When people come to my office overloaded with problems, not knowing where to turn, I sometimes say, “Here is what I want you to do: Go sit with the Prayer Band upstairs in their special room this Friday night from midnight to two in the morning.”

They often react with shock on their faces. “Oh, Pastor Cymbala-I’m so discouraged I can’t believe that the sun will come up tomorrow. I could never pray for two hours!”

“I didn’t ask you to pray,” I reply. “I just asked you to go sit there. The Prayer Band will pray for you. And God will operate on your heart as you just wait in his presence.”

How many times have I heard back from these people that while they were sitting in that atmosphere, God brought alive his Word and his promises and lifted their spirits to believe. Thanksgiving began to flow. They began to remember the good things God had done in their past. Faith to spring anew as they waited on the One who can so easily turn everything around in life.

Cymbala, Jim. Fresh Faith. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1999, p. 208, 209.