A preacher died and went to heaven. This preacher was known as one of the best preachers around. Thousands of people had come to Christ because of his sermons. And he knew it.

As St. Peter was showing him around, they passed through a huge section of humongous homes. These homes were so big, they were nearly castles. Either outside the house or looking out of the window of each of the houses was a little widow lady, a widower, a teenager, or a child. And they all looked overwhelmed by the size of their mansion.

The preacher was getting excited. If these people, just your ordinary everyday kind of Christians got these kind of mansions, imagine what he was going to get. As they ended their trek through the neighborhood, they came upon a large Texas style ranch house. It was gorgeous, but wasn't huge. It had everything you could imagine, but it was nowhere near what he was expecting. So he asked why?

St. Peter sort of grinned and said: "Oh, we appreciate everything you did. You're a great preacher, and thousands upon thousands came to Christ because of you. But truthfully, you were just the distraction. The real work, the tough work, was done on the knees of every one of those people we passed. They were our prayer warriors. And that's where the real battle was fought."

Prayer brings us into the very presence of God. Through prayer, we are brought to the throne of grace and we are enabled to stand before God --not presumptuously but in all humility and because we've been invited there.