Divine Intervention or Dumb Luck?

First, I want to say that no church has had Saturday, Sunday, OR today covered with 24 hour prayer for Operation Rolling Thunder. Second, I did take the weekend off from blogging here because I had other writing and reading obligations to attend to. I only have so much time. But I did pray the list yesterday morning before church!



This video has ORT founder Tim Taylor talking about how 24 hour prayer affected a community up north, and about how we, as one city church, are building a wall of prayer around our city.

This weekend, a woman in our church came to me with a story about a group of Christians in Jacksonville, FL mapped out their city to pray over it street by street, on foot. She said the crime rate had decreased by 12% by the time they had covered 12% of the city.

I have not had a chance to verify this story yet, but if it happened, do we believe it was the prayers of the saints, or was it dumb luck? I guess the question should really be, do we give God the glory, or do we attribute it to some sort of mathematical randomness?

This must lead, once again, to Tim Tebow. He won again yesterday, and it has raised the question in living rooms and bars across America: Is it God, or just luck? Week after week, he steps up and it appears that the Lord bails him out. Is that really what's happening? Does God really care about football? Really?? Or does God care about being glorified? That one is much easier to swallow.

And does this Tebow example matter to those of us who want divine intervention in our city? Yes, and here is why. Tebow is committed to a schedule in which he will be on public display, and millions will be watching to see if it happens again. Tim cannot walk away from the table a winner, and let the team play without him. He will be tested week after week until the season is over. But what about us?

When God answers our prayers, do we quit and go out a winner? NO! We come out and play and pray day after day. We glorify God, and let the critics come and do their worst. And our season does not end until WE do.

I challenge you to stick your neck out; spend time in prayer regularly; glorify God, and give Him the opportunity to win the big one while you are on the field, and not on the bench.