Perspective

The Speed of Prayer

By Dr. Laurice Kafrouni-Durrant

I recently went through an incredible experience that resulted in a more meaningful approach to prayer. First, let me share the events that led to this epiphany. Some close friends who had supplied me with a small iPhone ten years ago gifted me a new smartphone this past Christmas, but, at 90-years-old, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to master all of its complexities. My friends, however, felt confident I would learn. So, in time, I have learned how to check the weather, how to store phone numbers of family and friends, how to call them, and how to text – all those activities that were initially foreign.

Another friend from Cairo (my birthplace) sent me an email saying we could correspond much faster if we used WhatsApp. Even after looking it up, I was still in the dark about how to implement WhatsApp to communicate with friends in foreign countries, but this problem was solved when my grandson gave me some simple steps to follow. After a few blunders, I succeeded in using WhatsApp to text my Egyptian friend and I received a response instantly. It was like magic!

I have since used WhatsApp again and again to communicate with friends around the world. Still, a much deeper, spiritual purpose for my phone became apparent. Firstly, I have marveled over the ingenuity of those whom God has blessed with minds to create such an expressway to reach across land and sea. As the Proverbs say, “The Lord gives wisdom; out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding,” (Proverbs 2:6). Secondly, could I use the WhatsApp mentality to talk to God and expect an immediate response from Him? After all, He created the minds who developed this commodity.

Praying or talking to God has taken on a new meaning since my experience with WhatsApp. I approach Him believing that I am in His very presence. Take Daniel, for instance. His prayer in Daniel 9 concludes with this: “While I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, ‘Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed,’” (Dan. 9:21-23). God sent His angel to Daniel even before he had completed his prayer!

I recently listened to Adventist evangelist Doug Batchelor’s Bible Answers program about prayer. He describes it as, “Faster than the speed of light and the speed of sound is the speed of prayer.” The Psalmist, David, must have known something about that when he said, “Turn your ear to me; when I call, answer me quickly,” Psalm 102:2.

My WhatsApp connection with God is working, and prayer has taken on a new meaning. Try this instantaneous connection mentality with God and watch Him work!