Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words

Allie Pohlmeier Smith served for a period of time as a missionary in Kenya. After she returned to the U.S., violence broke out in that country that she had grown to love. As the atrocities mounted, her heart ached to help. Yet, all she could do was to pray. And pray she did. But she became haunted by that thought “All we can do is pray.”

“Really? Is that all we can do?” she thought to herself. “Is it enough?”

In a newsletter she asks, “How often when you find yourself in the midst of something difficult do you hear ‘prayer is powerful’ or ‘all you can do is pray’? Did that truth offer any comfort or was it merely a cheer from the Christian pom squad?”

Allie opened her Bible for answers and found 2 Corinthians 1:10,11: “He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.”

            Later she heard from the pastor of a tin-plastic-and-wood church in Kibera in the middle of a huge market in that slum city. The entire market had burned down–Allie saw the pictures on the BBC. Yet the pastor saw what happened as “the Lord taking over.” While the building was gone, the real “church”–the congregation–was still standing. Their homes and all their possessions were burned or looted but no one lost their life.

I admit that I don’t know how prayer “works,” but I know we are commanded in Scripture to pray. And that is enough. In obedience to God’s instruction, we pray, and our mighty God answers. He has designed this privilege of communication with Himself in such a way that we truly can help others with our prayers. He promises in His Word!

Are you praying for someone who is desperate for help from God? Don’t stop! God will intervene as you help by your prayers.