To sit down and try to explain in detail to my friends and family about all that occurred this month with Team Fearless seems like a daunting task. So…let’s be real. I’m not gonna do it. Facebook and Instagram posts are for the play-by-play. Those who come to the blog are more than likely stopping by to hear more in-depth stories of how God is moving in and through my team as we serve each month. So…that’s what you’re gonna get. No flashy pictures, no ministry summary, just down to the nitty gritty…what I’m learning.
One of our principal ministries this month was the Penang House of Prayer. Most would hear that and pause. “Wait…so your ministry this month was…prayer?” And the answer to that would be–yes and no. We spent 11 hours per week at PenHOP, engaging with the Father in both an intimate and corporate manner, interceding in prayer for the country of Malaysia, and allowing the Father to fill us up through an anointed worship setting. [I fully acknowledge the ridiculous amount of Christian-ese in that sentence, you’ll have to forgive me, I want to get straight to the point]
All that to say, I’ve really been wrestling with God in the area of prayer this month. Seems pretty simple, right? Prayer, a cornerstone to the Christian faith, our direct line to the Creator, our Comforter, our Provider. Every Christian should have the whole prayer thing down, right?
Wrong.
Through spending such intentional time in prayer (outside of my personal time with God), I have been learning that more often than not, my prayers are pretty weak-sauce. I ask God for things like, “bless this food and our conversation” or “be with our host as we depart for the next country”…blah-blah-blahhhh….And not that those aren’t perfectly adequate things to ask the Father for, because they are.
But when you think about it, we were granted with the extraordinary privilege of communicating directly with the God of the Universe. The One who spoke all creation into existence! And there are days that pass that the only things I ask Him for are to bless our food? Seriously?!!
That’s like saying you get the opportunity to meet the President, and ask him for anything, with the near-guarantee that he would grant your request. (I’m not going to start a diatribe about how/when God answers prayers and the sovereignty by which He does so, for the sake of the metaphor, lets just say He grants them all) And when you call up Mr. Prez on the phone, you’re like, “Hey, man…if you could fix the pothole on my street that would rock.”
OF COURSE NOT.
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” -John 14:13-14
When you have a promise like this, why wouldn’t you ask for healing for a man’s cancer? Or for an end to religious persecution in a wildly-suppressive government?
His challenge to me has been clear: PRAY LIKE YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE GOD WILL COME THROUGH FOR YOU.
I could go on some long rant about this, basically repeating myself just with different word choice…but what it comes down to is this: It doesn’t matter the word choice, how eloquent we sound, or if we stutter. God doesn’t care who’s listening, if you repeat yourself, or lose your train of thought. We’re His kids, and He wants to hear from us.
He’s a good, good Father. And He wants to give His children good gifts. That’s who He is. It’s His immutable, unchanging character. So why don’t we start praying like that’s true?
WHEN we do…not if…WHEN…we’re going to see this world set on FIRE for the Kingdom. Diseases will be healed in the name of Jesus, the bondage of addictions will be broken in the name of Jesus, broken families will be restored in the name of Jesus…and the lost will be found.
