In my message at The Mission a couple of weeks ago, I made the point that Jesus found it important to maintain his relationship with the Father through prayer.  Time and time again he went apart to pray.  It seems clear that his ability to pursue a life pleasing to the Father meant maintaining that close relationship, and it was a priority for him.

This past Sunday Pastor Paul focused his message entirely on prayer and the importance of us being in regular, frequent communication with God.  This is of supreme importance for anyone who truly wants to grow in their relationship with the Lord, for anyone who wants to be be successful in living a life that is pleasing to God.

Many years ago, while serving with a missions organization, I had the privilege of traveling periodically with a man who taught prayer seminars.  His name was Roy Armstrong.  In each of his seminars Roy used to make a statement I will never forget.  This is what he said.

"Something happens when you pray that doesn't happen when you don't pray."

It's easy to quickly gloss over that statement.  Yes, I know, prayer works.  I've heard it 1000 times.  Yeah, yeah.

But I want to encourage you to consider a bit more carefully what that statement is really saying to us.  It might be helpful if I turn the statement upside down and express it this way.

"If we don't pray, something that would have happened is going undone."

Does that help you see it in a different light?  Perhaps grasp in a more significant way the importance of that simple statement?  Here's the point.  Prayer moves the hand of God.  If we pray, God is moving to accomplish something on our behalf.  We may not see the evidence of it right away, but God promises to respond to our prayers when we pray according to his will.  Something is happening in the spiritual realm.  If we don't believe that, then prayer is a waste of time. 

The logical extension is that if I fail to pray, something I would really like to see happen in my life or in the lives of others I care about isn't getting done.  There are things I want to happen in the lives of my children, their spouses, and my grandchildren.  These are good things that I know are in line with God's will.  If I bring those things to God he promises to respond.  In faith I believe that God is at work and that in His time I will see evidence of that.

If I fail to pray, good things I'd really like to see happen are not happening.  It's a mystery I can't explain, but the Word of God is clear that God wants us to come to him in faith, asking him to do things he already wants to do.  The simple truth from scripture is that our prayers move the hand of God.  

Is there something important going undone in your life or the lives of others because you have failed to make the time to talk to God about it?