Pray without ceasing. – I Thessalonians 5:17

      O ne of the pastors I know related this account to me. He was watching the news coverage of the Los Angles riots years ago. A reporter was on the scene. She seemed reluctant to relate what she had witnessed and the news broadcasters had to coax her to speak. “There was a building on fire across the street,” she finally began. “A police car drove up. The officer got out of the car, got down on his knees and prayed. Then a large cloud came over the building and began to rain on it and put out the fire.”
      She was quickly cut off the air and the pastor told me he never saw her on the news again.
      My husband and I were staying at a trailer park in Santa Ana, California. The weather forecast was predicting a major storm for our area. We watched an enormous evil looking cloud bearing down upon us in the distance. Our little camper was highly vulnerable so we prayed, “Lord, please make this storm go away and protect us and this area, in Jesus’ name. Amen.” It was a very simple prayer. Shortly afterward, the cloud just disappeared. We heard the weather forecaster say on the radio, “Mother Nature is playing tricks on us.”
      We rarely listen to the news and one day when we were living in New England, I got a telephone call from a friend of mine in North Carolina, who knows that I don’t keep track of what’s going on sometimes.
      “Did you know that there is a hurricane headed your way?”
      “No. Is it a bad one?”
      “Yes.”
      “Should we evacuate?”
      “Yes.”
      “Gee, thanks for calling.”
      My husband and I prayed and we really didn’t get any leading from the Lord that we should leave. The hurricane blew out to sea and we were safe.
      Two weeks later, we were at a Christian retreat center in Massachusetts. The director told us that when the hurricane was coming they were in the middle of a music festival. He had to make an announcement for the tenters to leave, because he didn’t want them blowing through the trees. He got up on the stage and told everybody about the hurricane, and then he said, “It’s coming from that direction, let’s all raise our hands and pray that it will make a sharp right jog out to sea.”
      Everybody prayed and the hurricane did not make landfall. Afterwards, the camp director heard the weather man say, “The hurricane made a sharp right jog out to sea.”
      A couple we knew were on their way to participate in an art show when their car broke down in the desert. It was the transmission. The wife sat down on a rock and prayed, even though her husband thought it was hopeless. She continued praying, then she told him to try and start their car again. He didn't see the point, but he did it just to humor her. The car started and he began to drive. It was working perfectly and they were able to get to their destination.
      When they got home after the event, the husband took his aging vehicle to a repair shop to see what was going on. After it was inspected the husband was dumfounded when the repairman told him that his old car had a brand new transmission.
      We have a friend who is surgeon. He was working in the emergency room when a young man was rolled in on a stretcher. He had been shot in a gang related gun fight and he was unconscious in critical condition. My friend laid his hand on the boy’s shoulder as he was rolled in and prayed for him. The boy died on the operating table, but they were able to bring him back. Afterward the boy told my friend. “I was on the ceiling watching you guys work on me. I received the Lord Jesus and He let me come back into my body.”
      I met a godly woman several years ago when I was traveling in the south who related her awesome testimony to me. Her first born daughter was born without eyes. She was totally convinced that someday Jesus would put eyes in her little girl and she never stopped praying for her. One day as she was bathing the baby, Jesus came into the room and came up behind her. She suddenly felt very weak and had to set the baby down. She could feel the Lord’s arms around her and she heard Him say, “This baby will have brown eyes.” When she opened her eyes, two brand new brown baby eyes were staring back up at her.
      Pray without ceasing. – I Thessalonians 5:17