The Power of Prayer
ABC News reported on a study done by a Duke University doctor on the power of prayer. This was a secular study, but the results showed what we have known as believers for quite some time: prayer works.
In the study, a thousand medical patients were divided into two groups. One group was prayed for, and the other was not. Patients did not know which group they fell under. After a year, patients were given a health exam by a third party. The patients who had been prayed for had 11 percent fewer heart attacks, strokes, and life-threatening complications!
A researcher who worked with the study said, “As a scientist, it’s very counterintuitive, because I don’t have a way to explain it.” Of course, as believers, we do have a way to explain the power of prayer: the Holy Spirit. The effects of prayer have been written down and talked about for centuries, but it hasn’t been until recently that the secular world has caught on.
The Bible tells us in Colossians 4:2 to “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
It is God’s desire that we pray often. He wants us to pray for our families, our friends, our neighbors, our cities, our world leaders, and so on.
Can I encourage you this week to pray intentionally about reaching your world? Pray for the blind to see. Pray for opportunities to share the Gospel. God works through prayer.
“It is God’s desire that we pray often.”
Colossians 4:2
“Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”