Prayer Makes A Difference
How many times have we rushed into our day and forgot to do some very important things, like: combing your hair, eating breakfast, your keys, locking the door, saying “goodbye”, or even putting on your shoes. I think I have done it all. Busyness can scramble your brain so that you can’t think straight. There have been times that I have rushed into my day and later I noticed that I had put on two different colors of socks and that my shirt was inside out. I can laugh at it now, but at the time it was rather embarrassing.
How do we begin our day? Do we think that what we need is just ten more minutes of sleep? Then, it becomes 20, then 30? What we need most of all, as we begin our day, is peace and the presence of the Lord. In Isaiah 52:12 it says, “For you shall not go out in haste, and you shall not go in flight, for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” If we get up early enough to spend time with God in reading His Word and prayer, our day will go so much better. He promises to go before us to prepare the way and to take care of what is behind us, (the unfinished business of our life).
This poem by Praveen says it so clearly:
Difference
I got up early one morning
and rushed right into the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I didn’t have time to pray.
Problems just tumbled about me,
and heavier came each task.
“Why doesn’t God help me?” I wondered.
He answered, “You didn’t ask.”
I wanted to see joy and beauty,
but the day toiled on, gray and bleak;
I wondered why God didn’t show me.
He said, “But you didn’t seek.”
I tried to come into God’s presence
I used all my keys at the lock.
God gently and lovingly chided
“My child, you didn’t knock.”
I woke up early this morning,
and paused before entering the day;
I had so much to accomplish
that I had to take time to pray.
A story is told of John Hyde, a Presbyterian missionary to India in the early 1900’s. He was known for his intercession and of his dedicating four to five hours to prayer before starting his day. One day he had so much to do that he told a colleague that he needed to pray an extra hour, just so he could get everything done. He learned that prayer really makes a difference.
Scriptures to meditate on:
I Timothy 2.1-2; Eph. 6.18; I Thessalonians 5.17; Philippians 4.6; James 5.13-15