The Power of Prayer

I read a story recently about a lady who had a terrible morning. She had just put a pie in the oven when she received a phone call from the school that her son was very sick and needed to come home. She thought she would have time to pick him up and get back for the pie, so she got in the car to leave. On the way to the school, her cell phone went off—it was the school nurse. Her son was getting worse, so the nurse called the family doctor and the woman needed to immediately go to get a prescription for her son. She quickly changed course and ran into the drug store. She hurried back to the car only to discover that she had locked her car keys inside. Just then the phone rang again. Her son sounded terrible. Before he could finish his first sentence to her he said, “I’m going to be sick again.” And the phone went dead.

She walked back toward the drug store hoping to get some help when the phone rang—it was her son calling back. She quickly told him about the keys when he suggested getting a wire coat hanger to get the keys. The phone went dead again. She looked inside the drug store which had plenty of wooden and plastic hangers, but nothing made out of wire. She walked out of the store and saw along the curb a wire coat hanger! She was overjoyed, but quickly realized that she had no idea how to use it. That was when she remembered the pie in the oven. She sat down on a bench and prayed, “Lord, my boy is sick and needs his medicine and my pie is burning and my keys are locked in the car, and Lord, I don’t know what to do with this coat hanger. Please send me someone who knows how to use this thing.”

She wiped her eyes, got up from the bench when a beat up old car pulled up. A young man with stringy hair tattered clothes and a long unkempt beard got out. The woman walked tight up to him and said, “Do you know how to use this wire to unlock a car?” The young man was a little startled, but took the hanger and said, “Where’s the car?”

In a short time the door was unlocked and the keys were in her hands. She gave the young man a big hug and said, “Oh, the Lord sent you. You’re such a good boy. You must be a Christian.”

He stepped back and said, “No ma’am, I’m not a Christian, and I am not a good boy. I just got out of prison yesterday.”

She hugged him again and said, “Praise God! He sent me a professional!

Life’s tough—pray hard.

Avoiding Spiritual Laziness

I heard a story of a group of sailors on a ship at sea. A discussion broke out over who was the laziest man on board. After many opinions were given one man found a way to end all the arguments. He shouted out, “I’ll settle this right now. I have a 50 dollar bill that I will give to the laziest man on this vessel.” Several of the men stepped up quickly to claim the 50 dollars, but the winner was obvious. He was the one who stayed in his bunk and said, “Could one of you guys just roll me over and shove that 50 in my back pocket?”

Laziness is something the book of Proverbs rebukes over and over again. Diligent labor is something that is praised in the Proverbs. In the New Testament we are instructed to do our work as unto the Lord. It is clear from the Bible that a strong work ethic is a spiritual issue!

It is important that we do not allow laziness into our spiritual lives as well. We all know how easy it is to neglect spiritual things. We do not intentionally set out to drift away from that close fellowship with the Lord. It is usually a slow fading away of closeness to Christ, like the gradual evaporation of water from a glass over a period of time.

How does it happen? It is a form of spiritual laziness! We get slothful concerning Bible reading and prayer. We get to liking that extra hour of sleep on Sunday morning more than the fellowship of our Sunday School class. Nothing is better than watching football on Sunday, so why not skip Sunday evening service? Plus, we work hard all week; we don’t have much time for ministry anymore. Because we are not diligent about the things of God, we find ourselves saying and doing things we know hurt others and we begin to damage our intimacy with the Lord.

Of course the devil is involved, but the reality is, we let much of it happen to ourselves through simple neglect. The good news is that God is all about giving us a fresh new start. He is ready to forgive and begin the rebuilding process. He is patiently waiting for us to admit we have been gradually wandering away and turn back to Him. No one can “roll us over” and put godly passion back into our hearts. It is up to us to allow Him first place in our hearts and our activities.