Read James 5:16 and Acts 6:4.

The Bible is a record of answered prayer. Throughout all of history and the Bible the people that have been mightily used by God were men and women of prayer. Prayer was the deep subterranean spring in their lives. It was the bedrock upon which everything was built. God has always used the closet of prayer to groom His saints to run the race of faith. It is not possible to find a great man or woman of God who was not also a person of prayer.

Noah prayed and God gave him the blueprint for the ark. Abraham prayed and rescued his relatives from certain destruction. Moses prayed and God delivered the Jewish nation again and again. Gideon prayed and 300 men were empowered to defeat an enemy host. Elijah prayed and stopped the heavens from rain; he prayed again and God sent the showers. The early church prayed and 3000 were saved in one day. Peter and John prayed and the Holy Spirit fell on the Samaritans. Peter prayed and God used him to take the Gospel to the Gentiles. Paul prayed and God used him to plant churches all over the then known world.

(Your name) prayed and God used you to (God’s will).

God answers prayer! Prayer is the most amazing thing in the universe. The first thing said about Paul after his conversion was the exclamation by God Himself, “Behold he prayeth!” (Acts 9:11). But why the exclamation; surely Paul prayed much as a Pharisee? Something had happened to change the cold formal legality of prayer into a genuine warm exchange of heart. Reality had come! Do we realize how awesome the privilege of prayer really is?

Consider Daniel, the man to whom God revealed secrets. He would rather spend a night in a dungeon of lions than spend a day without prayer. He chose to give up his life for God rather than give up his life with God.  No wonder the bible never has anything bad to say about this man!

Prayer not only opens doors for God to use us, it makes us usable. Are you expecting God to use you while not giving time to Him in the closet? With God precedes for God.

Do you want your life to count? If you do, you must become a person of prayer. God uses only prayerful hands to build the kingdom of God.

When the apostle James died it was said his knees were calloused like a camel’s…from prayer. Martin Luther spent the best three hours of his day in prayer. John Wesley waws up at four each morning with the Master. The list could go on endlessly.

Mark it down: Great men and women of God are preeminently great men and women of prayer! Now, let us follow their example.