The power of prayer

Prayer changes everything!

Excerpted from Jesus Freaks Vol. II, a devotional book of stories of revolutionaries who changed their world, fearing God, not man.

Iran: Pastor

“Lord,” the pastor prayed, “I cannot take any more of this questioning. Please, release me from this!”

Already the pastor had been in and out of prison, and now he was called every two weeks by the secret police for interrogations. The interrogations were the same questions over and over, accusing the pastor of being a spy from the West.

The next morning, the pastor was again to go to the secret police headquarters, and he asked his church members to pray that God would provide him a way out.

“I see you are here,” said the officer, taking him into the questioning room. Before they could begin the questioning, however, the tape recorder sitting on the table exploded. Flames came out of it, and it was obvious it would never work again.

“What are you doing?” the guard asked angrily, seeing the slight smile in the pastor’s eyes.

“I am praying for you,” the pastor answered. “You are not fighting against me, you are fighting against God. You cannot win against Him.”

“Go home,” the officer yelled, and the pastor quickly left.

He ran into his house and asked his wife, “What happened?”

“Three older ladies from the church came here,” she said. “We gathered around and joined hands and prayed for you, that God would protect you from the interrogation.”

When they further discussed the two incidents, they found that the time the women had gathered for prayer was exactly the time the tape recorder had exploded.

It is essential that we never forget the power of prayer. “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2 KJV) is the admonition of the scriptures. Nothing is impossible for God! A revolutionary Jesus Freak is not afraid to ask great things from a great God. Let the example of these modern-day prayer warriors serve as a reminder to us.

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything

according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—
whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him."

1 John 5:14-15 NIV