It’s crazy that I only have one week of ministry left here in Colombia. This time has gone so fast.
I’ve been reading a book this month titled, Unlocking the Miraculous Through Faith and Prayer, by Daniel Kolenda, a German missionary and evangelist, and it’s been challenging not only how I go about praying, interceding, and talking with God, but also what I believe about the power of prayer and interceding.
Basically, prayer doesn’t always get enough credit for how important it is. If you’ve been anything like me in the past, you pray and will talk with God, but that’s about it. You don’t really know if it will come to pass or sometimes if God is even listening (He is by the way). Really, it’s more like presenting your wishes to God sometimes and hoping He’ll listen. What I’ve learned though, is that prayer is so much more than that. Prayer is a privilege. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is life. And the foremost evidence of this is Christ.
“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” -1 Timothy 2:5
“But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.” –Hebrews 8:6
We see in scripture that Jesus is now our mediator between God and us. That’s His main job in heaven. In other words, Christ’s primary role right now is to intercede on our behalf. Think about that! Through intercession, we have the same privilege, opportunity, power, and access through prayer as Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world!
That’s why Christ was able to say to Peter in Matthew 16:19, “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven;” And to the disciples, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive it, if you have faith.” – Matthew 21:22
God has not only given us authority and power through prayer and intercession, but He also has given us the responsibility to influence events here on earth for His glory. That’s why it’s so important to be in prayer continually (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) and make intercession. This month, I’ve truly been able to see the fruit of this.
I’ve mentioned this in past blogs, but one of the outreach programs we’re a part of here in Medellin is called Agua Panela. In this outreach, half our squad goes into areas with drug addicts, homeless, alcoholics, and witchcraft, and we serve bread and sugar water while evangelizing and praying for the people we meet. During this time, the other half of the squad gathers up on the roof-top terrace for intercession on behalf of those our ministering as well as those being ministered to. This has become one of my favorite things to do.
While we wait on the roof, we pray, sing, read, and just call out to God. We’ll get words or visions or bits of scripture that come to mind and that we will then pray over and declare over the city and people. It’s so empowering to know that the God of the universe is listening and making a way for His work and glory. Each time, the group that went out will come back and share their experiences with us, and each time, there are events that took place that someone else saw and declared while interceding. It’s incredible!
God is so good, and if we will just continue to seek Him, to pray to Him, to talk with Him, He will come through.
Lastly, if you are again like me, you can get complacent in your prayer life at times. That happens. What’s important in those times though is that we recognize again our dependency on the Lord, as well as the power and access we have, and pray that He would awaken us. That’s why I love and will finish with this poem by Sir Francis Drake who penned:
Disturb us Lord!
When we are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true,
Because we dreamed to little,
When we arrived safely,
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us Lord!
When with the abundance of things we possess,
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity,
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.
God Bless!
-Ben
