Prayer is a channel that God has provided so that a man can reach heaven and see the things of heaven done on earth. God's will is praying, not just thinking about something. And wondering isn't God's will either!
The most important decision you'll ever make isn't whether or not to go to college and get a degree. It's all right to do that—I'm not knocking it. But it's a lot more important for you to learn how to pray.
Prayer isn't limited to anything. If you'll learn how to pray and believe what you read in the Word, you can have anything you want. Glory to God!
When Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus to drag Christians out of their homes and haul them off to prison, God stopped him in his tracks. Then God told Ananias to go to Saul, "...for, behold, he prayeth" (Acts 9:11). God sent Ananias because Saul prayed.
You may say, "The Lord would have sent Ananias anyway." No, he wouldn't because it takes prayer.
Churches need to get people on their faces praying before God for three or four hours. It would be good for them. It's not the Sunday morning crowd that keeps God's church growing and the love of God abounding. It's those people who come in during the morning hours and pray around the altar for two or three hours. They cry and weep until the Spirit of God floods them. Then they pray and pray and pray.
The only reason some churches have a building or get anything done at all is because of these prayer warriors. It pays to pray.
I know a church in Cleveland, Tennessee, that's been delivered from pride. That's right. The people go out in the field and pray for an hour before church starts. When the youth choir gets up and begins to sing, God comes and visits the place.
The sinners can't stand it. They jump up out of their seats and run down front. Then they fall on their face and begin to scream for help and mercy. Why? Because the people prayed so much.
If you pray, God will come and visit you, too. Pray like a house afire an hour before church service starts. When your choir gets up to sing, during about the second verse, God will hit your place, too.
When the Holy Ghost takes a service over, you might as well forget it. Sit back, watch, and be nice. Let God do what He wants to do.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chron. 7:14).
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers
Norvel Hayes is a successful businessman, internationally renowned Bible teacher, and founder of several Christian ministries in the United States and abroad.
