Daily Devotional for Saturday September 29, 2001

God Answers Prayer

(Isaiah 65:24)

It has come to light in the last days, that on September 11th there were many more targets to be hit that day. Several more places in Washington DC, like the White House and Capital, an office building in Atlanta, the Sears Tower in Chicago, office towers in Dallas and Houston, the Space Needle in Seattle, the Transamerica Building in San Francisco, and an office tower in Los Angeles. All of these were targets of the terrorists on that day. As horrible as the events of that day were, as tragic as it was that close to 7,000 innocent people lost their life that day, the fact is it could have been much worse. Many have asked why a loving, caring God would allow such an event to occur. I think the proper question in light of what is now known is, why did God not allow the full plans of these evil men to unfold that could have literally seen hundreds of thousands nationwide perish on that day?

Only God ultimately knows the answer to that question, but I want to tell you today that I believe in my heart, it was the prayers of God's people in the early moments of that fateful day that caused God to intervene and spare more people from losing their lives. I remember watching my TV at the office as the reports of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center came in. Within minutes of the coverage, we saw the second plane hit the other tower. Not much later came the reports of the plane hitting the Pentagon. A little later was the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. At about 9:40am, less than an hour from the first plane hitting the WTC, the Holy Spirit told me to call all we could to prayer. You see my friend, in times of crisis, when we really don't know what to do, we pray. I quoted Psalms 27:1-3 and sent these three paragraphs to over 700,000 people worldwide that receive my Devotional each day:

"My friends, as of an hour ago, a planned attack on the World Trade Center in New York and several targets in Washington DC took place. Thousands of innocent lives have been lost, and tens of thousands injured. This is a call to prayer for our nation, for the families who have lost loved ones, for the healing of those injured, and for our nation's leaders during this tragic time! Time will reveal who was responsible for this cowardly act. May they be brought to justice and may Almighty God be merciful on their souls. It is at times like these, that the words I speak so often to you actually come to life. We live in a sin-filled and evil world. One day soon, God will raise His hand and the world as we know it will no longer exist. In the meantime, we must take each day as the gift from God it is, and we must be serious about sharing the hope and love of Christ with this lost and dying world.

Please take a moment right now to pray. Again, pray for our nation's leaders, pray for the families who have lost loved ones in this horrible tragedy, and pray for those injured. Also, thank God for this day He has given you, and ask Him to show you how your life can be used to share His love and hope with others. These are the Last Days. It is no accident that last week I did a Devotional on the Last Days. It is no accident that we are currently promoting the new TBN film Megiddo which deals with the end times. The time is short. May this be a wake-up call to each one of us to take our responsibility as God's ambassadors to this world seriously."

Based on people forwarding this to all they knew, we got reports that within a few hours of the tragedy on that day, there were well over 1 million praying for God to move in this situation. There is no doubt in my mind, in addition to our efforts, there were literally tens of millions of people here in this nation and around the world praying to God in response to these horrible events.

I AM CONVINCED IN MY HEART AS I WRITE THESE WORDS TODAY, THAT GOD HEARD THE CRIES OF HIS PEOPLE AND STEPPED IN TO STOP THE CARNAGE AND DESTRUCTION THAT WAS STILL TO TAKE PLACE ON THAT DAY!!!

The word today for you is to never, never, never underestimate the power of prayer. The Bible is full of God's promises in regard to prayer. God not only hears our prayers, but answers our prayers. In your life, whatever you may be facing, never underestimate the power and importance of taking those needs to God in prayer. He may not always respond on the time schedule you would like, He may not always respond the way you want, but never doubt for a second that God hears every prayer, and will answer each one.

I love you and care about you so much. I know many of you are facing some incredible challenges in your life today. It is my joy and honor to be able to stand with you in prayer for those needs. I shared this incredible testimony of what God did on September 11th to be an encouragement to you. The same God who heard the prayers of His children on that day, is the same God who hears your prayers today. The same God who answered those prayers on the 11th of September, is the same God who will answer your prayers. So pray today with confidence, trusting in all of the special promises He has given us in His Word concerning prayer. He loves you, He cares about you, and He proves it each time you call on Him as He listens and answers.