Foreword During the next three months, Sabbath school students around the world will be focusing on The Power of Prayer. What is prayer, and why is it so powerful? “Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him” (Steps to Christ, p. 93).Prayer was instrumental in the rise and progress of Seventh-day Adventism. Light, truth, and unity came to the early believers through prayer and fasting. And in March 1865, after the United States had suffered four demoralizing years of civil war, the scattered Advent brethren set apart four days to earnest and importunate prayer that those winds of strife should be restrained. By April, the end of the war had come. God’s people had not armed themselves with weapons of warfare, but had contributed to the public good in far greater measure by intensely beseeching the God of heaven.“What a wonder it is that we pray so little! God is ready and willing to hear the sincere prayer of the humblest of His children, and yet there is much manifest reluctance on our part to make known our wants to God. What can the angels of heaven think of poor helpless human beings, who are subject to temptation, when God’s heart of infinite love yearns toward them, ready to give them more than they can ask or think, and yet they pray so little and have so little faith? . . . Why should the sons and daughters of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence? Without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless and of deviating from the right path.”–Ibid., pp. 94, 95.“Among God’s people there should be at this time frequent seasons of sincere, earnest prayer. The mind should constantly be in a prayerful attitude. In the home and in the church let earnest prayers be offered in behalf of those who have given themselves to the preaching of the Word. Let believers pray as did the disciples after the ascension of Christ.”–In Heavenly Places, p. 93.“The Lord desires us to improve in prayer and to offer our spiritual sacrifices with increased faith and power” (Ibid., p. 78). Brethren, sisters, and friends: the next three months could change the course of history. Let these goals be foremost in the minds of Sabbath school students everywhere!
