Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16
One of my friends asked me an interesting question this week. Are there men and women who seem to have the ear of God when they pray?
I didn’t have to think long and hard about the answer.
The Scripture is filled with illustrations of men and women who, when they prayed, God answered their prayers.
Hannah prayed.
David prayed.
Daniel prayed.
Elijah prayed.
Jabez prayed.
Paul prayed.
Down through the centuries, there have been men and women that God has raised up to stand in the gap to pray. George Mueller and E. M. Bounds, who wrote the classic book on prayer, are just two of the many praying saints.
There are many people in my lifetime that I would say when they prayed, they seemed to have the ear of God.
Growing up in our church in Philadelphia, there was a woman who was small in stature but mighty in Spirit. Emily Geissler was a simple lady who was not afraid to call out to God in prayer. She reminded me of the African American lady in the movie, War Room.
Every day, Mrs. Geissler, known to our family as Grandmom Geissler, was on her knees in her bedroom for five or six hours praying. She prayed for her family, her friends, her church, and she spent several hours with a world map before her, praying for missionaries and the salvation of the lost. I cannot tell you how many prayers she logged in her journal and how many the Lord answered, but it was astounding.
The other prayer warrior that comes to my mind was Pastor Newton Conant. He was a very gentle man on the outside, but he was BOLD and COURAGEOUS when he prayed.
As a Pastor, he would walk the church prior to every service and pray by name for the members of his church right where they would be seated.
One day I called him to ask him to pray about a matter on my heart, and all of a sudden there was silence. I thought he hung up the phone and wasn’t sure what to do. So I waited before hanging up. Fifteen minutes went by and he came back on the line, and I told him that I wasn’t sure what happened to him. He replied, “You asked me to pray, so I did. Now here is what the Lord told me to tell you to do!”
In his late 80’s he was asked to make a short-term missions trip to the former Soviet Union. He was told that he needed to raise personal support for the trip. He told his friends he would not do that but would pray about the matter. “If God wants me to go, he will provide the need.”
And God did just that. He received a letter in the mail from the IRS stating that he had overpaid his taxes several years prior, and enclosed was a refund. The amount? Just what was needed for his support.
The good news is that God hears YOUR prayers and wants to show you HIS power and glory. Too often, we either don’t think to pray, or we don’t really believe God can and will answer prayer.
Are you willing to take God at His Word? There’s never a better time to start praying like TODAY! I’d love to hear how God is answering your prayers. Let me hear from you (bwelte@americaskeswick.org).
Set apart for more,
Bill Welte, President/CEO
America’s Keswick
Written by Bill Welte, President/CEO of America’s Keswick: Bill has been married to his childhood sweetheart for 40+ years and has four married kids and 12 amazing grandkids. He loves music and is an avid reader.
