We arrived to Malaysia and I was excited because I thought at the end of Thailand this was going to be a great month of living out the way God intended me of being as a leader and as a man of God. After the first 3 and half months of finally not living in the past anymore and moving forward I thought this would be building blocks on my leadership gifts and finally being a strong leader for Christ.
Well I was in for a surprise from God. God likes to do things in the way we don't ever think of doing things but He is God and runs the world in His Hands, I don't even run my life or let alone the world so just let God run things and Blake you just learn and be a good student okay good!
So my team met our contact Pastor Yesu in Kuala Krai, Malaysia and the first day He told us what God said to Him about our team and the squad. Pastor Yesu told us, "We are eager to serve and we are great at serving for Christ but we are lacking in prayer."
The first thought I had was this is crazy! I spend time praying everyday! Short prayers whenever the Spirit leads me to pray.
The pastor had us watch a prayer DVD about the Power of Prayer.
Pastor also said we should be spending at least an hour of our day in prayer.
In my mind, I said I spend time in prayer everyday and when I pray it is lead by the Holy Spirit. I also thought this pastor is kinda crazy because we here on the World Race to serve and minister to others who are in need.
Every morning or evening when we go out for ministry the pastor would ask us how much time did you spend in prayer today? Most of the mornings to be honest I am not the best morning person and I didn't wake up until the last minute for ministry. With this I did not spend hardly anytime in prayer.
Some mornings I did wake up early and went running and after I ran I read the Word and maybe listened to a sermon but did I pray most of the time I didn't.
We would go out for ministry and the pastor would say pray for this neigborhood or pray for this family. In driving time He may ask us to pray twelve times or more for prayer. During this I said, " Why am I being forced to pray?" I pray when I am lead by the Spirit!
1 Timothy 2:8 NIV says" Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing." Timothy was saying we should pray at anytime without having a bad or selfish attitude.
In reality, I was saying to God I pray when I want to pray and I cannot be forced to pray. I was being prideful because I thought my way was better than Pastor's way of praying. I was saying to God I do what I want! This was not in my usual joking way either of saying I do want I want because if you don't like me for who I am then it's on you. I was indirectly saying my way was better than God's way of prayer.
Even one of my teammates pointed this out to me during feedback. Ciera Nelson asked me about my pride because I saying I only pray when the Spirit leads me to pray. A few days later she used the example of spending time with my future wife. If I can spend time with her having coffee in the morning to talk or spending time with a friend then I can spend time with God in prayer. Good point!
The Bible gives us a clear example about prayer in Mark 9:14-29. The story is when Jesus heals a Demon-Possessed Boy. The story is about a man who is in a huge crowd of people and he brings his son to Jesus for healing. Jesus saw the demon inside the boy and drove the demon out of the boy immediately. The disciples were in the crowd the whole time and asked Jesus a question. The disciples said in today's language, "Jesus how come you could drive out the demon but we couldn't do it?" Jesus said, "You didn't pray."
How can you expect God to do big things in your life if you don't pray? You can't!
Prayer is valuable for Jesus, so prayer should be a priority for me and for you. Even when you don't want to pray, we MUST pray!
