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<h2 class="devotional-title"><a href="https://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/devotional/20180312/preceded-prayer">Preceded by Prayer</a></h2><div class="devotional-date">Monday, March 12, 2018</div><div class="devotional-body"><p><br>
</p><p>“The Lord said, ‘I <b>have </b>indeed<b> seen</b> the misery of my people in Egypt. <br></p><p>I
<b>have heard</b> them <font color="#FF0000">crying out</font> because of their slave drivers, and I <b>am
</b><font color="#FF0000">concerned</font> /about their suffering.'” (Exodus 3:7 <em>NIV</em>)
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</p><p>Prayer <b>has</b> all along <b>preceded</b> God’s redemption movements /on behalf of
men. The cry in Egypt <b>was not</b> simply a cry of woe /because of the
bitterness of the bondage; it <b>was</b> a cry of prayer /to God /for
deliverance. <br></p><p><br></p><p>The return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity <b>was
preceded</b> /by the prayers of such men as Daniel, Nehemiah and Ezra. <br></p><p>Simeon and Anna <b>represented</b> the company of those //who <b>were looking</b> /to God
/ for the fulfillment of the promises of the coming of the Messiah. <br></p><p><br></p><p>The
present dispensation<b> was inaugurated</b> by the ten days’ prayer meeting /of
one hundred and twenty disciples. The return of the Jews to their own
land again <b>is to be accompanied</b> by a new spirit of prayer and
supplication. And <b>will not</b> [the second coming of Christ] <b>have </b>as its
precursor [a widespread revival of the spirit of prayer among God’s
people]? When the Church earnestly <b>prays</b> /for the coming of Christ the
event <b>will not be</b> far off.
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</p><p>-Charles A. Cook (excerpted from the devotional <em>When You Call upon the Lord</em>)
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</p><p>“This<b> is </b>what the Lord <b>says,</b> he //who <b>made</b> the earth, the Lord //who <b>formed</b>
it and <b>established</b> it— the Lord <b>is</b> his name: <br></p><p> ‘<b>Call </b>to me and I <b>will
answer</b> you and <b>tell </b>you great and unsearchable things () you <b>do not know</b>’”
(Jeremiah 33:3).
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<p>
God <b>has promised</b> () he <b>will answer</b> when we <b>pray</b>! <br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
<p>
Read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+3%3A1-10&version=NIV">Exodus 3:1-10</a>. <br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
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