I heard a story about a ship that was sinking in the middle of a storm, and the captain called out to the crew, saying, “Does anyone here know how to pray?”

One man stepped forward and said, “Yes, sir, I know how to pray.”

The captain said, “Wonderful, you pray while the rest of us put on life jackets—we’re one short.”

During a Sunday class the question was asked, “In your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture?”

A young man said, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1)

A middle-aged woman said, “God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1)

Another woman said, “In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world.” (John 16:33-35)

Then, old Mr. John, who was 80 years old, with a head of white hair and dark, black skin, stood up and said with as much strength as he could muster, “It says, ‘And it came to pass…’ 85 times in the Bible.”

The class started to laugh a little, thinking that old Mr. John’s lack of memory was getting the best of him.

When the snickering stopped, he said, “At 30, I lost my job with six hungry mouths and a wife to feed. I didn’t know how I would make it. At 40, my eldest son was killed overseas in the war. It knocked me down. At 50, my house burned to the ground. Nothing was saved out of the house. At 60, my wife of 40 years got cancer. It slowly ate away at her. We cried together many a night on our knees in prayer. At 65, she died. I still miss her today.

“The agony I went through in each of these situations was unbelievable. I wondered, ‘Where was God?’ But each time I looked in the Bible, I saw one of those 85 verses that said, ‘And it came to pass.’ I felt that God was telling me, my pain and my circumstances were also going to pass and that God would get me through it.”

He who is a stranger to prayer is a stranger to power. When I pray, coincidences happen and when I don’t, they don’t. Seven days without prayer make one weak.

Jack Ward is the pastor at Tomahawk Missionary Baptist Church. Read more at tomahawkmbc.com.