Day 127 "Prayer encourages us as believers and foils the plans of the enemy."

Day 127 Matthew 14:22-24 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. We leaders are so good at planning prayer before a service or an event. We know that before we do anything God needs to go before us and pave the way, and additionally, we recognize the importance of staying in His perfect will. However, we rarely think to pray after an event that the Lord has used us in; after all, where is the need for that, if it was done right? Jesus sets for us a great example of our need to seal the deal with God; our need to remember that we ought to always seek His will. Jesus went off to pray alone, and in doing so, we know that one thing He realized was that His men were now in a storm. Do you think God told Him or did He just know? Either way, it was the quiet time of seeking God that brought Him to a place of understanding that there was a need. We, too, must come to a place of prayer following the action of serving God. After all, is that not the time that the enemy would love to come and discount our act of obedience in our hearts? Think about it, we’re tired, physically and mentally drained, and the enemy comes along to tell us everything that we did wrong or he hits us with all of these worldly circumstances in order to discount what God has done. A while back, I spent two days in Junction City, Kansas, with some of the most amazing servants I have ever met. They put together an amazing organization of local Churches that serve God by serving each other and their community. An intense amount of effort and resources had been poured into the event, not to mention days of clean up that followed. That night, we had a great community worship service with Aaron Schust where they estimated 2,000 to 2,500 people came. We shared the gospel, prayed, and had a great time; it was truly an amazing event. I called home afterward and my wife reluctantly shared with me a series of challenges being faced by some folks in our Church and some very serious challenges being faced by my extended family. What a comfort it was for me to read this passage following the news from home, for the enemy would love to discount the work, take the focus off the joy, cause doubt and concern for future events, and in general do everything he could to steal our joy. But guess what? Our God is much wiser and omnipotent–He sees the plans of satan, and I imagine that He takes great joy in foiling them. Daily Prayer: Father, help us not to get caught off guard by the challenges we face in the world after we see Your miraculous hand at work. May the joy of serving You always outweigh the trials of this world. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen. "Prayer encourages us as believers and foils the plans of the enemy." Pastor Gene Burroughs