S6 E6 - Prayer Surge: Flooding Heaven

When we have an emergency, we call 911 here in America. Sometimes so many people can call that the dispatch centers can get overwhelmed in something called a call surge. That's when everyone is calling about the same event all at once. 

We are called to flood heaven with a prayer surge. But the thing is God is never overwhelmed, he listens and acts, and the prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in it's effect! Calling on the Lord is the most important call we can make. 

#SetYourMindAbovePodcast

Transcript

What if I told you that God could be seen in the most ordinary things every day? 

What if I told you that every day, ordinary events could teach us extraordinary eternal truths? Would you believe me? 

 Welcome back to season 6 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast! My name is BJ Sipe, and I am a Christian, a preacher, a husband, and a father. In our next few moments together, we hope to learn some of the most important lessons from some of the simplest things in life. Thank you for taking this journey with me.

What is the first phone number that you memorized? That’s probably a ridiculous question to ask kids nowadays, because nearly no one has phone numbers memorized anymore – they’re just programed into your cell phone. But when you’re a 90’s kid or earlier, you had lots of phones memorized. You had your house phone memorized (another thing most kids today don’t even understand). You likely had your parents work phone numbers memorized, or the school, and several of your close friends. But there is still one phone number, regardless of what generation you are from, that everyone has memorized in the United States, and it was probably everyone’s first: 911. Three simple numbers that are perhaps some of the most important numbers you could ever know. For those listening in other countries that perhaps are unfamiliar, 911 is the emergency response line that you call when you are in need of immediate help from a first responder: that would include police, paramedics, firefighters, etc. 

911 dispatch centers are important places where they help to get you the help that you need immediately. Dispatchers are highly trained individuals to best help any and all kinds of serious situations on the other side of the phone, often given live saving advice while you wait for first responders. I cannot imagine the high stress level of having that kind of job and the things that you would hear every single day. And while dispatch centers are very well staffed, there are times where they can become overwhelmed because of the sheer volume of calls they are receiving at one time. This is referred to as a call surge when there is a sudden spike of incoming calls, and more specifically referred to as call flooding when a large number of people are calling all at once about the same incident. There are many historical instances of this taking place, especially when the emergency was so large and so visible, such as the attacks on September 11th or the Boston Marathon bombing. In these rare instances, there have even been occasions of what is called a telecommunications overload – where the system and the staff at dispatch locations simply cannot handle the large call volume. When this happens, this gives way to PSAP overload, which stands for Public Safety Answering Point, when callers could even receive a busy signal upon calling 911 – a rare bout real outcome of catastrophic overload. It just goes to show you how well 911 has been ingrained into our system in America – when you’re in trouble, pick up the phone and dial those three numbers – it might just save you or someone else’s life. 

What if I told you that the most important point of contact in an emergency was not 911, however? Please don’t misunderstand me – do call first responders in an emergency, that is a given. Even in this though, there is an even more important thing to do in life’s hardest moments: and that is to go to God in prayer. 

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen some really difficult things happen in the lives of those that we love and are close to personally. We had one of our dearest friends in Oregon discover they had a brain tumor that needed immediate and emergency surgery. We had another dear friend here in Kentucky develop a severe infection that turned septic, resulting in very serious and life altering surgery at far too young of an age. In our congregation, several of our families have had serious situations with family members – including falls, tests, and difficult diagnoses. And then there was yesterday – the day everyone’s hearts stopped here in our church family in Danville, and the reason for the delay in today’s episode. One of our members have a little girl who was involved in a very serious farming accident that nearly cost her life. She was airlifted to the hospital where they were able to save her life and where she continues to receive care in the Pediatric ICU. While she has a long road ahead of her, it is by the grace of God that she is still here with us. 

In every single one of these instances, there has been a commonality that I have witnessed firsthand with every situation, and that is a prayer surge. From coast to coast, and even in whole other countries, brothers and sisters in Christ were lifting up their voices in prayer on account of each of these individuals. Thousands upon thousands of prayers were flooding the foot of God’s throne over the same people, the same tragedies, and the same situations – even if they did not know them personally. As I told my wife regarding this little girl that we love so much, “she’s on a first name basis with the entire heavenly host by now.” And you know what? That is exactly what God wants his people to do. 

