POWER of PRAYERS
By: Andrew Wang
Tags: Prayer, Self Reflection

POWER of PRAYERS

It’s the Christmas season so I think it’ll be great to talk about prayers. Prayers were pretty intangible to me when I was seeking, I didn’t really understand the concept of prayers.

When I served in the military, after the first 2 months of training, all the rookies were sent to different brigades and none of us knew where exactly we were going to be sent to. I was scared and afraid because we were sitting in a military truck with no windows, everything was dark, and it was Christmas Eve, which made me feel even worse. The only thing I knew was I seated next to a friend and he was a Christian. He sensed that I was afraid and anxious, and he asked me if he could pray for us. After the prayer, somehow, I found calm and peace in my mind. That was the first time prayer came into my life.

In 2019 April, I was looking for a job. I did not have too much time because of the visa problem. At that time, I failed a lot of interviews and people who supported me. One of the Sunday nights, I prayed to have more chances, at least more interviews and prayed to see God’s work (I was like, God if you are there, this the time). And also, the whole church was praying for me too which made me feel tremendously blessed and grateful. The next morning, I was showered with responses from recruiters and finally got a job.

This year October, I wasn’t able to be converted to a permanent employee and I needed to get another job. It was more urgent this time, I would be kicked out of the country if I used all my unemployed days (I did have a backup plan but I didn’t like it). At the beginning of the unemployed time, I couldn’t sleep well because I sweat a lot during the night and woke up several times. Sadly, I didn’t have faith in God, I didn’t fully trust that He was at work, everything was under His control. I needed to be constantly reminded that He would not forsake me in every circumstance. One of the bible studies spoke to me a lot. It was about the story of Jonah.

The main takeaway for me was to “have faith that bad things are good before they turn out.” When I looked back on my experience, I was always blessed by God, He never left, and yet I didn’t put my trust in Him. It was a striking reminder to me that God was not abandoning me, I was not faithful enough to see it coming, not trusting Him enough to really open my heart and let Him work in me.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. — Romans 8:28

I started opening my eyes and waited patiently. All the brothers and sisters prayed for me which I can never ever payback for what they did, I was grateful and blessed. Again, God was at work, I was too foolish to recognize it. I was showered by the grace and mercy from God after He answered the prayers. Now I look back on the past two months, there were actually more blessings than suffering, the prayers worked way beyond what I imagined. I am in awe of God. You can also check out this website, I am benefited from it a lot.

Prayer is not just asking for something from God, it’s a way of building a relationship with God. God is not a vending machine, we need to have a relationship with Him. I really encourage everyone to pray, it might be short in the beginning, however, think of it as a muscle that needed to be trained constantly. When you train the muscle more, the stronger it is, same as praying, when you pray more, you’ll get used to it and gradually having a longer prayer with God. To me, it’s also a privilege to pray for others. I am willing to carry the burdens for others, I might not be able to help you that much, but I can pray for you. Don’t hesitate to ask me for praying for you, I’d be happy to :) Prayers do work! Don’t underestimate the power of prayers! I heard a lot of testimonies talking about the year-long praying finally got answered, how encouraging it was! Was it too long? No, because God’s timing is always the best!

“The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” — Lamentations 3: 25–26

Praying is also a selfless act because we want something good for other people rather than from other people. As a member of the church community, praying together is such a wonderful thing, prayer meetings might be the few good things that happened in the pandemic, we’d be able to pray together no matter where we are.

Pray, you’ll find peace and comfort from God. Pray for everything. Take 5 minutes of the day to pray, and then 10 minutes and more, gradually there will be a difference in your life :)

Stay safe and healthy!