Recently I came across an old story about a quaint, county seat town that became disrupted by the news that an out of towner had bought a building on Main Street and was planning to open a night club. As the news spread through the little hamlet, the people got together and decided to have a community wide prayer meeting at the church. As the people gathered they began to pray fervently, the meeting pushed into the early hours of the morning. As they wrestled with God in prayer, they began to ask God to burn the new night club to the ground. Within a matter of minutes, a severe thunderstorm rolled into town, and lightening struck the building, and it burned to the ground.
The new night club owner was furious when he heard about the prayer meeting and decided to file a law suit against the church for their prayers which caused the loss of his business. The church responded by hiring an attorney and defended themselves against the suit, denying any responsibility for the “act of God.” As a part of the final settlement, the Judge made the following statement: “It seems to me that where ever fault may lie, one thing is for certain. The night club owner believes in the power of prayer and the church does not.”
How do you feel about your prayer life? I personally don’t know anyone who is bold enough to claim that they have it all figured out. Like the disciples of Jesus, we are all learning how to pray. I’ve always been fascinated that the only thing the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to do was to pray (Luke 11:1). They could have asked Jesus to teach them how to preach and teach or how to perform miracles. But they didn’t. They asked Him to teach them to pray.
This week I want to share some steps in the process of prayer that I have found to be beneficial. I hope that you’ll check in frequently and that these posts will encourage you and help you as you continue to learn to pray.
