Is Prayer Enough?

The first week of ministry in Malaysia is Prayer. We travel to key cities near Kuala Lumur and Pray. We generally go to malls and simply walk around and pray for whatever strikes our attention. It can be a specific person, the strong presence of materialism, the strong tension among the different people groupd (Malays, Indians & Chinese all tolerate eachother here), the child that spills their cup of corn, the women behind the cash register with a sad face, the man who won’t look at his wife, the families or the school children their on a field trip. 

On my first occasion out, my journey started in the bathroom. (yeah I know…). We first went to a place that charged to use the restrooms.

 Not excited about the idea of paying, we were on a mission to find a free toilet! We were sucessful on the top floor of a MASSIVE MALL. As Monica enters, there were only 2 other stalls that were open. I quickly notice that these stalls are ‘squatty potties’. I ask Monica if hers was a toilet, and she said yes. I thought that this was well worth a wait. There was a woman standing besides me that overheard the entire conversation and she chuckled at my response. I told her that I was a little lazy and liiked to sit not squat. She quickly agreed with me, and it was then that I noticed that she was pregnant. So I commented on trying to squat with a baby too, and she said it was VERY HARD to do. We left on a silly note, and I really did not think much of this. As she was leaving, I began to pray for her. I prayed for her baby, a safe delivery, and for her to continue to have joy. It was not too drawn out, just a simple prayer.

We continued our prayer walk and would walk on nearly every floor. As I would enter each floor, I would see this woman. Finding it odd to see the same person again, I prayed some more for her. Then the next floor, I would see her walking out of a small shop. Now I knew this was no longer just a considence. I ended up seeing this woman 4 times in a short amount of time. So most of my time on this prayer walk was for this pregnant woman. Though I do not know much about her, I was in constant prayer for her that day. Anything that came to my mind would be a prayer for her. I would pray for her husband (if there was one), the father of her child, her child she was carrying, her spirit, for her to find everlasting joy, for a safe delivery, and so much more. 

After our first experience in this ministry, we began to ponder “Is Prayer Enough?” Often times it is easy to see and measure a “job well done” when you are building a home for a widow, painting an orphanage or even bringing food and water to flood victims. It is not so easy to see any results from interceeding and praying for a nation, city & peoples groups. There is no way to accurately measure the ministry of prayer accouring to a human logic or mindset. My time in the largest malls I have ever been in was not wasted, instead it was time for me to interceed for a specific woman.