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8) Impact

According to the English dictionaries, some of the meanings of the word ‘impact’ say the effect of one thing on another, the power of making a strong, immediate impression, bear on, touch on, influence, effect, the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or ideology, to fill up, or alter.

Can all this be applied to our prayer times? Do our prayers have…

1) an impact on us?
2) an impact on our family, others, or the world?

1) …on us? If our intimate conversations with the Lord do not impact us in some way…touching, influencing, effecting us…are we making the most of our prayer times?

* Do we allow God’s Word to alter us?
* Do we allow the Lord to fill us with His purpose, His vision, His heart?
* Do we sit still long enough to allow His presence to make an impression on us, influencing the way we think and ultimately changing the way we speak and act?

The Bible tells us to “be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Rom. 12:2 Amp)

‘Renew’ defined, by Vine’s Expository Dictionary, says it is “the adjustment of the moral and spiritual vision and thinking to the mind of God, which is designed to have a transforming effect upon the life.” There’s that impact.

Are our morals and spiritual thinking impacted and renewed as we sit at the foot of the throne?

As new creations, “what counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people.” (Gal. 6:15 TLB)

2) …on our family, others, or the world? If our intimate conversations with the Lord do not impact us, how then do we think outside of ourselves and plea for others, thus impacting their lives?

Sometimes God calls on us to pray for a certain person or situation even when we have no knowledge of the whys or what-fors. It may be to save someone from a disastrous circumstance, to give them needed comfort, or to right some wrong. The Spirit leads us in those times to be an intercessor.

Do we obey the Spirit’s call? Do we also make it a regular habit to pray for those other than our family members? Do we have a worldview, praying around the world to save the oppressed, the hungry, the poor, the naked, the hurting, the lost?

Jesus said, “Look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.” (John 4:35b NIV) Therefore, we pray that the Lord will send someone to cross the path of the lost, for scripture says we are to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt. 9:38 NKJV)

God “doesn’t want anyone lost.” (2 Peter 3:9b Msg) He desires all mankind to recognize Him as the Good Shepherd of the sheep. Of those who do not yet acknowledge Him as the Shepherd, He agonizes that they are lost without Him. His family flock is incomplete without them.

Just while you are reading this, hoards of lost sheep have wandered off the path and have fallen off the precipice of life. Is there a lost sheep you can rescue from falling into the great abyss of eternal death?

Is your life impacted by those intimate words shared with the Lord in your prayer times? Are you influenced, transformed, and renewed enough to impact the lives of others with your prayers?

May your prayer times transform you and, in turn, impact the lives of others for the Kingdom of God!

~~Blessings, Lynn~~