Editor's note: This is part of an ongoing series of interviews with newsmakers of interest to pro-family Americans. The format is simple: Five questions and answers every Friday.
Growing up in a movie theater managed by her dad, Beth Moore learned to love a good story.
The story that captured her heart and consumed her life, however, was not told in a movie theater. It was the story of Jesus.
Today, Moore travels the world teaching women how to love and live on God's Word. She's the founder of Living Proof Ministries and has written numerous books and Bible studies.
She's also the honorary chairman of this year's National Day of Prayer (NDP), which falls on May 7.
In an exclusive interview with CitizenLink, Moore explained why prayer is so vital to us as individuals, and to our nation.
Listen to the interview:
To listen to the Friday Five interview with Beth Moore, please enable JavaScript.1. How did you get involved in this year’s National Day of Prayer, and why?
I have known the Dobsons for a number of years, as personal friends. We got to know each other through some mutual friends of ours, and we’ve all been great fans of their work, particularly having a young family. So I had kind of a history with them in that way.
Almost two years ago, Shirley began asking me if I would even be open to considering it (honorary chairmanship). And you can imagine it was a frightful prospect to me at that time, but I could not get God to tell me 'No.' And listen, I wanted Him to and assumed He would. I started praying it through and waiting to get a red light that I did not get. She (Shirley) asked me if I would come to the event last year where Ravi Zacharias was the honorary chairperson, and see how it worked and see how God was leading us. And the Lord wouldn’t tell me 'No.' So that’s how I got involved and just had to go in with confidence that it was, for whatever reason, His will for this year.
2. We’re certainly glad He gave you the green light. A lot of people want to go out and do something big for God, and you’ve talked about this in your Bible studies. Why is prayer so important, even if no one knows about it?
That’s the true test of faith. That’s where it’s truly revealed — in our own private life with Him. That’s where how much we believe Him and how much we believe in Him really shows. But let me tell you, a person (who's) never even known the power of a private prayer life (can have) an opportunity like this to have their faith built up in a huge gathering where many, many people come together.
One of my recent memory verses is the call to come “together with one voice to glorify our God and Father in Heaven.” That’s Romans chapter 15, verses 5 and 6. And that’s exactly what we’re doing — coming together with one voice, unified, very diverse people, and praying to see God act. It begins in the private life, but there are also calls to a corporate gathering of prayer that are of tremendously strategic importance.
3. Absolutely. Tell me how this message of prayer and what you’re doing with NDP coincide with the message of your Bible studies.
There’s nothing you can do to separate Bible study and prayer as the true disciplines, the very spawn of our faith. That’s how we practice it. I love that portion in the Gospel of Luke, where the two have encountered the risen Lord Jesus Christ and after He suddenly departs from them, they said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the way and opened to us the Scriptures?” And to me, it represented two things: talking to Him as prayer and the Word of God — study this Word.
If we have a prayer life, but we don’t have any relationship with Him through His Word, we don’t even know what to pray. We don’t know what we can pray. We don’t know what the precedence has been for God’s activity as a response to prayer. And if we have Bible study but we have no relationship with Him through conversational prayer, then we get a head full of knowledge but we have nothing to show for it in our own walk with Him.
You cannot separate them, not if you're going to live the kind of vibrant life He’s called us to. And make no mistake; I want to make this so clear: We have been called to live powerfully effective and influential lives, every single one of us.
4. Tell me how your Bible study sisters (and brothers) can be praying for you as the National Day of Prayer nears.
This is something very far out of the box for me, not something I have ever done before. I’ve certainly been involved with praying for the nation and praying for those who govern us. But I could not have imagined I would find myself in this situation.
I want to tell you a quick story before I answer that question, something my son-in-law said to me earlier. He was telling me how he had read that one of the mistakes that a professional sports team will make is that they’ll get to the playoffs and then they’ll decide to change their strategy for the playoffs when it was that consistent work they had done that had gotten them there. And he was saying, “You know, Beth, God has called you to do this in Washington, D.C. And you don’t have to even worry that you have got to be something else once you get there. This is what God has called you to do, and this is who God has called you to be, and this is who you’re free to go and be at that time.”
That would be part of what I’d have them pray — that I would not feel like I needed to be someone I’m not. I have a great respect for Dr. Zacharias, but I’m not someone who comes from a background of apologetics like he does. He’s a brilliant, brilliant man of God, but I’ve got to believe God has a purpose in sending Keith and me this year. So I would just pray for a continued confidence. And that God would give me supernatural wisdom and insight that goes beyond (my) experience. I would ask people to pray for me there, that I would know through the Holy Spirit what I really cannot know and would be able to do through the power of the Holy Spirit what I really cannot do.
5. This year's theme is "Prayer … America's Hope." Explain why that's true.
Because that’s our theme, I’ve given that so much thought, because let me tell you, where we are prayerless in our personal lives, right there in that area we feel hopeless. Our souls will connect those two things.
It’s not just prayer on its own that gives us hope, it’s God who gives us hope. And prayer is the way we connect with Him. We have hope in our prayer lives because we believe God hears us. We’ve got to have confidence He is listening to us, that He is the one who initiated the gathering, and that He’s prepared to listen to us.
We’re regular people living our everyday lives so far away from the happenings in government in Washington, D.C. There can be a sense of powerlessness like we’re just at the mercy of whoever and whatever is decided next. Nothing could be further from the truth. Through prayer, we honestly can walk through doors that in our physical person we’ll never be invited to grace. This is our 'IN.' This is how we impact. This is how Christ Jesus walks right in the middle of a situation where he has not necessarily been invited. He’s been invited through the prayers of a people who believe He can do what He says he can do.
Nationally, in so many ways, we feel insecure. And if we gather together on our knees, we solidify that sense within our hearts that God is with us. And if He is with us, and if He is for us, who can be against us?
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Learn more about the National Day of Prayer, and find an event in your area.
Watch Beth Moore and Dr. and Mrs. Dobson live on May 7. The national observance will take place in Washington, D.C., from 9 a.m. to noon EDT and will be broadcast live on GOD TV, channel 365 on DirecTV and on NDP's Web site.
Learn more about Beth Moore and her Bible studies.
(NOTE: Referral to Web sites not produced by Focus on the Family is for informational purposes only and does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the sites' content.)
