{"id":44653,"date":"2010-05-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/prayer-works-even-from-far-away\/"},"modified":"2010-05-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-05-03T00:00:00","slug":"prayer-works-even-from-far-away","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/prayer-works-even-from-far-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Prayer Works Even from “Far Away”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Peter Charpentier, a minister in Hammond, Louisiana, shares a story of how God used his youngest son to teach him a valuable lesson about prayer and the nature of God's presence:<\/p>\n\n

\n

One day I was leaving for work when my wife said she wasn't feeling well. After quizzing her for a moment to find out what was wrong, I decided I should take a personal day. But she insisted everything was fine and told me to go ahead with my plans.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

As I was about to leave the house, I thought, Now is an excellent time to make sure my nine-year-old son knows how to call me in case of an emergency.<\/em> So I asked him to come to our bedroom where I was making the bed. I sat him down and walked him through the simple process of calling my cell phone. To ensure he had retained the lesson and wouldn't have any trouble later on, I had him give it a try right there on the spot. I watched him dial my number from our home phone, my cell rang, I answered, and for just a minute or so, we had a nice, little conversation standing ten feet from one another in the same room.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

After we wrapped up the conversation, my son left the room. Okay,<\/em> I thought. If there's a problem while I'm gone, the little man-of-the-house can reach me.<\/em> About three minutes later, my cell vibrated again, and when I glanced to check who it was that was calling, I saw my home phone number. Still standing in the bedroom, I answered the phone with a smile.<\/p>\n\n

"Hello?"<\/p>\n\n

"Hey, Dad," came the familiar voice. "I just wanted to call from the living room to make sure this phone works from far way!"<\/p>\n\n

I chuckled and shared with my son that our house phone works very well. I told him that he could even call China from our phone if he wanted to—before making it immediately clear that he shouldn't call China!<\/p>\n\n

The moment has since served as a gentle reminder for me about a simple truth we find in Scripture. When I walk through a valley, I sometimes wonder if God hears me. I feel "far away" from him. The same fear is stirred when I stray from God. I'm afraid he can't hear me because I've drifted too far. But I know prayer works even from "far away," because God always has his eyes on me no matter where I go. The Psalmist puts it this way: "You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar." (Psalm 139:2<\/a>) It really doesn't matter where I go. Prayer works even from "far away."<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3421,3481,3592,3594,3777,3921,3936,3943,4132,4229,4267,4268,4271,4448,4519,4529,4564,4565,4631,4673,4679,4754,4905,5042,5043,5201],"tax_ctp_topics":[382],"class_list":["post-44653","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-answers-to-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-believing-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-christian-life","tax_ctp_tags-christian-practices","tax_ctp_tags-devotional-life","tax_ctp_tags-experiencing-god","tax_ctp_tags-faith-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-faithfulness-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-hearing-gods-voice","tax_ctp_tags-importance-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-intercession","tax_ctp_tags-intercessory-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-international-day-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-meditation","tax_ctp_tags-national-day-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-need-for-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-omnipresence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-omniscience-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-persistence-in-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-power-of-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-prayer","tax_ctp_tags-quiet-time","tax_ctp_tags-see-you-at-the-pole","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-direction","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-unanswered-prayer"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nPrayer Works Even from "Far Away" - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/prayer-works-even-from-far-away\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prayer Works Even from "Far Away" - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Peter Charpentier, a minister in Hammond, Louisiana, shares a story of how God used his youngest son to teach him a valuable lesson about prayer and the nature of God's presence: One day I was leaving for work when my wife said she wasn't feeling well. 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