The Power That Moves The Hand Of God
The struggles of Lonnie and Michelle Teague to adopt Katie have come to the forefront this morning. Mary and Jan Simmons prayed for them, and Mary had a specific word of encouragement about their situation: Through Saul's failures and fear of the people, God rejected him because he had rejected God.
With the obstacles that have arisen over Katie, there is a tendency to fear the Honduran government and what it might or might not do. But to fear man is to worship man and to reject God. As Mary was reading the verses about Saul to me, I was reminded of "Call Unto Me" and how two of the verses were written with Katie in mind.
Lonnie and Michelle struggle against a foe that they cannot see, and the "powers that be" are resistant and seemingly inflexible and stubborn. But His advice is clear: "Call unto Me." We've not been in the fight until that's been done.
Elijah, whose nature was like ours, prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for three years and six months. Can a man move the hand of God to dry the skies? No, but a man's prayers can. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
Should we not, then, pray more intensely, persistently, faithfully? Should we not call at every opportunity, filling the heavens with prayer aimed at moving God's hand?
He's not unwilling, and He certainly doesn't need to be persuaded that a particular thing is right or wrong for us. But it seems that He waits and watches to see who will be found faithful in exercising the tool that He's given us. And prayer is that tool. A tool that's seldom used is apt to rust from disuse. And so it is with prayer.
We could view prayer as launching an arrow skyward to see if we hit anything. It might more properly be compared to playing a game of catch: one throws, then the other.
And shouldn't prayer be just that way? There should be an exchange of hearts as we send out a prayer, and His response is returned in cyclical harmony.
CALL UNTO ME
The pow'r of prayer invisibly
Can move the hand of God
To bind the strongest enemies
Who seek to spoil our good.
When wrestling with an unseen foe
Who gradually prevails,
It lifts His arms decisively
To deftly tip the scales.
With stubborn kings or rainless skies
Or eyes that cannot see,
"Call unto Me," His word invites,
"And I will answer thee."
"I'll show thee great and mighty things
Of which thou knowest not,
For fervent prayer in Jesus' name
The gates of hell can't stop."
(Refrain)
"To them that knock, I open doors;
To them that ask, I give.
To them that seek, I let them find,
Their deepest needs to fill."
Based on Jeremiah 33:3 and Matthew 7:7
Copyright 1999 James McAlister
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