What is your first response when a difficulty comes your way? Do you panic? Call a friend? Paul encouraged his disciple Timothy to do something completely different. He said, "I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people (1 Timothy 2:1 NLT). Our life completely changes when we learn the "first response" kind of praying. Run to God first in everything. When a friend is in trouble, first pray. When you embark on a new project, first pray. When prayer becomes our priority, we see the power of God at work in a new way in our lives.

John Maxwell says, “The ‘detonator’ that churches lack today is prayer. It has the power to ignite the dynamite of the Gospel and powerfully shake the world.” The great preacher and pastor of Chicago’s famous Moody Church, A.C. Dixon declared, "When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do…but when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do." I wonder what would happen if we collectively decided that this is going to be the year we pray first in everything we do?

This year our theme in SCC Women’s Ministries is Women of Passionate Prayer. Our goal is to discover the amazing power of God when we pray. We want to be women who passionately pray in everything we do. I love James 5:16 in the New Century Version: “When a believing person prays, great things happen.” And our God is the God who makes things happen. May 2009-2010 be the year that amazing things happen because we drew near to God and prayed.

So join me, dear friends, and together, let's first of all, pray!
God bless you.