Gummy bears work as rocket fuel. What does that mean to your belly?

Eventually the myth busters got it right. They had to devise a conical nozzle, and they had to grind the gummy bears into fine powder. But the caloric quantity represented enough stored energy to lift the rocket off its pad and launch it into the air. That’s a lot of stored energy.

Gummy bears are not a healthy snack. They are a quick trip to chubby. And they look so cute and harmless.

If you only knew the stored energy in one of those cute little prayers. Prayer packs a wallop. Just because you don’t see (immediately) the answer from God doesn’t mean nothing is happening. Slowly, surely, you’re building something for God’s kingdom.

Meet Camila, born to parents who couldn’t have kids

Prayer brought her into the world, and from the looks of it she is now learning how to pray.

Her parents, Gunter and Yara, were among the best disciples in the church. Medically speaking, they couldn’t have kids. Evangelist after evangelist prayed for them. Then my friend, Isaias Campos, came to preach for me. Ironically, he himself couldn’t have natural children. But God told him he would pray for somebody to have kids. That did the trick.

My son, Hosea, among the kids of the Door Christian Church in Guatemala City.

I left Guatemala six years ago under duress. I am currently visiting, and I’m blown away by the revival I’m seeing. It’s been packed, and people are hungry for God.

Prayer’s power

Prayer: refusing ‘acceptable’ religion

Credit: Washington Post

Prayer is about breaking bounds set by secularists, who want to limit Christianity to pious crying.

The day after the April 15 Boston bombings, Christians held vigils for the victims, and the worldly applauded. But the dead stayed dead. Mourning didn’t change our country.

Credit:TheTimes

Trying to constrain Christ to a reduced role of “acceptable” activities is nothing new. When Jesus saw his dead friend Lazarus, he cried. Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” — John 11:36 NIV. Crying was acceptable. Raising him from the dead was not. From that day on they plotted to take his life. — John 11:53 NIV. Jesus was taking their thunder.

Credit: The Bible Episode 4

It’s impossible for Christ to remain benign. His followers should not cower either. If you only want to lament the demise of this world, wring your hands. But if you want to see Christ transform this world, get in contact with resurrection power now — through prayer.  I am the resurrection and the life, said Jesus (John 11:25 NIV).

Credit: Prayerprayer.net

Break out of the limitations they set on you. (They don’t conceive supernatural power.) Work in prayer for miracles!

You would think they would have rejoiced at Lazarus’ resurrection. To the contrary, it made them furious (because it meant their loss of political power). But Jesus didn’t play their game. He used power. And that same power is available to us today.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not criticizing prayer vigils and mourning for victims. I would have participated, had I lived in Boston. What I’m saying is that we Christians can’t limit our activities to religious actions devoid of real power. We must pray for our countries, for our cities, for our neighborhoods, for our churches, for our families.

I’m also not talking about being obnoxious. Is there anything worse than a shrill “Christian” scolding the world for its worldliness? No, I’m talking about crying out to God and making impact, not being a self-appointed moral policeman for people who don’t have slightest idea about morality. First, let’s bring people to God, then teach them the way.

The world is eroding. We must resort to prayer.

Even more impossible: prayer’s power

• How do I pray effectively?
• Prayers of the Bible
• Pray for finances
• Inspiration for prayer

from http://www.alphaconsultant.com

First they were 32,000. Then they were 10,000. Then they were 300.

The shocking attrition was actually good news. If Gideon had too many, Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved Me (God)’ Judges 7:2 NIV. By making victory even more impossible, God assured He’d get the praise.

If your situation is steeply difficult, don’t despair. Don’t calculate “possibility.” A miracle, by definition, is contrary to natural law and contrary to reasonable explanation. Do you have:

1. church rent due with no foreseeable income to cover it?
2. big dreams and small budgets?
3. restrictions on what you can do for God due to finances?

Rejoice! When Gideon won against the Midianites, everybody got whooped up! Don’t glower, don’t be glum. God is going to move! Just pray with faith! Watch and see! Act and know that God will do what you cannot!

Berlin wall faith

When Jessica was a girl, she prayed earnestly that God would tear down the Berlin Wall, a token of the Iron Curtainand the Cold War. As he listened to her, her dad, my pastor, a former congressional candidate,

Not Jessica

wondered if he should explain to her the cold, hard facts of life. Should he re-direct her prayers to something more realistic?

Hahahahaha! Kids today don’t even know what the Berlin Wall was. To describe to them the “threat” of communism makes them laugh. They have new issues (terrorism, overpopulation).

In 1990 Soviet bloc liberalization allowed citizens of both sides to demolish the wall amidst reunification euphoria. Jessica never doubted that it was her prayers that did the trick. Her dad just was amazed.

So… you either get Jessica to pray for your needs… or you get childlike faith yourself (Matt. 18:3).

Surviving a lightning bolt

A bolt can measure three times hotter than the surface of the sun, yet a man can survive a strike.

Jerry LaDoux got knocked 20 feet away when he was hit in August 1999 and went unconscious for half an hour. His two-way radio had exploded and teeth shattered. A medical tag around his neck melted.

Survivor Jerry LaDoux

When lightning lets a man live, it tampers with his nervous system, much like a shock can alter the software on a computer. LaDoux experienced short-term memory loss. Others suffer tremors, mini-seizures and sleep disorders. As many as 1,000 become lightning survivors each year; 67 die.

Far greater power surges through you when you pray. So it’s no wonder Samson‘s dad, upon seeing the Lord, feared: “We shall surely die, because we have seen God” — Judges 13:22 KJV.

When you pray, you’re harnessing tremendous power — more than a mere thunderbolt! The only way you can lessen that power is by limiting your faith. While in the Old Testament, it was a fearful thing to come into contact with the Supreme Being, the New Testament encourages us without fear to “boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus” — Heb. 10:19 NLT.

We ought to realize the power available to us. We ought to make use of it. When His power pass through you, it will alter you (for the good, of course!).

** Thanks to Slate for the article on lightning strike survivors. The international conference of lightning-strike and electric-shock survivors provides support for survivors.

Computing power

The smart phone in your hand has more computing power than what sent the the Apollo Mission to the moon. And you take it for granted.

The heart in your chest has more potential power than Jesus Himself. Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do EVEN GREATER THINGS than these, because I am going to the Father — John 14:12 NIV (my caps). And you take it for granted.