I am studying the power of prayer and I’m captivated.  

I love what Beth Moore said in her Daniel study,

“The spiritual world is not invisible.  It is only invisible to us.”

It is much more real than anything you or I can see in this temporal world.   Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 that our battle isn’t against that person that’s testing the limits of our patience, it’s not against that political leader that failed us once again, it’s not against the culture of people decaying all around us, and it isn’t against this flesh warring against our spirit.  We war against the ‘unseen’.  In God’s words through Paul,

“We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Ephesians 6:12

In going through this study, I feel as though my eyes have been peeled open.  I’ve been missing so much!  He not only hears us before we speak (Isaiah 65:24 & Psalm 139:4), He answers before we are finished praying (Daniel 9:23).  True, we may not know His response right away, it may be many days or even years, but He is faithful to answer us.  God’s actions are as sure as His Word.  The God that I have the privilege of coming before every morning, noon, & night is the same mighty God of the Bible.  He longs to have me pouring my heart out to Him; He waits for me to come to Him. 

“How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.”

Psalm 31:19

Why do I resist?

To use one last Moore quote:

“We are so culturally indoctrinated to be fast-paced, high-energy, hands-on kinds of people that we tend to think of prayer as a passive, nearly “do-nothing” reaction.  We tend to pray when we don’t know what else to do.  Beloved, nothing shakes the heavenlies like prayer.  Nothing moves the heart of God more than prayer.  Furthermore, I’m not sure anything takes more energy at times than fervent prayer.”

Prayer is not a last resort; it is a first line of defense.