The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life

To hear you are praying for us is probably the most encouraging news (other than those prayers answered) we can hear whenever we are going through these trials. It feels as if so many believers' voices lifted to the Lord on our behalf is a safe place. We feel hedged in by your prayers, comforted, encouraged. And now we cannot believe the additional encouragement we have received in our email inbox. This Sunday our church will be consolidating our normal two services: "so that our whole church body can worship together at 11:00 for a special 'Prayer for Healing' service."

And then this evening we received another email from Laurie, our church secretary. Apparently two men from our church are at the Sherherd's Conference this week at our old church, Grace Community in Los Angeles. Despite the thousands of people at Grace Community as well as the hundreds there for the conference, somehow they met and talked to our old college pastors, Rick Holland and Jon Rourke. Laurie wrote:

"Rick Holland and Jon Rourke are going to rally the groups of people that they lead (about 1300 combined) to pray for you from CA while we are praying here in MN during our Prayer Service."

"Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up...The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit."
- James 5:14-18