The Power of Prayer

In his book Living Life on Purpose, Greg Anderson shares the story of one man's journey to joy, all due to prayer. In his life, "his wife had left him, and he was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God-he found no joy in living."

He went to breakfast one day at a local restaurant. It was rainy outside which added to his downcast attitude. There were people in the diner, but all kept to themselves. This man simply was there, at the counter, drinking his coffee, alone.

A mom and daughter were there. When their food came, the girl asked if they could say their prayers. The waitress chimed in, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And the waitress addressed the other people in the restaurant and asked them to "bow your heads." As they did, the little girl said the typical mealtime prayer: "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen."

In the story, after the prayer, the people began talking to each other and the whole attitude in the restaurant changed. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning."

The dejected man from the story recalled, "All of a sudden, my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl's example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn't have. I started to choose happiness."

The power of prayer!

There's a similar story in the Bible that shows the power of prayer.

A father is bringing his boy that is possessed by an evil spirit to Jesus. The disciples had apparently tried to rid the boy of the evil spirit but couldn't. So, the father goes to Jesus. Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and the evil spirit left the boy. Afterward, Jesus was alone with His disciples. They asked why they couldn't cast out that evil spirit. (Presumably, they had cast out evil spirits before, but not this one.) Jesus replied, "This kind can be cast out only by prayer." (The story can be found in Mark 9:14-29.)

"This kind can be cast out only by prayer." The power of prayer!

It's good to have others praying with you and for you, especially with all that surrounds us in the world today. THE CHURCH IS READY TO PRAY AND SHOW THE POWER OF PRAYER! If you have prayer requests, you can email them to the church at prayer@sumc.org or enter them on our website: by clicking here. Please remember to indicate if the prayer is for "pastors only" or can be shared with the prayer team.

Too often we look to our own resources first, going to prayer as a "last resort." With THE POWER OF PRAYER ready to be unleashed, let's make prayer our "first resort."

Grace and hope to you,
Pastor Doug