“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” — 2 Chronicles 7:14

As we turn on our televisions to watch the local and national news, we see natural disasters, injustice, discrimination, murders and, basically, the worst of humanity.

An unarmed man dies in police custody in Baltimore, as people protest and riots erupt, and we choose to pray. Nepal is hit with a 7.8-magnitude earthquake, killing 4,800 people and injuring more than 9,200, and we choose to pray. Locally, we consistently struggle to feed our hungry, house our homeless and care for our children, but yet we still choose to pray.

Why? For the believer, we trust the word of God that is presented to us through the Holy Bible. One verse of Scripture says, “… The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). So when you believe in the power of prayer, nothing is impossible.

Prayer becomes a tool that calms the riots and brings justice. Prayer becomes a tool to comfort those in mourning and gives the wounded the strength to make it through. Prayer gives us the hope that every family will be fed, the homeless will have shelter and the children will be cared for. Because with God, anything is possible.

A songwriter once wrote, “Prayer is the key, faith unlocks the door.” In other words, as you begin to communicate with God through prayer, your faith in God allows those doors to be open.

When we see things happen with our own eyes and feel like it’s a problem much greater than our influence, our faith becomes the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen

Join a community of believers at 11:45 a.m. Thursday for the National Day of Prayer on the steps of the Historic Liberty County Courthouse. Let us pray…

Hayes is the pastor of New Day Community Church and the president of the United Ministerial Alliance of Liberty County.