{"id":41066,"date":"2026-07-23T15:44:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?post_type=portfolio&p=41066"},"modified":"2026-07-23T15:59:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:59:30","slug":"2026-onemore","status":"publish","type":"portfolio","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/gospel-express\/2026-onemore\/","title":{"rendered":"One More Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just how powerful is prayer?<\/p>\n

I think that most of us have already figured out that prayer is very powerful. For me, prayer is how I get through each day, from the moment I wake up until I go to sleep. It is what I relied on during the darkest days after my father, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, passed away. It is what has sustained me since.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But just how powerful is one prayer? Two prayers? One hundred prayers? How about just one more prayer than we have already said? For that answer, we will turn to this week\u2019s\u00a0Torah<\/em>\u00a0reading,\u00a0Va\u2019etchanan<\/em>, meaning, \u201cI pleaded.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s portion opens with Moses in prayer. He pleaded with the LORD to let him into Israel. Moses begged the LORD over and over again. According to Jewish tradition, Moses prayed that same prayer 515 times! But then God answered Moses, \u201cThat is enough<\/em>\u2026\u00a0Do not speak to me anymore about this matter<\/em>\u201d (v.26). When God told Moses to stop praying, the implication was that if he had continued, God would have relented!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The incredible lesson that we can take from these verses is the power of just one more prayer. Often we pray for something, and whatever we ask for doesn\u2019t manifest. Sometimes we give up right then and there. Other times, we pray a second time, or a third. But how many of us have prayed 515 times? When it comes to prayer, we have to be like children who nag their parents over and over again. We have to ask, and ask, and ask again. Eventually, if we ask enough, and our prayer is in our best interest, our Father in heaven will answer us.<\/p>\n

Does this mean that God is like a pushover parent who gives in to whining and nagging?<\/p>\n

Certainly not! It\u2019s not that we get God to change his mind by our repetitive prayers. It\u2019s that we change ourselves through our many prayers. We become closer to God and we learn to value what we pray for\u2014be it health, peace, or sustenance more than we ever had.\u00a0We<\/em>\u00a0change, and so God changes our situation.<\/p>\n

If your prayers haven\u2019t been answered yet, take heart. Pray, pray, and pray again. You never know\u2014the next prayer you say may be the one that changes your life forever!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Each week in synagogue, Jews read through the\u00a0Torah<\/em>\u00a0from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The\u00a0Torah<\/em>\u00a0portion for this week is\u00a0Va\u2019etchanan<\/em>, which means \u201cAnd I Pleaded,\u201d from Deuteronomy 3:23\u20137:11.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just how powerful is prayer? I think that most of us have already figured out that prayer is very powerful. For me, prayer is how I get through each day, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":41067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"portfolio_entries":[29],"class_list":["post-41066","portfolio","type-portfolio","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","portfolio_entries-29"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/41066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/portfolio"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/41066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41071,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio\/41066\/revisions\/41071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41066"},{"taxonomy":"portfolio_entries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/portfolio_entries?post=41066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}