Matthew 18:19-20 — “Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.”

My Lord, my God… no one can ever tell me that prayer does not work! Not after what I’ve seen, No, Lord, no. You see, I was working with this faithful group of growing prayer warriors at my church, praying, fellowshipping, interceding and seeking. So much of prayer is an exercise of faith as you pray for your family, your church, your neighborhood, your city and state, the country and for Israel. you don’t see immediate results that you attribute to your voice being heard in the heavenly realm. But every once in a while (for some even faster) an answer comes along that quickens your faith, strengthens your resolve and drives your spirit to pray even harder.

Such was the result of two prayers this past month. We were gathered in the small prayer room just before service, just finishing up morning prayer, when one of the prayer warriors, Shameccah, brought her daughter into the room. It seems she was very burdened over her uncle, who was caught up in drugs and was not attending any church. Indeed, she was in tears.

We were fresh from praying for the coming service for today, and our spirits were warmed and ready. “What is your uncle’s name?” I asked.

“Sam,” she said tearfully.

We gathered ourselves together in a circle and with a few words of focus and instructions, we offered up a “Prayer Bomb” for Sam: everyone praying out loud, bombarding Heaven, calling on the same of Jesus, claiming Sam’s soul for the kingdom, rebuking the spirit of sorcery, binding the hands of the enemy, releasing the angelic hosts of God to do intense warfare for Sam. Five minutes later, we wound down and the prayer ended. The atmosphere of the room was very charged. I turned to the young girl, who was also in the circle. “Now you continue to pray for him this week and expect the best,” I said. Then we left the room to prepare for the service.

The very next Sunday I was standing at the altar, preparing to pray for those who came forth for various reasons. A tall, somber-looking man walked up to receive the call to rededicate his life to the Lord Jesus. By the look of his face and eyes, I could tell that he was living a rough life. As I prepared to pray for him, both the young girl from last week and her mother stood behind this man and caught my attention. Their eyes were glossy with tears and they had smiles on their faces. They pointed to the man and mouthed something to me. “This is Sam,” they whispered. I was absolutely stunned.

It turns out that Sam suddenly decided that he needed to go to church to get right with the Lord. Something was drawing him so strongly and he was so determined to get there that he was in the process of walking to church that morning when someone gave him a ride the rest of the way. When we received the full report, the next night of intercession we were truly ON FIRE.

“Who shall we prayer for next?” we asked eagerly, gathered in our end-of-the-meeting prayer circle. Cynthia, one of the prayer leaders, volunteered her son, Booker. “He hasn’t been to church in ages and I’m always worried about him,” she said. “He truly needs the Lord.” We gathered in our prayer circle, bowed our heads and began to fervently bombard Heaven on Booker’s behalf: binding, claiming, declaring, renouncing, rebuking, thanking. It was ten minutes of intense, faith-filled prayer, fueled by last week’s victory for Sam. At the end of ten minutes we finally ended. You could tell by the look on everyone’s face that we had prayed out of ourselves and into the spirit realm.

I don’t know what I expected – I am careful not to put God in the box of my expectations – but I was expecting something, I don’t know what. After two weeks there was no report, no mysterious visitors dragging themselves in and falling on the altar, and no one mentioned the prayer request.

I received a call from Cynthia on Wednesday, April 26. “Pastor, I just wanted you to know that I just finished talking to my son to see how he was doing,” she said, and I could hear the joy bubbling in her voice. My heart began to pound. “He told me that he has visited two different churches in the past few weeks, looking for a place to fellowship. He wants to get right with God!” I could have screamed, not so much because I was invested in this person’s being drawn to the Lord, but even more so because, once again, I knew, I just KNEW, that his sudden seeking of the Lord was due in large part because we had bombarded Heaven on his behalf. Once again the Lord moved in response to an intense, heartfelt prayer of saints in agreement, just as He had promised.

There is nothing so faith-building, nothing so encouraging, as answered prayer, to see our communication with the God of Heaven followed by His visible, measurable response on the earth, to experience the divine connection between our requests and His responses. Truly, truly, as the Bible has said repeatedly, this is the key to all revivals, conversions, outreaches, ministries, warfares, breakthroughs and blessings. PRAYER WORKS!!

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, I will forgive their sins and heal their land.” 2 Chron. 7:14

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