Important Power of Prayer

In my junior year of high school I worked at Scout Summer Camp as a Counselor in the Nature Lodge.  One of my responsibilities was facilitating an activity called the “Web of Life”.  You may be familiar with this activity and may have done it or a variation of it.  In it, each scout was given a card with something from nature written on it.  The idea is to toss the ball of string or yarn from person to person explaining the significance of the connection between your card and the card you through it to. 

For instance, if I had the card “bird” and threw the string to someone holding “grass” I would explain that the bird uses the grass to build a nest and without the grass, the bird might not have building materials.  Simple enough. The activity continues until each person is holding a segment of the string. The activity shows the delicate nature of the eco-system.  Sometimes we would throw a ball onto to web to illustrate the support given by the interconnections on the web.

The next part of the activity is to have people systematically start letting go of the string.  For instance, I might say that man covers the grass with blacktop to create a parking lot.  The people holding “bird” and “grass” would let go of the string.  As people start to let go the web breaks down and is unable to sustain the eco-system (represented by the ball).  The same activity has been used to show the importance of human relationships on teams for team building activities. That we each need relationships and that relationships need to be reciprocal.  That each person has a part to play in the relationship.  We cannot forget to build relationships.

The same image can be used for the importance of praying daily for one another.  As we build a prayer web by praying we support one another.  That’s why we have prayer chains in our churches.  As we pray in authority we can lift each other up.  We need to be holding our section of the string and each other up in prayer. 

Forgetting to pray for each other it is like letting go of a section of the string in our web.  The web begins to break down and the person needing prayer support is like the ball set upon the string and begins to fall through the weakened web.  When we fall we are vulnerable.  Pray always for one another.  Keep the web of life strong.  Let no one fall.

Ephesians 6:18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Colossians 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you,

Philippians 1:4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.