04/05/2012
In the past few week I have received a few inquiries about the Prayer Initiative that I have started here in New Orleans.
Many people saw the story on the CBS News "The Praying Lady" which was comical and entertaining, very few people realized that old church ladies getting in their cars and praying for their neighborhoods is only part of the Prayer Initiative. We have a network of small prayer groups all over the New Orleans Metropolitan area. We have students forming prayer groups on college campuses with the intent to pray for that particular campus area.
I was asked by Jet Magazine, CBN, CBS, and the New York Times, If since I have started this Prayer Initiative have we seen a reduction in crime in New Orleans?
This question struck me as a funny!
To me, it is like asking a cancer patient, "Now that the doctor has found your cancer do you feel better?"
Then it became clear to me that people have no idea how prayer works.
So I'm taking time to explain how prayer works for me.
1. Prayer brings a conscientiousness about a particular problem because now your are focusing on it.
2. Conscientiousness brings about an awakening: It makes a problem or desire real. The problem is no longer abstract.
3 Now that the desire or problem is real, you become connected to it.
4. Once connected, the problem isn't someone else's problem but you take ownership of it.
5. Now that you have ownership of this elephant (problems or desire), you realize that God want you to do something about it or how to eat it.
6. The truth is that God has no hands but your hands, no voice but you voice, no feet but your feet. You and God are an unbeatable force in your city, your neighborhood,your home and your life.
So to answer the question, "Have we seen a reduction in crime and violence in New Orleans?"
The answer: Yes, we have seen a reduction in the crime of people giving up, apathy and unconcern.
When there is no hope everyone suffers. What a crime.
