The center of power, it has been said, is not found in summit meetings or in peace conferences. It is found when children of God pray for God’s will to be done in their lives, in their homes and in the world around them.

We cannot pray and remain the same. We cannot pray and have our homes remain the same. We cannot pray and have the world around us remain the same. God has decreed to act in response to prayer. He commands us to ask. And Satan trembles for fear we will.

We need to start where we are, as we are. We can start with whatever concerns us, with whatever is lying most heavily on our hearts, whatever is irritating or frustrating us. Be pointed. Be persistent. Be patient. But pray.

When we were growing up in China, bandits kidnapped the two children of our hospital business manager. The bandits held the children for ransom, but it was against mission policy to pay ransoms.

Everyone—missionaries, Chinese friends, co-workers, even we children—prayed. In a few weeks the children were returned—without ransom—a thing unheard of in China at the time.

Also, when I was a child, there was a man named Ma Er who helped our family. The man had gone AWOL from the Chinese army, which found him and cut off his ears. Ma Er was not a Christian. When I left China to go to boarding school in North Korea, Ma Er’s name was on my prayer list. Years later I learned that my prayers had been answered—Ma Er had given his heart to the Lord Jesus and had become a sincere believer.

Be pointed. Be persistent. Be patient. But pray.

Adapted by permission from “Legacy of a Pack Rat,” by Ruth Bell Graham.