1 Chronicles 5:20: “And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all who were with them, for they cried out to God in the battle. He heeded their prayer, because they put their trust in Him.”

August 24th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

This chapter records a battle of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh against the Hagrites. They prayed, and God gave them the victory because they believed He would act. This is another clear testimony of how prayer changes things, a testimony we find repeatedly throughout the Old and New Testaments.

Why do we so often wait until difficulties are overwhelming us before we finally turn to God in prayer? One reason is illustrated by the story of an elderly Welsh woman who lived in a remote valley in Wales at the turn of the last century. She went to a great deal of trouble and expense to have electrical power installed in her home. However, after a couple of months, the electric company noticed she didn’t seem to use it very much. Thinking there might be a problem with the hookup, they sent a meter reader out to check on the matter. The man came to the door and said, “We’ve just checked your meter and it doesn’t seem you’re using much electricity. Is there a problem?” “Oh no,” she said. “We’re quite satisfied. We turn on the electric lights every night to see how to light our lamps and then we switch them off again.” This woman believed in the power of electricity, but she didn’t understand its potential, how much more it was able to affect her home.

We are guilty of using prayer in much the same way. We believe in prayer and have even experienced answered prayer, but we still use it much too sparingly. Are we praying for someone in our family who is struggling? Every prayer we pray imparts to them more and more power from God. Are we praying for someone at work that we are having difficulties with? Every prayer we hold up to God brings power to change them and power to change us. Are we praying for someone who is not a believer that we see often? Every prayer offered up to our heavenly Father comes back into their life, putting pressure on them to listen to God.

“LORD, we lift up to You that person who is struggling, that person who is difficult to get along with, and that person who does not know You. Please move on them and us today.”