I was listening to a podcast recently when Shelly Giglio (wife of Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta) was interviewed and said something that really struck me. She said “you can believe that it will happen or you can believe that it won’t. If you believe that God is God and that He can do it, you choose to stand as though He will do it, then you can also be prepared for Him to use you.”
We read in Acts 12 that Herod began to persecute some of the believers and Peter was imprisoned awaiting public trial. He was chained between two soldiers and things seemed as bad as they could get, yet “the church prayed very earnestly for him” (v 5). As a result of the dedicated prayers of believers the chains miraculously and suddenly fell off and Peter was guided by an angel out of the prison freely and undetected. He went straight to the home of those he knew would be praying and Rhoda a servant girl answered the door. When she informed them that Peter was outside, the believers initially didn’t believe her! They said “you’re out of your mind!” and were amazed when they finally opened the door and let Peter in!
So my question for you today is: do you pray believing it may happen or do you pray believing that it will happen?
We have a choice. We can pray for Ireland because we love this land and yet underneath it all, we can think that some things will never change, or, we can pray for Ireland believing that God will move in His might and His power throughout this land and that He will transform hearts and minds. In the praying and the waiting, we can individually prepare ourselves for how he would want to use us.
Let’s not forget that the God of the impossible and the God of the ‘infinitely more’ that we read of in the Bible is still the same today. Let’s pray together…
Father, I pray that You would increase faith in each one of us that we would know that You are the God of the impossible and that You do hear each and every prayer that has been and will be prayed over Ireland. Father, we continue to pray and ask that You would come in Your might and Your power and that You would touch each life from the top to the bottom of this island. May we see this land transformed for Your glory and that in the waiting we would continue to prepare ourselves to be used as You would want to use us. In Your mighty name, I pray, Amen.