Power of Prayer

Luann Prater has had a ministry with teen girls for several years and as so often happens at that time of life, some of the girls had become a bit skeptical about the power of prayer. One of the girls was particularly belligerent about the subject, so Luann knew that she had to do something drastic to show the girls that they were wrong regarding their doubts.

Luann prayed and God gave her an idea. Since it was around Christmas, she had each of the girls purchase a cool gift for another teenager, wrap it up and meet back the next week. Upon their arrival the following week, Luann gathered them for prayer and then gave the girls their instructions—get in the car, pray and tell her where to go in order to deliver the presents.

So the adventure began with the girls bowing their heads in silent prayer and then in unison shouting out, “Turn left” and left they turned. Back to prayer they went and then another shout, “Turn right” and on and on that went for about 20 minutes when they finally told Luann to pull over, because they had arrived. Once they had parked the car and gotten out, they were asked which house was the right one. The girls discussed it and then pointed to a white house with green shutters. Off they went to ring the doorbell, but there was no answer. After a second ring and no answer, they went around to the back of the house and knocked, but still no answer. There was obviously no one home.

At this point Luann gathered the girls and asked them what was next. Again they prayed and discussed what they should do. They then admitted that they had originally thought it was the house across the street, but when they had pulled up and seen a grandmotherly woman shuffling along they assumed they must have been wrong and that is when they decided to go to the white house with green shutters.

After their admission, off they went to the visit the elderly woman. Upon knocking on the front door, they were greeted by a cheerful lady and could see a tiny Christmas tree with three sacks at the base. The girls proceeded to ask her if she might know of some teenagers who would like to have the cool gifts that they had purchased and wrapped. At this point the lady began hollering, “Thank you Jesus! I knew you would do it! I knew you would provide Christmas presents for my grandchildren, just like I asked.”

The girls stood there amazed and will never doubt the power of prayer again and neither should we.

James 5:16b The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

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