Daily Devotional for April 16, 2023
Flood of Prayer
“Mom, can I have this?” asked Tayden. “I found it in the garage.” He held out a flowerpot containing a dry geranium plant. “At school today, we watched a video about a desert that was bare and brown with only a few cactus plants. Then it rained, and when the sand soaked up the rain, new life sprang up. There were green bushes and even some flowers.” Tayden grinned. “I want to see if this plant will come back to life if I water it and take care of it.”
“Go ahead,” said Mom, so Tayden put the potted plant into a pan of water. After the dry soil absorbed a lot of water, he set the pot on a sunny windowsill. A few days later, he found small green shoots springing out of the stem.
“Remember that dead-looking plant?” Tayden asked his mom. “Come and see it now!” Mom came to look, and together they admired the new growth.
Later that day, Mom got a call from someone at church. “Mr. Matthews had a heart attack,” she said when she hung up. “He’s in serious condition, and they’re asking everyone to pray for him.”
“Does it help to have lots of people pray?” Tayden asked. “Or to pray a lot yourself?”
“Well, the Bible tells us to pray—it brings results,” said Mom. “Just like you flooded your geranium with water, we need to flood things in our lives with prayer. Do you remember the story in the Bible of how Peter was rescued from prison? His Christian friends spent the night in prayer for him, and we should be faithful in praying for others too.”
“If we pray for Mr. Matthews, does that mean God will heal him?” Tayden asked.
“I hope He will, but He may not,” said Mom. “But even if God doesn’t answer our prayers the way we want Him to, He still uses our prayers to remind people of His love and power and point them to Jesus. The Bible tells us He works through the prayers of His people to do wonderful things. We can trust Him to do that even when things don’t go the way we wish they would.”
Tayden nodded. “Let’s pray for Mr. Matthews right now,” he said, and they bowed their heads.
-Nathan Runyon
How about you?
Have you ever joined in a flood of prayer? Perhaps you prayed for someone who was sick or had some other urgent need. Maybe you had an important need and people prayed for you. Remember to talk to Jesus regularly about everything going on in your life, but don’t be afraid to ask other believers to join you in a flood of prayer when you need it. God will use your prayers and those of other Christians to do wonderful things.
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