Because You Prayed

How many of us have a need that is greater than our capacity to meet? If we are honest, most of us have such a need. In 2 Kings 19 is the story of Jerusalem being surrounded by the Assyrians. The siege was long, and the heathen king even blasphemed the Lord. King Hezekiah and the nation were in dire need, and they were facing certain death. Then Hezekiah went into the temple and called Isaiah to a prayer meeting. There Isaiah made intercession for Hezekiah and for the nation. Later King Hezekiah took a letter written by Sennacherib which challenged God’s ability to keep Jerusalem safe and spread it out before the Lord and prayed himself. Then the answer came in verse 20. Because you have prayed to Me. The glorious answer which fills the rest of the chapter came because Hezekiah prayed. What if he had not prayed? Then we are to think that no answer would have come, and Jerusalem would have been conquered. Hezekiah’s prayer really mattered. This should lead us to ask: How many blessings, how many victories, how many souls saved for Jesus’ glory, lie unclaimed in heaven until the Lord can say, “because you have prayed to Me”? God will never ever answer a prayer that has not been made! Only "because you prayed" will God have a chance to give us an answer, even though He knows what we need even before we ask. So, why do I pray? Because it gives God a right to act on our behalf. Our problem is that we generally don’t want to bother God with our little details down here until it becomes a crisis. That’s okay, bother God any way. God can’t answer a prayer that is never spoken to Him. He would like to, but we have bound Him from acting because we do not pray fervently to Him regarding our situations. Let us begin to pray for God’s Spirit to work on our behalf and do in us what would never be done if we had not prayed. Let’s be fervent in prayer!