When someone we love is suffering and we feel powerless to help,

we'll often fill the silence with this promise.

I'll pray for you.

Prayer isn't a last resort.

Petitioning God for mercy should be our first step,

because it's our greatest weapon.

Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindall explains why interceding for others is powerful

and productive, and it's something that should spill freely from our hearts. It's how we tap into

our God-given potential to make a difference. Today's message comes from Chuck's study in Second Thessalonians called Steadfast Christianity.

Robert Mulholland gives us this definition of prayer.

Prayer is the act by which the people of God become incorporated into the presence and action of God in the world.

Prayer becomes a sacrificial offering of ourselves to God,

to become agents of God's presence and action in the daily events and situations of our

lives.

While the Apostle Paul was earnestly preaching in Corinth, according to Acts 18, verses 1 to 5,

his dear Christian friends in Thessalonica were going through the ringer of persecution.

How he wished he could do something, anything, to help these believers he loved so much.

It's tough to be somewhere else when those we care about are suffering, isn't it?

Even when we're there, we often feel

powerless to help them. And somewhat apologetically, we add, I'll pray for you, feeling that somehow

it's not enough, like it's our last resort. Nothing could be further from the truth. A.J. Gordon reminds us, you can never do more than pray until you have prayed.

Prayer is indeed our first priority and our most powerful means of helping others.

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