THE AWESOME POWER OF PRAYER IN MISSIONS
"The evangelization of the world depends first upon a revival of prayer. Deeper than the need for workers; deeper far than the need for money; deep down at the bottom of our spiritual lives, is the need for the forgotten secret of prevailing, worldwide prayer."
~ Robert Speer
Christians talk a lot about prayer. Sometimes we spend more time talking about it than doing it. Especially when we pray about the same thing for a long time, there can be a feeling that prayer is something we are "supposed to do," but with little impact in our lives. Even the most faithful prayer-warriors must sometimes struggle with this doubt.
Yet Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, "To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power."
If you need encouragement to get down on your knees once more, take heart: Prayer works.
Consider the story of Count Zinzendorf. A community of persecuted Moravians who took refuge on his estate was wracked with dissension. Zinzendorf and others covenanted to pray for revival -- and it came! This was the beginning of a round-the-clock "prayer watch" that continued for more than a century! Out of that tiny body grew a missionary movement that sent more than 300 evangelists to the neglected peoples of the earth. The Moravians also had a profound effect on John Wesley, one of the key characters in the Great Awakening.
Or consider the famous "Haystack Prayer Meeting." A few young men caught in a storm took refuge under a haystack. They began to pray -- and were surrounded by a spiritual storm, struck by a burst of holy lightning that set their hearts on fire. These men were the first of a flood of missionaries from North America to carry the Gospel of Jesus throughout Southeast Asia.
We have seen the power of prayer ourselves in the overwhelming response to the Water Truck initiative. Where a few weeks ago there were rapidly drying pools and cracked mud, now there will be a large tanker offering life-giving water -- and a word of hope.
Sometimes we let prayer be a mere perfunctory few words before we begin "the real work." But prayer is the real work. As David Bryant writes: "Prayer is action. By it we step out in advance of all other results.... Praying is an activity upon which all others depend. By prayer we establish a beachhead for the kingdom among peoples where it has never been before. Prayer strikes the winning blow. All other missionary efforts simply gather up the fruits of our praying."
There is no conflict between "praying" and "doing." One of our contacts in the Muslim world said in a recent e-mail, "When we pray, especially as a church, we literally move the hand of God to action."
And it is as we pray that we are moved to become God's hands and feet.
This is the bottom line. Through prayer we have a potential -- a resource -- a power -- a force -- that knows only the limits of God Himself.
Dare we take hold of it?