Editorial – Prayer

Calvin BrownCalvin Brown is a former Executive Director of the Renewal Fellowship.

Prayer is more powerful than habits, heredity, and natural tendencies. It can overcome all these. It is more powerful than the forces that hold the planets in place. Prayer, though it comes from the heart of an unlearned child of God, can suspend the laws of the universe, if such be God's will, just as the sun stood still when Joshua prayed. There is no other power on earth that the enemy of souls hates and fears as he does prayer. We are told that "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees." — Matilda Andross

The theme of this edition of Channels is PRAYER. As a Fellowship we have found focused prayer to be by far the most powerful means of seeing renewal come to the Presbyterian Church. We can tell you one story after another of how God unleashed glory on the earth through concerted prayer. By visiting our webpage you can see the variety of prayer ministries we offer. Prayer is not a substitute for action, but it is the means God uses to ensure that all our actions are Spirit-led and Spirit-powered. Darrell Johnson gives us great insight from the opening chapter in his new book on prayer; Isobel Peters shares some practical ways an effective prayer ministry is taking place at Calvin Church in Abbotsford, BC; Emery Cawsey's prayerful reflection on Kris Davidson leads us all to deeper prayer; and Victor Shepherd shares with us from the root of our heritage some of John Calvin's understanding of prayer. This edition also has a review of Don Macleod's new book on Stanford Reid by Ian Rennie. We believe this edition will serve as a good resource for those who want to increase their understanding of prayer and wish to enter more deeply into it.