“… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16 KJV).
God loves it when His people fervently pray. Throughout the Bible we see examples of God’s faithfulness in answered (according to His wisdom) prayer to those who diligently sought Him. The great news is God’s faithfulness is not limited to those just in the Bible. You can experience His kindness too if you just seek Him in prayer.
One of the great missionaries of our time was Dr. Helen Roseveare. She was a medical missionary to Zaire. You can find information about her powerful testimony on the internet and in her book, Give Me this Mountain. She also wrote. Living Faith, where she gave a powerful testimony of answered prayer.
She wrote, “A mother at our mission station died after giving birth to a premature baby. We tried to improvise an incubator to keep the infant alive, but the only hot water bottle we had was beyond repair. So we asked the children to pray for the baby and for her sister.
One of the girls responded. ‘Dear God, please send a hot water bottle today. Tomorrow will be too late because by then the baby will be dead. And dear Lord, send a doll for the sister so she won’t feel so lonely.’
That afternoon a large package arrived from England. The children watched eagerly as we opened it. Much to their surprise, under some clothing was a hot water bottle! Immediately the girl who had prayed so earnestly started to dig deeper, exclaiming, ‘If God sent that, I’m sure He also sent a doll!’ And she was right! The heavenly Father knew in advance of that child’s sincere requests, and 5 months earlier He had led a ladies’ group to include both of those specific articles.”
When I read the Scriptures and hear stories of God’s faithfulness in lives of His people it inspires me to become a greater person of prayer. How about you? Will you make a fresh commitment to be more passionate in prayer? I believe if we do, God will be eager to display His glory through us.