June 29 – Necessary Prayers (1 Samuel 12:19-25)

“Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you.”(1 Samuel 12:23)

IN WORD:
You have wondered if your prayers are effective. You have felt, at times, as though you were trying to persuade a reluctant God to intervene in a situation that He’d prefer to leave alone. Deep in your heart, it sometimes seems as though your prayers and your God are moving in opposite directions. You’ve let your feelings result in inactivity.
It is safe to assume that you’ve followed this pattern, at least occasionally, because virtually all Christians have. No genuine believer is convinced that he or she is adequate in prayer. We have a nagging feeling that we could and should pray more. Part of the reason that we don’t is that we’re not entirely convinced that our prayers are necessary.
The picture in Samuel is of a God who has made prayer an integral part of His activity in this world. We are not commanded to convince a reluctant God to do what He is loathe to do; we are commanded to be a catalyst for His intervention. Not only is it acceptable to make our appeals to Him, it is required. God gives us the impression that His activity in the affairs of men is somehow contingent on the prayers of intercessors. If we don’t pray, He doesn’t act. In His divine arrangement with this planet, our prayers are essential. It is His plan for us to ask; when we don’t, we violate His plan.

IN DEED:
Has the Holy Spirit prompted you to pray for someone? You must follow through on it. His prompting was not superfluous; He is efficient with His directions, and He would not have led you unless your prayers were an essential aspect of His intervention. We must continue in our prayer assignments until God’s work is done. When His Spirit assures us that our prayers are complete, we may move on to others — but not before. His plan may hinge on your pleadings. Plead however — and whenever — He leads.

“Pray as if everything depended upon your prayer.”
-William Booth-