We went with some friends to see U2 3D yesterday at the Imax in Dublin. Whoa! It was the best $15 concert you will ever have. It is huge, vivid, beautiful and engrossing. U2 has a lot of songs that pump people up to go do something good for the world. We saw thousands of young people dancing and singing along with the words at the concert, but I wonder if they went out and did anything to change the world.
I truly believe the world is changed one life at a time. If I can pray with one friend and help her figure out what is the next right thing to do today, she may go and have a positive influence on someone else. She may pass on a legacy of righteousness.
As she grows, she may use what she has learned to help others. Maybe her family will be changed forever and her children will grow up wiser and better at making choices because of her example.
She may get rid of the debris in her own life and uncover her gifts and talents. She may use those to bless everyone around her, too, and she will have genuine joy in being the person God created her to be.
I know this works because it is working right now in the life of a dear friend of mine. The consistent application of prayer and God's word to her life has done miracles in her. She has become a joyful, loving woman who blesses others every day. Last week she prepared a meal for 80 people, using her new-found love of cooking. She danced around her kitchen with her little ones, cared for the children of a hurting friend and honored her mother with her attitude of love and respect. She has fallen in love again with her husband. She is reading and learning about things that never interested her before.
She is only one woman, but she is one who has been changed forever and is now influencing others. It came about only because the one who influenced her had also been influenced by others to pray and study God's word.
Concerts and enthusiasms don't change lives. Prayer changes lives and God's word changes lives.
Gathering with God's people to learn, praising Him together--these things change lives permanently. These things create a path for us to travel together. While we are traveling that path we are EACH growing and getting better.
Here is what I know: everything gets better when we pray about it. I do not say that we always get what we pray for, but the situation will improve and good will come from it if we pray. There is nothing more powerful than turning to prayer. And prayer gets better when it is based in God's word.
My friend Judy Fairservice says that an aeroplane must have two wings to stay aloft, just as we need two "wings" to keep moving forward. What are they? The study of God's word and prayer.
Isn't it amazing that the two things that give us so much life and strength are free and available to anyone? I often pray that people around me will want to pray for themselves and become curious about the Bible. Anyone can be blessed by prayer and God's word, even without teachers to help them, but we need to pray that they will have the desire to look into these things for themselves.
Prayer and God's word--these two things are enough to keep me occupied for the rest of my life.
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