Personal Prayer Power Blog

Here in Atlanta we’re in the middle of a terrible drought.  We’re under an absolute outdoor watering ban and our main source of water – Lake Lanier – is quickly disappearing.  Some estimates say we have less than a month or two supply of water before we’re out.  I haven’t seen a drop of rain in a month.

On Tuesday our Governor, Sonny Perdue, called a prayer meeting to pray for rain at the State Capitol here in Atlanta.  About 250 people came.  The press, who are paid to be skeptics, were also there in force.  In Wednesday’s edition of the Atlanta Journal-Consitition they printed a picture of the governor with his eyes closed in prayer sitting in the brilliant sunshine.  The caption under the picture said, “Gov. Sonny Purdue was not discouraged by the clear skies Tuesday.  He said, God ‘can make it rain next week or next month,’ he told reporters.”  

Since the governor announced the prayer meeting, the paper has been giving equal time to those who think that governors shouldn’t pray, much less ask others to join him in prayer.  One editorial written by a minister said that we really shouldn’t pray for rain because it was determined by natural forces, not God.  Rather a better thing to pray for the wisdom to conserve water and handle the drought.

Protestors from the Atlanta Freethought Society were on hand a block away from the Capitol holding signs that said, “Check the weather report before praying for rain” and “Pray on the Church steps not the Capitol steps.”

On Wednesday night at around 11:00, Gordon and I were awakened by a sudden, loud sound.  It was rain hammering on the roof, something akin to a sudden, hard thunderstorm shower.  It didn’t last terribly long.  But it did rain with such unmistakabe power that it woke us out of a sound sleep.  When I went out on my morning prayer walk the grass had turned green and I could hear the little creek in the woods babbling again. 

This morning’s paper carried a little sidebar that said, “Blessed Rainfalls.”  It said, “Just like Perude – and the National Weather Service – predicted, it was a rainy night in Georgia on Wednesday.”

The sidebar went on  to quote a meteorologist, “It will tease us a little bit.  The ground is so dry it will absorb everythig that falls on it.”

It’s fascinating to me that we go to such great lengths to put qualifiers all over prayer and answers to prayer.  It’s like our society ties a rope around prayer, saying, “Don’t pray.”  And then when prayers are answered society says, “Prayer and the answer that came really didn’t make a difference.”    

In the Bible, people often prayed for rain.  It was celebrated as one of God’s most precious blessings.  James 5:17,18 says, “Elijah was a man just like us.  He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.  Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced crops.” 

Actually, there was some humility involved when the Governor prayed for rain.  Not only was he setting himself up for the skeptical press reports that followed, but he was also admitting our part in the problem.  He said, “Georgians have not done all we could do in conservation…Hopefully we will be better conservators of the blessings God’s given us as he give us more rain.”   

Of course there’s no way to convince someone who doesn’t believe in prayer that God hears us.  The only thing I can say to the skeptics is that it rained hard last night.