BBD 04.11.17 Still Powerful - Part 2 (Classic)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
Classic from 2010
Burning Bush Devotional
11 April 2017
Still
Powerful – Part 2
Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do
he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My
Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be
glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. - John
14:12-14 NKJV.
Inspector Roger Bartlett is the chief of policing in Barnstaple, England;
Barnstaple is a small city of about 34,000 people. Inspector Bartlett is a
leader in the Christian Policing Association there and provides some startling
information about the power of prayer and public safety. In 2007, the
Association made a commitment to pray for an improvement in the crime detection
rate (crime clearance rate). In 2007, the crime detection (clearance) rate was
only 26%, but now that rate has increased 14 points to 40%.
The Christian Policing Association also took on another prayer project of
trying to reduce the number of fatal highway accidents in North Devon where
Barnstaple is located. The astounding result is a drop in fatal accidents in
one year from 97 to 32. Inspector Bartlett commenting on this said, “Many who do not have the faith would say that this is
just coincidence. From my experience, the more I pray the more coincidences I
seem to see.”
As a pastor, in almost every worship service I lead in prayer and pray for
individuals and for large groups of people including missionaries, rescue
workers, those affected by disasters, and others. In my private prayer life, I
pray for individuals, and also for large groups of people as I am sure that
most reading this devotional do as well. Have you ever wondered whether it
really makes any difference? When I pray for the safety of those in my
community, and there is a fatal accident, I sometimes wonder what is wrong with
my prayer life. You may possibly have the same questions.
I think that I may be asking the wrong question when looking at the
effectiveness of prayer for large groups. What those of us who pray for those
large groups should be thinking of is how many lives were protected, how many
lives and souls were saved, because of our prayers. Why were the fatal
accidents in North Devon not reduced to zero? I do not know. This side of
Heaven we simply will not know the answer to some of those questions. What we
do know is that possibly as many as 65 fatal accidents were avoided because of
prayer. It is like the story of the Star Thrower (The story may have been
originally written by Loren Eiseley 1907-1977). The boy or the young man in the
story could not possibly throw all the starfish back into the ocean before the
tide went out and the rays of the hot sun came down. A man questioned why the
boy was still trying to throw the starfish back into the ocean? The answer, as
the boy threw another starfish back was “It makes a difference for this one.”
The point of all of this is that the Name of Jesus is still powerful, and our
prayers do make a difference. As the apostle John says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything
according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever
we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him (1 John
5:14-15).”
Copyright © 2010 - 2017. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed
Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of those
first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to
prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.
Visit the
Burning Bush websites:
The Burning Bush websites are celebrating
18 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the Burning Bush
Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than 14,000
subscribers across the world.
The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM
The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer a paper copy of the book you can order it from
the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk
Books now available at the Burning Bush website:
New Pastor's
Training Manual
Biblical Help
for Overcoming Substance Abuse
Biblical Help
for Overcoming Sexual Addictions In Times of
Trouble - Devotionals to Encourage and Strengthen You (Also available for
download on Amazon.)
You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.
There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.
Check out the Scripture Index being constructed for the
Devotionals at the Burning Bush website. The Links are in about the middle of
the home page. Topics for each devotional are now being added to the Index.
Please continue to pray for
healing for Pastor Shane Hall, Michelle Abetz, Wesley Lewis, Brad, Damon D.
& wife, Beverly (Jeanie’s sister), Lexi McCalip, Gary Kirk, and Jeanie.
Please pray for an end to the
racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace and love. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for me. My
prayer focus is now that God will give me opportunities to preach. As the
apostle Paul says, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!”).
You can contact Ed Wrather at
theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105
If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org
There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.
You can help support this
ministry by using this link: http://www.paypal.me/EdWrather
Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.
You can unsubscribe to the burningbushdevo devotional group by
sending a blank email to burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email.
You may subscribe to the html text group (Because of time
constraints the devotional is only being sent now in html format) by sending a
blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org and you may unsubscribe by
sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond
to the confirmation email. If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.
--
To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org