Our First Line of Defense

As we listened to a sermon on Sunday morning, one question the pastor asked jumped out at me.  Bells went off, lights shimmered, and the pastor's voice resonated loudly.  Well, not really, but definitely God highlighted one thing he said more than any other.  The pastor was speaking about healing in regards to prayer and asked those listening, "Is prayer a last resort for you or is it your first line of defense?"  I really like how it was presented ~ prayer being our first line of defense!

This past week God has been bringing to mind Matthew 7: 7,8.   It is the ask, seek, and knock words of Jesus that we are familiar with. At least 4 times so far this scripture has come up in devotions, scripture readings, and even Facebook.  When God sends Bible verses to me three or more times in a short period of time, I pay attention. It is one way He speaks to me.  These words in the Greek  really make the translation more like "Ask and ask again........seek and seek again...........knock and knock again".  We are to be persistent in prayer, because prayer is not for a moment, it is a lifestyle!

We reach out for prayer quite often in our family and my extended family.  My sister Jan and I  exchange prayer texts several times a week and my sister Jo, who helped raise me, and her children, whom I love as siblings, stay in touch via texts with prayer requests often in the mix.  And there are neices and a nephew who pray also, besides friends. We have good friends in Arizona and a prayer warrior friend in New Hampshire who are eager to pray!  We also have neighbors who have been praying for me, for us and I cannot leave out our Facebook and church riends who pray for us.  Just love being a prayer warrior and certainly are blessed to have them.  It is such a comfort to know others are praying, isn't it.

When we lived in The Philippine Islands one morning our oldest daugter Bethany and I were driving through our local barrio on our way to the base when our car stalled.  I tried to start it more than once but it would not turn over.  I began to get anxious because it was not so safe for us to be alone in the area and our car would not be safe if we left it where we were to walk for help.  No cell phones back then!  Finally I tried one more time and it started!  Bethany, age 5 was sitting beside me and said, "I knew it would start, Mommy."  I asked her why and she said, "Because I prayed it would!"  The power of prayer in a child's believing heart!  It was her first line of defense.

Right now we are being inundated with news of the coronovirus. We need to stay informed and live with caution, but it is so easy to let fear seep into our daily living.  What do we do?  Well, our first line of defense is to pray!  Certainly we do what we can to protect ourselves, but we never forget who is with us and who fights for us.

I am not sure how I could walk through life without prayer.  We are being obedient to Jesus' own words when we pray without ceasing........ask and ask again, seek and seek again, knock and knock again.  It is necessary for peace of mind and for just living life well to keep prayer in the forefront.  It is our first line of defense!