God Answers Prayer
Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.” (Acts 10:4)
Prayer is not incompatible with influence. Prayer is not incompatible with industry. Influence means power, clout, command and control, and political leaders occupy the highest levels of this mountain. Industry means business, diligence, trade and commerce, and tycoons swimming in dollars seem to be at the peak of this mountain. Nonetheless, the desire and exercise of power exists even at lower echelons, down to leaders at village level and leaders of small groups; even among youth and children, the yearning to become the leader, and the resultant pomp can be noticed. Likewise in business, the drive to grow and make it big exists in market vendors and hawkers whose total stock can be carried with one hand; a business mind also resides among youth – sometimes trading dangerously in betting and lending money they do not own, hoping to get more. How can you succeed in leadership and in business? There are several plausible answers.
Does prayer really work? Stephen Covey gave us the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and many other good writers of books and articles have similarly counseled. The third habit is ‘First things first’, and I contend prayer is both urgent and important – worthy of our effort. The role of prayer has been attested to by leaders of our time and in history. In the Bible, Daniel is a book and a name of a high ranking leader and civil servant in Babylonian governments in the 6th Century BC. Daniel’s example in prayer is encouraging: he prayed for himself, for his friends and for his nation; he ‘stood in the gap’ and interceded with knowledge and understanding, fully aware that prayer was much more effective than his position (Dan 9). Through prayer he deciphered and interpreted several dreams and visions, he survived the den of lions, and received visions about the future of his nation and the coming Messiah. This was much more success than the promotions and salary.
Cornelius was less likely to depend on prayer; he was a gentile – a Roman soldier! In Acts 10 and 11, however, we read of an angel visiting this outsider and announcing news from God that prayers and gifts to the poor by Cornelius had been recognized in heaven. Truly prayer is not incompatible with power; prayer is not incompatible with business. No matter who you are and what your occupation, the place of concerted prayer with fasting is paramount in the struggle, in the fight against injustices and their effects all around us. Perfect peace and justice come from the LORD. Like that stubborn demon in Mark 9, some of the violent responses are catalyzed by evil spirits stirred up by the idolatries prevalent in our land from historic times. We need justice, yes! Yet to seek justice without fighting the spiritual battle is to seek in vain. The Lord has called us to prayer and we have seen good results. We can do more and see our nation change for the better bit by bit to full transformation.
God bless you as you all.