“The Power of Prayer”
The movie Twelve Years a Slave is an intense movie about the story of a free black man in the pre-Civil War North who was kidnapped and forced to work in the South under a harsh master. He would have suffered more abuse if he spoke things that were true—that he was technically a free man and that he was educated. The movie conveys a sense of Solomon’s feelings of powerlessness in the face of his situation.
This is an extreme illustration of a common desire for significance. We all desire to do something significant, something that matters. Even in a nursing home one can sense a desire in the residents to do something that matters. Sometimes we cannot “do,” but we can pray. Prayers matter! Revelation 5:6-8 and 8:3 speak to this.
The prayers of the saints are raised up before God and initiate worship. The prayers of the saints are a remarkable precursor to worship and the defeat of evil. As David calls out to the Lord in Ps. 141:1-2: “O Lord, I call to you; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to you. May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.”
How significant prayers are! They are not simply something we just do out of routine.
