PRAYER, POWER OF

Prayer moves the hand that moves the world!1042

Prayer is the only omnipotence God grants to us.1043

“Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer” (John Wesley).1044

“Praying for particular things,” said I, “always seems to me like advising God how to run the world. Wouldn’t it be wiser to assume that He knows best?” “On the same principle,” said he, “I suppose you never ask a man next to you to pass the salt, because God knows best whether you ought to have salt or not. And I suppose you never take an umbrella, because God knows best whether you ought to be wet or dry.” “That’s quite different,” I protested. “I don’t see why,” said he. “The odd thing is that He should let us influence the course of events at all. But since He let us do it in one way, I don’t see why He shouldn’t let us do it in the other.” [From C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1970), p. 217.]1045