THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PRAYER;
“Never stop praying, especially for others… stay alert and keep praying for God’s people”(Ephesians 6:18 CEV).
Someone once said the only ingredient necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. How true! Many people blame God for things they are responsible for. For example, there’re those who make such statements as “If God didn’t want that thing to happen, why then did He let it happen?” Such people have forgotten or are unaware that the authority to establish the will of God in the earth, and keep the devil and his demons under their feet has been delegated to them.
We have a responsibility to ensure that whatever changes we seek in our lives are effected; and one of the ways we do this is through prayer. Using the story of James the brother of John, who was arrested by Herod during the persecution of the early Church as a case in point, the Bible gives us an example of the consequences of not taking up the responsibility of prayer. Perhaps, the brethren were thinking, “Herod doesn’t know the anointing on Brother James; he’ll be out of prison in no time.” So they did nothing.
Suddenly someone rushed in with the news: “Brother James has been killed!” Now, understand this: James was no ordinary disciple; he was one of the three closest disciples to Jesus. While they were still wondering, “Jesus, why didn’t you do something?” another bad news came: “Peter has been arrested.” Thank God this time around, they received wisdom. The Bible says, “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12:5).
As they prayed, Peter was miraculously set free by an angel (Acts 12:7). Oh! If only they had been wiser at first, James wouldn’t have been killed! Learn to take up your responsibility of prayer. You don’t have to wait for evil to strike before you learn to pray and cause changes in the Name of Jesus.
Further Study:
Luke 18:1;
Hebrews 13:3
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