It’s an urban legend that has a point to it:

In a small, Midwestern town, owners of a new tavern started a building to open up their business. The local Baptist church started a campaign with petitions and prayers to block the bar from opening. Work progressed, however, right up until the week before opening, when a lightning strike hit the bar and it burned to the ground. The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise in its answer to the court. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the pleadings at the hearing and commented, “I don’t know how I’m going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner that believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not.”

Have you wondered what would change if we really believed in prayer? What if “All we can do is pray” meant that there was still a lot of hope? What if someone saying “You’ll be in my prayers” changed our perspective on our current prospects?

How many of life’s problems do we expect to be solved by prayer? One brother once wrote in an online forum: “We pray because we were commanded to, not because we actually think God is going to do anything.” While many would express disagreement with that sentiment, our daily lives often shout “Amen.”

I want to learn to live by faith. I want to be a person of prayer, a praying person, a person who believes in the power of prayer.