A while back, late on a Friday night, my family and I were in the airport parking lot having just returned home from a "Night of Hope" in another state. It was about two o'clock in the morning. When we got to our cars, my mother's battery was dead. Something must have been left on.
My brother Paul and I, along with my friend Johnny, got out the battery cables and hooked up her car battery to my car battery. Her lights came on, but the car wouldn't start. The engine wouldn't turn over at all, not one sound. A mechanic came out from the airport to help us. He worked and worked, but he couldn't get anything going. Johnny was reading the owner's manual. It's like we were missing something. The engine would not turn over. It was so late and freezing cold on top of that. After about 30 minutes of trying everything we possibly could, Paul said to my mom, "Mother, the car is not going to start. Why don't you just ride with me, and we'll come back tomorrow and get it?"
Well, my mother was not about to leave the airport without her car. She said, "No, Paul. I've got two funerals to officiate tomorrow. I have to have my car." Here it was 2:30 in the morning. I was tired. It was freezing. I said, "Mother, take my car. I'll ride home with Paul. You can drive it right now." She said, "Joel, I don't want your car. I want my car. Let's go try again."
We went over and worked another fifteen minutes doing everything that we could. Still, the engine never turned over one time. I said, "Mother, we could be here all night. The car is not going to start. We might as well go home." She said, "Give me the keys." She had that look in her eyes like, "Do not mess with me." I don't know if she was mad at me or mad at the devil. But she got in that car and started praying; and when my mother really means business, she prays loudly. She doesn't need a microphone; she makes sure that God will hear her!
I looked over and my mother was praying over the steering wheel, praying over the radio, casting the devil out of the engine. She knows no shame. (When I was growing up, my mother would pray over the dishwasher if it broke!)
Well, we were just standing, watching my mom and getting a kick out it, kind of chuckling, when all of a sudden, we heard the car crank right up. That engine didn't struggle. It immediately cranked up! My mother revved that engine so loudly. She must have had that pedal to the floor! Well, she dropped it in gear and started driving around in circles in that parking lot. Here she was, 80 years old, doing doughnuts at three o'clock in the morning! I thought, "Dear God. We're going to get arrested out here." I wanted to say, "Mother, you are grounded!"
When she finally drove off, she didn't even wave goodbye to us. She didn't say, "Thank you for at least trying." She didn't blow us a kiss. She just left us standing there in her dust.
Friend, the point is, prayer works! Prayer will get your engine revved up! When you face situations in your everyday life that seem impossible, God says, "I dare you to pray. I dare you to ask Me for that car to start." He cares about every detail of your life. He's asking you to dare to believe Him. Step out and pray. Then, when He answers, make sure the whole world knows! Praise Him for answering your prayers and move forward into the abundant life He has for you!