Hello everyone. Praise the Lord!
THE POWER OF PRAYER.
Lester Sumrall left America with $12 ($280 today) in his pocket and a one way ticket in 1934. The pastor who took him to the docks in San Francisco said " I perceive that you're going to go to China and starve to death" Lester " Would you do me a favor? Please send a small gravestone that says --Here lies Lester Sumrall, who starved to death trusting Jesus-- The pastor responded " I won't send it" And Lester " I won't need it, good day" And with that He boarded the S.S. Makura and went on a journey of faith!
The marvelous thing about prayer. It's so far- reaching. The effects of prayer do not know the bounds of distance or time. We can pray for something near or far in the future. We can pray for our next-door neighbor, or for someone halfway around the world. The effect is the same. God hears the prayer of faith and glorifies Himself in the answer.
Early in my ministry, I once became very ill while traveling between China and Tibet. I was riding on a donkey in a caravan when I became so weak I could not go on. I had been bleeding and feverish for nearly two days, and I was severely dehydrated. I dismounted, tied my donkey to a tree, and lay down to die. Almost immediately I passed out.
I don't know how long I was unconscious, but when I finally awoke, I was fine. The fever was gone, and my strength was back. It took me a full day to catch up with the caravan, but I finally did locate them that evening at dusk. Just before I went to sleep that night, I recorded in my diary, "I lay down to die, and God healed me."
More than two years later, while I was in Mobile, Alabama, to visit my mother, I was sharing some of my diary entries with her Christian women's group. A dear woman in that group showed me her own diary. Written there was an account of how at 10:00 P.M. on the day before I almost died in Tibet, she had been strongly impressed to pray for me. She had prayed fervently that the Lord would not let me die. Her diary showed that she had prayed for nearly two hours before she felt certain I was all right. Then she made the diary entry before she went to bed for the evening.
At 10:00 P.M. in Mobile, Alabama, it is 10:00 A.M. the following day in Tibet. In other words, at the exact time that woman was praying, I was lying under a tree unconscious, halfway around the world! God had guided her in her praying, and He had glorified Himself by answering.
Prayer does indeed change things. It changes us. It strengthens our faith. It helps us to see things through God's eyes. It softens our hearts. It sensitizes our consciences. It gives us superhuman courage. And it molds us into champions God can use.
How is your prayer life?
-The Making of a Champion, by Dr. Lester Sumrall
William James Roop
