National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer; a day where believers all over the nation come together in praying for our country, the world, international leaders, and more. Prayer is such an impactful part of your relationship with God. It is the way you talk to Him; the way you share your heart, desires, questions, and petitions to God. It is also the way we listen to hear what God is saying in response to our prayers.

There are probably many of you who are struggling with unanswered prayers. Prayers that you have faithfully prayed, but seem to be forever waiting on God to answer. Maybe you have been praying for something consistently, but have yet to receive it. Maybe you have given up on praying for it, feeling like praying for it is just a wasted breath.

I want to encourage you that your prayers are heard by God! He is intently listening to you (1 Peter 3:12) and wants to give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). He wants you to continue praying to Him (1 Thessalonians 5:17); to continue pursuing Him in prayer so that He can manifest His glory and mercy! (Hebrews 4:16, John 14:13)

In Exodus 32, Moses experiences the results of persistent prayer. After God led Moses and his people out of slavery in Egypt, they were wandering in the wilderness, surviving day by day. They have seen countless miracles and wonders from God, including the plagues, the splitting of the Red Sea, pillars of cloud and fire leading them day and night as they escaped, bread raining down from heaven so they wouldn’t starve, and so much more. They have personally witnessed each of these miracles, yet they were so quick to deny God and worship a false god instead. They created a golden idol and began worshipping it and sacrificing to it. God, in His anger from seeing this, began talking to Moses and telling him what He was going to do.

And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” (Exodus 32:9-10)

God was frustrated! He had saved this people and shown them His glory so many times, yet the people still rejected Him. God was ready to wipe out the people and start over. He was going to destroy them and provide a new people for Moses so that He would not break His promise.

So how does Moses respond next? Does he throw up his hands and say, “Oh God, I had no part of this! Go ahead and destroy them, but remember my faithfulness!”?

No! Moses responds out of love for his people.

Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. (Exodus 32:11-14)

Moses reminded God of His mighty power. He brought up what the Egyptians would think if God followed through with His statement. He reminded God of what He spoke to Abraham and Isaac.

Moses petitioned for the people on their behalf! Moses interceded for them, praying for mercy. And God responded! In His great mercy, he “relented from the harm which He said He would do.”

Your prayers can have the same effect as Moses! It’s not that we are aiming to change God’s mind. But our prayers are powerful when spoken in alignment with His will. God hears your prayers!

Don’t give up praying for your healing!

Don’t give up praying for your unsaved family member, friend, or neighbor!

Don’t give up praying for the lost and broken in this world!

Don’t give up praying for our nation, world, and all its political problems!

Don’t give up praying. Prayer changes things!