to life when Elijah prayed! Do you know the story of Elijah? If not, stop right now and read it in the book of I Kings! It will blow you away.
“Elijah in the school of prayer learned to “ask.” God gave him hot spots to life in, to bring him to dependence so that he could practice exercising faith….And God came through, which he always will.” Prayer that Works, page 41.
And then last week, our family faced an unbelievably hard week. As many of you know, my sister Jenny is currently in the hospital recovering from bacterial meningitis. So as you can imagine, our days have been OVERFLOWING with prayer. Our family has been crying out to the Lord to heal Jenny, to protect her brain, to guide the surgeons’ hands, to give comfort and strength.
And now I understand that I didn’t stumble upon this book by happenstance, but that God brought it into my life to teach me about the power of prayer and how much God wants to answer our prayers. Don’t you love how God works? I see now that I needed to know more about Elijah and to understand more about the power, mercy, and love of God. I thank God that he knew exactly what I would be facing and helped me prepare for it bringing more of his word into my life at just the right time.
And I’m delighted to tell you that God is answering our prayers. Jenny’s surgery went very well, her fever has subsided, and she is improving everyday. We continue to ask the Lord to heal her 100%. Please join us in praying for her. And we can never say thank you enough to those of you who have been praying for her.
Are you needing to learn more about what the Bible has to say about prayer? Are you facing something unbelievably hard and need to know how to give this burden to the Lord? Do you need to be able to trust the Lord with the confusing things in your life? I would highly recommend checking out this book, Prayer that Works.
God is the “same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Heb. 13:8) Let yesterday’s answers give you hope for today’s dilemmas. And remember as the saying goes, “You are coming to a king, large petitions with you bring.” Prayer that Works, page 50.
James 5:16 The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Psalm 34:17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
