THE POWER OF PRAYER:
HOW SIMPLE PRAYERS CAN CHANGE LIVES
By Pastor Paul Lloyd
Prayer saves lives. I know, because without prayer, specifically the simple prayers of a couple of people who didn't know any better, I most probably wouldn't be alive.
My story begins with two men, both with histories of crime, drugs and violence, and both friends of mine who had become Christians in unusual circumstances. In the middle of a meeting that they had to talk about their new-found faith, a request was made of God. They asked that one of their mates, someone they knew well, not a stranger, would come to know Jesus. It's a request that many people have made, and many more should. It was simple and specific. Within three days, I was knocking on one of their doors, unknowingly responding to promptings and circumstances that would radically change my life forever.
It was a warm July evening in 1995 and I was a 27 year old heroin addict. For over 10 years my life had been spiralling out of control. All that was waiting for me was a life-sentence because of the gang violence and crime, or a death-sentence because of the drugs. No hope, no future, no way out. That is until prayers were prayed; first theirs - and then shortly afterwards mine. My prayer was simple and specific too - "God I believe you are real, and I've been told that Jesus can change my life and set me free. If you will do that, then I will serve you for as long as I live. I'm so sorry for how I've lived and the things I've done. Please save me..."
I've come to understand since that evening that God answers our prayers in very practical ways and that He has, in fact, had the thing we needed in the pipeline even before we asked for it. But we have to ask or the answer is not activated. My next prayer was for help to break my unbreakable addiction; and a door was opened for me to enter into a Victory Outreach Recovery Home in London. Located in over 35 countries worldwide, with almost 500 Churches and ministries operating primarily in the inner-cities, Victory Outreach International provides answers to prayer in unique ways. It has at its core a belief, that God answers prayer and can, and does, love the unlovable and changes the "unchangeable". People like me. It teaches people that a relationship with the living God is the most important thing that anyone could have. And that prayer is the way that the impossible becomes possible.
Prayer not only broke my drug-addiction, it helped me to graduate the 9 month program. Prayer keeps me clean and free to this day. Prayer restored my relationship with my family. It took me on extended missions to India and the Middle-East. Through prayer I have seen bodies healed and lives changed. Prayer brought me a beautiful, Godly wife, and saved the life of my unborn daughter. It gave me a son. Prayer gave me the opportunity to become the Senior Pastor of a wonderful Church in Manchester where I see people from different backgrounds and nationalities become everything that they were created to become. Prayer works.
Pastor Paul Lloyd is the senior minister at Victory Outreach Manchester, which also has a Men's Recovery Home. For more information, www.victoryoutreachmanchester.org.
Source: Prayer for Today
