God Shows Up When His People Pray - The One Year Praying the Promises of God

In my distress I cried out to the LORD; yes, I prayed to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry to him reached his ears.

Psalm 18:6

In Psalm 18, David pours out his thanksgiving to the Lord for rescuing him from Saul’s troops. Inherent in his praise is his acknowledgment of how God responded to his fervent prayers for help. The Lord didn’t just hear David in his great distress—he acted! Verses 7-17 tell us God shook the earth and the mountains, opened the heavens, and came down and defeated David’s enemies.

This psalm has an important application for our lives: God shows up when his people pray! It doesn’t matter how old or young you are or whether you are a king or a theologian, a brand-new believer or even a little child. The simple truth is that God works powerfully when people pray.

A family I know once gathered around their father and grandfather’s bed for what doctors believed would be their loved one’s last moments. In a coma for days, he showed no signs of recovering. With the family stood a five-year-old grandson. “Grandma, what’s wrong with Grandpa?” the boy asked.

“Honey, he’s very, very sick,” she answered.

Very loudly the boy cried out, “Oh God, send down your big hand and heal my grandpa, right now!” and the few remaining family members said, “Amen.”

To their surprise, within the hour the elderly man came out of the coma. His vital signs returned to normal, and in a few days he was released from the hospital. He lived for three more months, during which time he committed his life to Christ for the first time. His eternal destiny was changed by the prayers of the youngest member of the family and the wonder-working God who heard his cries and answered.

Father, you are a God that hears and answers prayer. How gracious that you act on behalf of those who seek you.

The prayer of the feeblest saint on earth who lives in the Spirit and keeps right with God is a terror to Satan. The very powers of darkness are paralyzed by prayer. . . . No wonder Satan tries to keep our minds fussy in active work till we cannot think in prayer.

Oswald Chambers(1874–1917), Scottish minister and teacher