An elderly gentleman passed his granddaughter's room one night and overheard her repeating the alphabet in an oddly reverent way. "What on earth are you up to?" he asked.
"I'm saying my prayers," explained the little girl. But I can't think of exactly the right words tonight, so I'm just saying all the letters. God will put them together for me, because He knows what I'm thinking."
Revelations 5:8 describes the prayers of the holy ones as "a golden bowel of incense". I imagine all the prayers being offered to God fill the heavens with sweet aroma. As one who experiences the benefits of intercessory prayers, that is others praying for me, I can assure my reader of their value.
God in heaven tells us, "If my people humble themselves and prayI will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and revive their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14). Let's look at a modern day example of just such an amazing event.
The miracle of Dunkirk was a miracle of deliverance. May 26, 1944, King George VI of England called for a day of prayer to deliver the allied soldiers trapped at Dunkirk. England answered as churches filled in prayer. The results?
For some strange reason Hitler went against his generals and refused to pursue his advantage with an invasion. Thunderstorms and fog beset the French coast so the Luftwaffe could not bomb effectively while calm came across the English channel allowing small boats and destroyers to evacuate Dunkirk.
Over ten days 558,000 were rescued with only 60,000 casualties. The allies survived to fight another day and the dreaded invasion of England itself was forestalled.
I thank The Word Among Us July/August 2013 for the above example and for inviting us to evangelize by interceding prayer. Our mandate is clear in Matthew 28:19 - "make disciples of all nations". In 2 Corinthians 5:14 St Paul says "the Love of Christ impels us" in our mission.
The new evangelization initiative spoken of by the last to Roman pontiffs challenges us as Christians to be about the business of spreading the Word to those who have not heard it and to those whose flame of faith has been reduced to a flicker.
The Word Among Us invites us to take part in a prayer event from now until the Year of Faith ends on November 24, the Feast of Christ the King and the last Sunday before a new church year starts with Advent.
The challenge is modest: can we spare 10 minutes to pray every Thursday? We are asked to pray for our loved ones, the suffering and broken, the confused or unbelieving and the poor and needy. Every Thursday will be dedicated to intercessory prayer.
[see www.facebook.com/wauintercede for details and click "Like" to show your support]
The prayer challenge presented by The Word Among us is something all of us can do.
It's a matter of marking our monthly planners to remind us. What is more challenging is combining our prayers with action. "Charity without works is dead," St James tells us.
St Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the word at all times and if necessary use words". And St Teresa of Avila said Christ has no feet on earth but ours, no hands but ours, and no mouth to speak but ours.
