When we face trouble and struggle to keep going, there's an "arrow in our quiver" that many of us forget to make use of and that is the power of prayer.
When we are in trouble we can ask for prayer. The Biblical Truth is that God inspires us to pray for others and that our prayers become a vehicle taking God's grace, peace and strength to those we pray for.
One of the most graphic examples of this is in Exodus 17 when Moses watched the Israelites go into battle against the Amelikites. In vs 11 the passage says: "As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning."
Throughout the Old and New Testament the lifting of hands signifies prayer:
Lamentations 2:19 "Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to Him
for the lives of your children,"
1Tim2:8 "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer..."
When we pray for others, it helps them!
When we are in trouble, the prayers of others help us.
Paul was not shy to ask for prayer, but many of us suffer in secret and in silence. Paul was helped because of the prayers of _many_. We should not be too shy or too proud to ask for prayer.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
