When Prayer Shakes the Earth

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread. Our reading, titled When Prayer Shakes the Earth, was written by James Banks. Dr. Gary Greenberg has magnified and photographed sand from beaches around the world, often revealing surprising, vibrant splashes of color from the minerals, shell, and coral fragments contained within. He's discovered there's more to sand than meets the eye. In aeronautology, the study of sand, the microscopic analysis of sand's mineral content can reveal much about erosion, shore currents, and their potential effects on coastlines.

Even a little sand can yield information of great worth. A single prayer, like a grain of sand, can be a weighty thing. Scripture indicates prayer's powerful role in the coming of God's kingdom. In Revelation 8, John sees an angel standing at the altar before his throne holding a golden censer containing the prayers of all God's people. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth, and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Immediately after the angel hurled the censer filled with fire and prayer, seven angels with seven trumpets prepared to sound them, heralding this old earth's last days and Christ's return. Sometimes we may not feel like our prayers add up to much, but he so values them that they somehow even play a role in the consummation of his kingdom. What may seem like the smallest prayer to us can have earth-shaking weight with him.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Revelation chapter 8 verses 1 through 6. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth, and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Then the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared to sound them. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that our prayers matter so much to you. Please help us to prepare for your kingdom by being faithful in prayer each and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. I'm Stephen, and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.