Psalm 102

“For the LORD will rebuild Jerusalem. He will appear in his glory. He will listen to the prayers of the destitute. He will not reject their pleas.” (Psalm 102:16–17, NLT)

Yesterday we experienced the most incredible day. It was our annual Worship in the Park, my favorite Sunday of the year. But what made it even more special was that it was our 29th anniversary of doing baptisms in the Boise River, and we baptized 29 people! Leading up to this my prayer had been that the Holy Spirit would give a clear call to people to be baptized. One of our young adults brought her brother to church for the first time, and he chose to be baptized along with her! The last one to come out to the river was our grandson Brennan who is seven years old. When I asked him why he wanted to be baptized, he said, “I just felt in my heart that I wanted to.” Later, when I got home I received a text from a woman who had been praying for ten years for her son, and to her surprise, he went forward to be baptized!

I believe that the many blessings we experienced were the result of answered prayers. It was God listening to the fervent pleas of His people. As I looked out at all the people gathered for the worship service, the people gathered on the riverbank, and the many rafters who were watching with smiles and thumbs up (some were even capturing it on their phones), I realized that the Lord is doing an awesome work. He is building His church! And all of this is ultimately for His glory.

Today and throughout the week I would encourage us all to pray greater, more intense prayers. Let us take to heart the words of James, the Lord’s brother:

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16b, NKJV)