We read in Luke 18:1-8 the following parable from our Lord Jesus, “Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up. “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect people. And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so that she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’ ” Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to his elect who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay helping them? I tell you that he will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” There are many lessons we can take from this parable, but the first lesson jumps off the page in the very first verse: keep praying and don’t stop. Just as this persistent widow kept coming to this unjust ruler, and asking him, and asking him, and asking him, and asking him…this is the way that the Lord wants us to come to him. He wants us to flood the heavens with our prayers. Prayer is never one and done…it’s a practice that we return to over, and over, and over again – even regarding the same things. Jesus would even go on to example this for us in the garden of Gethsemane. How many times did he go to his Father in prayer, saying the same things every time? Three times. He kept asking. Kept petitioning. Kept praying. This is the way that we ought to pray to the Father. It is for this reason that we read in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray without ceasing.” 

However, there is something powerful that we read in Scripture regarding our prayers to God, and that is simply this: God can never become overwhelmed. Where dispatch centers simply cannot handle the volume that sometimes comes in during an emergency, our Lord God will always hear us when we call. We read in Psalm 34:15 – “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous And His ears are open to their cry.” When the temple was dedicated to God in 1 Kings 8, Solomon would make the following request of God in vv. 27-30, “But will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built. Listen to your servant’s prayer and his petition, LORD my God, so that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you today, so that your eyes may watch over this temple night and day, toward the place where you said, “My name will be there,” and so that you may hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place. Hear the petition of your servant and your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven. May you hear and forgive.” Notice the language of Solomon – that God would hear the cries of his people day and night. No matter the time, no matter the place, no matter the volume of people praying – God was willing to hear the cries of his people as his ears are open toward the righteous. God does not sleep, he does not become overwhelmed, and he is never too busy for those who call to him. When you pray, he hears. When we call, he answers. Always. 

This brings us to one final point: the power of prayer. What I have witnessed happen over the last several weeks in the lives of those I mentioned above has been nothing short of miraculous. As thousands of people have flooded heaven with their prayers on behalf of these Christinas, God has listened and God has answered. Before we continue, allow me to clarify: God is not a magic genie who attends to our every request and wish. While God always hears and will always answer, sometimes we are not given the answer that perhaps we want. We must always pray according to God’s will and recognize that sometimes God’s will is not our will. Though we might not understand it, we must trust it. Be that as it may, sometimes God’s answer is not no, and not maybe, but sometimes God’s answer is yes – and we get to in real time watch him deliver answered prayers. We read in James 5:16, “The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” Do you believe this? I do – I’ve witnessed it time and time again in my life, and I just got to witness it all over again over the past few weeks. If we do not believe that God is willing and able to still act today, what is the point in even praying to him? James wants us to understand how powerful and effective prayer truly is. God hears the righteous, he cares for us, and when it is his will, he is both willing and able to act in our lives! We serve a powerful and loving Savior who wants to hear from us. When we understand this, then we can realize that the most important call we could ever make is to call upon the name of the Lord in our time of need. 

Let us conclude with the words of the Psalmist in Psalm 116:1-7, “I love the LORD because he has heard my appeal for mercy. Because he has turned his ear to me, I will call out to him as long as I live. The ropes of death were wrapped around me, and the torments of Sheol overcame me; I encountered trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the LORD: “LORD, save me!” The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is compassionate. The LORD guards the inexperienced; I was helpless, and he saved me. Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.” 

This has been season 6 episode 6 of the Set Your Mind Above Podcast – and I’m so thankful that we had this time to grow together! A new episode is dropped each Friday of the week. If you’re able to, go ahead and like and subscribe to the podcast, give us a good rating, and tune in next week. Even more important, share the spiritual truths that we learned today with someone else. And more than anything my friends, always remember the following: know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.