You Don't Have to Press Zero

An interesting commercial aired recently that showed a man walking in the surf while dialing a customer service representative. As soon as the ringing ceased and a voice came on, he pressed zero on his phone's keypad. Pressing zero typically gets us to an operator who can then direct our call to the appropriate person. Well, as it turned out, the man didn't need to press zero because a real live person had answered instead of the typical automated answering service. The catch phrase used in the commercial was, "You don't have to press zero. I'm here. How can I help you?" How powerful! I'd rather be a customer for a company that cares enough to have a real person talk to me than one where I have to listen to long drawn out menus as I try to figure out which buttons to press to get me to the right person, only to end up leaving a message to a machine in the end. Getting a live person right away sounds like a little slice of heaven! And it is. When we "call" God, we don't have to navigate our way through the angels before we get to speak to the Almighty. We don't have to press zero. When we call on God, He is right there listening! "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?" Deuteronomy 4:7.

But it gets even better than that. Not only is God listening, but praying is the most powerful and even magical tool that we have. James 5:16 tells us that it is powerful when used by the righteous. "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." Jesus urged us to pray and gave many promises. "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” Matthew 21:22. What an amazing promise! Notice the condition: If you believe. Elijah prayed that it would not rain and it didn't. James 5:17. "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years." You can read more the story in 1 Kings 17. Put your trust in the Lord, have faith that He will deliver. We need to take advantage of the power of prayer and believe that we will receive. Remember that you are talking to the Almighty. If you don't believe you will receive, then it is like you do not believe in God's awesome power. God can do anything. Anything. So go to Him and don't be afraid.