Power of Prayer Book Launched

A new book highlighting the power of prayer was recently launched at the Emanuel Apostolic Church in Portmore, St. Catherine.

Written by Minister of the Emanuel Apostolic Church, Ivy Marjorie Harvey, the book, titled, ‘My Catalogue of Answered Prayers’, was reviewed, designed and printed by the Research and Publications Department of the Jamaica Information Service (JIS).

It has 22 testimonies outlining various situations which the author was able to overcome through prayer.

The eleventh of 12 children, Mrs. Harvey said she was inspired to write the book after many of her prayers were answered.

“I am a praying person and grew up in a home where my mother was a praying person and we were taught to trust God for everything. I began to see some of those prayers being answered and began jotting them down,” she told JIS News.

After much prompting from her family, she began compiling the testimonies for publication. Mrs. Harvey said that most of the stories written are about situations which occurred during the 1970s when she got married and started raising her family.

However, she noted that not all prayers are answered. “Sometimes it is not that the prayer is not answered, but the answer you are looking for might not be forthcoming. You learn that God answers prayers generally in three ways, he either says yes, he either says no, or he says wait,” she explained.

The trained teacher turned preacher further noted that most of her prayers were fulfilled because she took action based on what the Lord instructed her to do. “So, I would have to say that the Lord gave me the answers,” she added.

Mrs. Harvey, who serves as a Bible teacher, counsellor and preacher at the Emanuel Apostolic Church in Portmore, hopes that the book will inspire Jamaicans and help them to understand the power of effective prayers.

“I would like persons to be inspired by my stories and to understand that God is real; he answers prayers and is concerned with everything that concerns us,” she said.

Minister Harvey named her testimony, ‘Sleeping Snipers’, in the book as one of her most “profound” experiences.  Other stories are: ‘Money from an empty bag’, ‘God’s choice for Prime Minister’, ‘Business class travel’, ‘Gun in Hand’, ‘Meningitis Healed’, and ‘Angry and Dangerous’.