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PAGE TITLE: CBN Daily Devotional
ARTICLE
TITLE:
With Prayer, We Cannot Fail
DATE: N.A
AUTHOR: Eddie Jones
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: Eddie's
young adult novel, The Curse of Captain LaFoote, won the 2012
Moonbeam Award in the Pre-Teen Fiction/Fantasy category and 2011 Selah Award in
Young Adult fiction. Dead Man's
Hand, Eddie's first middle grade novel in the Caden Chronicles
mystery series, is now available from Zonderkidz. Eddie sails, surfs and writes
in North Carolina.
Daily Devotion
With Prayer, We Cannot Fail
By Eddie Jones
Guest Writer
And
pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the [Lord's
people]. Ephesians
6:18 (NIV)
"Chaplain,
sit for a moment. I want to talk to you about this business of prayer."
George S. Patton stood by the window watching the steady rain. For days the
Third Army had been bogged down due to the weather. "Chaplain," asked
Patton, "How much praying is being done in the Third Army?" The
Chaplain admitted that lately, not much.
"Chaplain,
I am a strong believer in prayer. There are three ways that men get what they
want: by planning, by working, and by praying. Any great military operation
takes careful planning or thinking. Then you must have well-trained troops to
carry it out: that's working. But between the plan and the operation there is
always an unknown. That unknown spells defeat or victory, success or failure.
Up to now, God has been very good to us. We have never retreated; we have
suffered no defeats, no famine, no epidemics. This is because a lot of people
back home are praying for us. We were lucky in Africa, in Sicily, and in Italy:
simply because people prayed. But we have to pray for ourselves too. We must
ask God to stop these rains. This Army needs the assurance and the faith that
God is with us. With prayer, we cannot fail."
But
what if we are forbidden to pray for the protection of our nation, the wisdom
of our leaders, and the freedoms of our people? On August 29, 2011, a
three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled officials
could not pray before public meetings. The ruling, in the case of Joyner v.
Forsyth County, admonished public officials to refrain from invoking the name
of Jesus.
To
pray is to call upon God and to invite Him into conversation.
The
Greek word enteuxis is often translated "intercession." In the New
Testament the word is used to describe a petition presented to a king on the
behalf of another. A petition is not an unspoken request but a bold
supplication that carries with it the signatures of those who dared to come
before the ruling authorities.
Jesus
told this parable of the persistent neighbor:
"Suppose
the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my
children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you,
even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship,
yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as
much as you need.'" Luke
11:7-8 (NIV)
God
listens to our silent prayers, but He also longs to hear our voices raised to
the heavens, demanding justice for the oppressed and assistance for the wounded
and hurting.
Between
December 12 and December 14, 1944, two hundred and fifty thousand copies of
General Patton's Prayer Card were distributed to the troops. On December 20,
the rains ceased. For almost a week, American warplanes bombarded the German
army that had been advancing under the cloak of fog. General Patton prayed for
fair weather and God sent it.
Perhaps
it's time to gather in our homes, churches, public squares, and courtrooms and
ask God to have mercy on us and to forgive our sins. Each year the United
States recognizes a national day of prayer. What our country needs is citizens
who will pray without ceasing.
Will
we embrace that challenge?
With
permission from: My
Father's Business: 30 Inspirational Stories for Discerning and Doing God's Will.
Patton's story adapted from: http://www.pattonhq.com/prayer.html
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