March 26

Today is accountability day. I would love to hear from you.

In April of 2001, in the midst of the Israeli – Arab conflict, a motorcade carrying the Security Service Chief of Gaza came under bullet fire from Israeli troops. The frightened security official called Yasser Arafat from his car for help. Arafat, in turn, called the US Ambassador, who then called the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell. Powell then phoned Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, who ordered the shooting to stop immediately. And it did. The Security Chief’s connections eventually saved his life.

In a similar way, Christians have a divine connection to the ultimate power of the universe that can make a world of difference in any situation. The connection is called PRAYER!

One of the greatest weaknesses I have in my life is that I really believe that I will impact my world with my own hard work, power, resources and creativity. I regularly substitute a flurry of activity for the discipline of prayer. The truth is, without prayer, every dream I have will ultimately fail.

Here are 4 principles for empowering prayer to transform your world born out of the story of Hannah.

1. Empowering prayer is always preceded by deep wounds. Hannah lived with the daily wounds of barrenness and verbal abuse.

2. Empowering prayer is born out of desperation. When there is no plan “B” in life, when we’ve exhausted all alternatives, that is a great time to pray. I have found myself in this position many times, and there is no better time to pray than when the lights are turned out in the classroom.

3. Empowering prayer always touches the deepest parts of our heart. Hannah was in touch with the deepest parts of her heart. Out of that pain she prayed. Don’t hide your pain; use that pain as the fuel to drive you closer to God.

4. Empowering prayer opens the way for God to work. Hannah saw the Lord miraculously answer her prayer with the birth of Samuel. The real lesson of Hannah's life and this chapter is that when we work we work, but when we pray, God works. We still serve a God who acts in history. A God, who heals, does miracles, renews the weary, gives hope to the hopeless, changed rebels into saints. The god that we have created in the US is much too small. Only Lilliputian minds and hearts could have diminished God to the infinitesimal size he is today. It's time to again see God for who he really is.

A prayerlessness Christian is like a bus driver trying alone to push his bus out of a rut because he doesn't know Clark Kent is sitting in the front seat.