Operating with Prayer

Welcome to today's encouragement from The Our Daily Bread Devotional. Our reading, titled Operating with Prayer, was written by Jennifer Benson Schult. When my son needed orthopedic surgery, I was grateful for the doctor who performed the operation.

The doctor, who was nearing retirement, assured us he'd helped thousands of people with the same problem. Even so, before the procedure, he prayed and asked God to provide a good outcome. And I'm so grateful he did. In 2 Corinthians chapter 20, Jehoshaphat, an experienced national leader, prayed to during a crisis.

The three nations had united against him, and they were coming to attack his people. Although he had more than two decades of experience, he decided to ask God what to do. He prayed, We will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us. He also asked for guidance, saying, We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Jehoshaphat's humble approach to the challenge opened his heart to God's involvement, which came in the form of encouragement and divine intervention. No matter how much experience we have in certain areas, praying for help develops a holy reliance on God. It reminds us that he knows more than we do, and he's ultimately in control.

It puts us in a humble place, a place where he's pleased to respond and support us, no matter what the outcome may be. Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from 2 Chronicles chapter 20, verses 1 through 12. After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, with some of the Meunites, came to wage war against Jehoshaphat. Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Dead Sea.

It is already in Hazazontamar, that is, in Gedi. Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all of Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord.

Indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said, Lord, the God of our ancestors, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations.

Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, If calamity comes upon us, whether the sort of judgment or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us. But now hear our men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt.

So they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Let's pray. Dear God, you are the all-knowing and all-powerful God. Thank you for listening and responding to prayer. Please help us with whatever challenges we face today. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.