Power of Prayer #PoP

Hey guys! So, I know it's been a while since my last post (finals, mission trip, snowboarding, starting a new semester), and I apologize. Tonight something just hit me and I was going to post a Facebook status - which I rarely do - then I thought that I would display it to a wider audience.

"Pray without ceasing." I Thessalonians 5:17 The Bible clearly states the importance of the act of prayer. It is necessary for growth in our relationship with Christ.

I'll begin this post with a little backstory again. Last semester a core group of students from the BCM, or Baptist Collegiate Ministry, on the campus of UAM decided to commit to more fervent prayer. There is a group message that we are all in and we send prayer requests to each other all the time. We began this endeavor with small acts, like if a situation arose where something could be prayed about, instead of waiting, we stopped what we were doing and prayed right then. Then we downloaded the Pray app, which allows you to put in multiple prayer requests and then it gives your phone a regular notification about that request to help your prayer habits. When a prayer was answered we started saying "Power of Prayer" among ourselves or in the text message. Then my roommate, Jeremy, and I instituted a hashtag #PoP for "Power of Prayer". I sent out a group message that asked everyone when they encountered an answered prayer to post it on social media with #PoP.

The event that transpired tonight was one of these moments of prayer. There was a group of friends at my apartment and we were all talking and listening to music and procrastinating from homework; you know, the usual. Our friend, Jessie, asks if we can pause for a moment and pray for someone, so I pause the music and we all become silent and she starts to pray. During her prayer I thought of a prayer request, so when she finished I asked everyone to keep their heads bowed while I prayed for a friend. I am an RA on campus and Thursday is my duty night, and I'm on call all night long for 3 housing facilities. Well, about 15 seconds into my prayer the duty phone starts blaring its extremely annoying and insanely loud ring tone from my dresser. I interrupted my prayer for my friend and asked that God take care of the situation of whomever  was calling "because I'm not going to stop this prayer."

Once I finished my prayer I ran to my bedroom and immediately returned the call I had just missed. The person answered and I asked "did you just call the duty phone?" She replied that yes, she did, but that she called because she was locked out of her room because her lock was messed up, and after I didn't answer the door opened and she was able to enter her room.

#PoP

Now, I realize that this is a really, really small thing, but it absolutely rocked my world. I had literally just asked God to handle that situation so we could lift up a friend through prayer and the request was answered.

The willingness of God to have a relationship with us is mindblowing enough, but when a prayer is answered like this - even something as seemingly insignificant as a locked door - I can't help but be pumped about it.

I encourage you all to start praying more and see how God can impact your life, and I'll be praying for you as well. Goodnight and God bless.