Ezekiel 22:30

I looked for anyone to repair the wall and stand in the gap for me on behalf of the land, so I wouldn’t have to destroy it. But I couldn’t find anyone.

Why pray? Does prayer really matter? Won’t God do whatever God wants to do regardless of whether I pray? These questions, or other similar questions, have undoubtedly pricked the edges of most of our consciousness at some time or another. A candid walk through Scripture tells us otherwise. For some reason, God has chosen to invite us to carry the privilege, and, albeit, the burden and responsibility of prayer. God needs our prayers. Ezekiel 22:30-31, is nothing short of a call to arms, or knees, if you will. “But I found no one.” Ouch! What if my prayers really could make that much difference?

Greater things…what are those? Let us stretch our expectations. It was mid- morning when the knock came to my office door. A church member asked me if I could immediately join him and his wife in the sanctuary for prayer. She was already on her knees at the altar, as her husband whisked me to her side. Her son was the president of US Airways, and they had just received word that one of their planes had crashed into the Hudson River. She did not need to say more. We all know that when a plane crashes, lives are lost. The question is usually, how many? I immediately began praying with the authority entrusted to Jesus’ followers on the Day of Pentecost. I prayed for all of the obvious, including that her son would be given wisdom and discernment in dealing with the fallout and ramifications of this crash. What came out of mouth at the end of my prayer actually embarrassed me. With an authority that I did not know was in me, I declared, in the name of Jesus, that not one life would be lost in this crash! My body was covered in goose bumps. How could I possibly have asked for such an impossibility! I felt myself sort of silently breathing, “I am sorry, God.” We parted, and I went back to my office.

The world knows this story as, “The Miracle on the Hudson.” Could my prayer have really made a difference? Not one life was lost! I wonder. GLORY! God said, “If I can find one person to stand in the gap…” Is that person you?

Prayer: Lord, forgive us for not taking the call to prayer more seriously. May we walk in no other authority than the authority of love as we use that authority for your glory. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.

Rev. Dr. Diana M. DeWitt
Chairperson, Spiritual Formation-TN Conference