Does Prayer Matter? A Discussion On Prayer

By Eleanor DeRycke

Does Prayer Matter? A Discussion on Prayer is a book of questions. Asking questions usually receives answers, and that is what this book attempts to do by offering answers to such questions as Does God have time for me? What actually happens to my prayers? Do they just fade away? What about all the sinning I have done? How does sin effect my prayer life? How can we possible pray without ceasing? How can I use prayer as a first aid kit? Can I somehow learn to pray as King David did in defeating his enemies? And how do I carry out God's work on earth in prayer? This book then shares our heritage in prayer, as exemplified by the lives of the mighty prayer warriors of the past-warriors such as the Reformation fighters, Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Bucer, and Melanchthon; in most recent years, E. M. Bounds, James Gilmour, A. Wetherell Johnson, and Heidi Baker; and finally Jesus Christ himself. I truly hope you come out of the other side of this book the prayer warrior you hope to become. May God bless you, prayer warrior!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635752526

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Does Prayer Matter?

A Discussion On Prayer

Eleanor DeRycke

ISBN 978-1-63575-251-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-63575-252-6 (Digital)

Copyright © 2017 by Eleanor DeRycke

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

296 Chestnut Street

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

My husband Don for his patience

and my family for their constant encouragement.

My friends from Peace Lutheran, Sandra Johnson and

Ellen Young for their editing expertise.

My friends from Bethany Lutheran for their love and support,

and my God and Father for His idea in the first place.

Introduction

I suspect that throughout history most of us have questioned whether our prayers are heard. If so, hopefully by someone who really cares about our well-being. After all, maybe it doesn’t really matter in the long run, since life can go on anyway without a prayer or two. However, if you are asking these types of questions, I believe that you are in good and, if I may add, healthy company. I also think that those asking and investigating such ideas are those who will receive answers and, what’s more, find satisfaction by the truth of those answers.

So now, may I invite you into a journey in which we will discuss some of these commonly asked questions such as the following: How much time would God really spend listening to someone like me? Do my prayers finally just fade away? Is it all right to use prayer as a first aid kit? Can I learn to pray as King David did as recorded in the book of Psalms? What about all of the sinning I’ve done through the years? Does that just fade away? Should I hound the hound of heaven? Does prayer stir up faith, or does faith stir up prayer? How do I pray without ceasing? How do I help carry out God’s work on earth through prayer? And finally, what is our prayer heritage.

I truly hope your journey here, through our time together as we discuss God’s willingness to spend time with us, will continue to bring you from faith to faith and glory to glory. I truly think that we cannot come to a place where we have learned all of the things about God. However, I also think that we can learn so much more about God, for I believe that He doesn’t want us to be ignorant nor naïve of His ways and in so doing maybe even turn us into His prayer warriors.

Prayer warriors are those who are willing to commit to the energy and the time it takes in prayer to get the job done. These are prayer intercessors, both old and new, learning their way and those a bit more experienced, having become a vital and effective tool in the business of communicating and cooperating with God by praying for the increase of peace in the hearts of all people.

Prayer warriors are people who stand in the gap, before God, and with those for whom they are praying, like soldiers fighting in foxholes and in trenches on the front lines in defense of their country. A prayer warrior stands alongside those for whom they are praying, joining with them in their cause in getting their job done and, in so doing, giving God the praise and glory.

So now you have probably guessed that I have asked these very same questions myself. And so I am sharing the answers with you that I feel God has shared with me. It was in asking these types of questions that I grew into a prayer warrior and an intercessor.

Chapter One

My Prayer Experiences

Please allow me to introduce myself by sharing with you my prayer story. Talking to God is something that I have always done; I have no real memory of the beginning of a particular prayer life with Him. I feel that I have always known God as a being who listens and responds to me in a way that I could understand at any age in my life. As a young person trying to do the right things through the confusing complexities of life, God never left me, even through the hard times—the times of shaking my fists at him in hurt, anger, and disappointment; the temper tantrums such as of a first child not getting her way; and depression, when I felt that all hope in seeing the fruition of my hopes and dreams was gone. During this time of depression, however, I learned that all I had to do was change my hopes and dreams to a more realistic view of life. When I asked God to show me why my life seemed so painful, I realized that my hopes were really fantasies and were unattainable for me at that time in my life and that they needed to be given up to God for safe keeping. And with His help, I did that very thing. The weight of my personal disappointment was gone, and I could start anew on a more realistic view of my life and myself, interpreted through God’s understanding and blessed by His better plan for me.

God was just as interested in me during the good times. It was especially dangerous for me during these times, for He knew the slippery slopes that can occur when we become too at ease with our lives. I also began to learn that during these good times I wasn’t the least bit interested in praying, since things were easy now. I found myself surprised at that, that I would think I had no need for prayer during these times. But God was good and showed me that these are the especially deceptive periods that need diligence in prayer. It was easy for me to become slack and overconfident when all was going well and I felt that now I had things under my control and I didn’t really need God that much anymore. After all, why would I turn to God when my finances were stable, my emotions were at peace and quiet, and my confidence stronger than ever before? God, what God? He was a big help when I was in trouble, but after all, I’ve got it now. But I soon began to realize those were the very moments, while basking in my own self-confidence, that I became aware of how much I missed Him and even more intensely aware that I was aching in a painful loneliness that I had not known before.

I found Him to be wonderful company, always happy to listen to my questions and thoughts on the events occurring in my life. With that dawn of awareness, our relationship changed, and I found a father I had never known in Him, for He is the father that all fathers want to be but cannot, since God was a parent before the world was created. He designed the principles of parenthood. He is more than our example; He is our sympathetic, experienced, and perfect adviser to how we can raise our children. He not only understands fatherhood, He knows motherhood just as intimately. Isn’t He the one who birthed Israel and raised her up to be the nation that she is today? Isn’t He the one who made a covenant of promise with her, as well as with Christians, to bring us both into His