Whew, back from the bushlands of Cambodia! What an adventure. I rode on the roof of a “Cambodian Van” for three hours as we bounced up and down through the immense ruts in the dirt road. We slept in a treehouse looking church while we were “serenaded” 24 hours a day with Buddhist chants and songs. I tried dog…yes dog (dog tongue to be exact…not on purpose mind you. And every bit as gross as you might anticipate). But above all else I learned and grew so much in my relationship with God. My team was all alone with very little to do, there was nothing material that we could distract ourselves with. So we dug deep into each other and with the Lord. And it was great. I’ll tell some more stories later, but right now I have to tell you about this one in particlar. So this month God began teaching me a ton about prayer. Okay, confession time…I’ve always kinda struggled with prayer. I know God tells us to. And I know it’s good. But if God is in control of everything, why do I need to pray? If He already knows my thoughts, why is it necessary that I pray? So honestly, my prayer life hasn’t been much to talk about. I would work through questions or decisions to make by praying. But praying for something or for someone never happened that often. You know, I’d pray once…nothing would happen. So I’d move on. I always knew there was something more, but wasn’t quite sure how to find it.
Well, during our stay at the YWAM base in Phnom Penh (before we left for ministry), I found a book called “Intercessory Prayer” by Dutch Sheets. I randomly picked it up and it’s basically a guidebook for intercessory prayer. The author walked through different types prayer through the Bible and encouraged the reader to try them out. So that’s what I did this month. I began intercessing for people as God put them on my heart and practiced what I learned. It’s amazing how naturally prayer comes when you understand it in the context of the Bible.
Here is the truth. Our prayers do matter. God has chosen to work through man on earth. And the vehicle through which He works is prayer. Miraculous works of God in the Bible were always birthed through the believing of one of God’s children. My teammate Lana gave me this analogy, maybe it will help…
Fathers love teaching their sons what it means to be a man. They impart wisdom and knowledge, which is very important, but even more so is giving their sons the opportunity to learn through experience. The result is joy for the father and a fuller and richer life for the son. For example, let’s say a Father wants to teach his son how to change a tire. The Father could change the tire very quickly and efficiently, but that is not the point. To make sure His son learns He allows the son to complete every part of the task. The son could never do it by himself, He needs the Father. The Father doesn’t need the son but He chooses to use Him because it brings life to the son life and joy to the Father. The Father decided He was not going to change the tire apart from His son. He would be there to guide, direct, and empower the son, but it was up to the son to ask for help and complete the task.
This picture helps me understand our relationship with God so much better. God doesn’t need us anymore than the Father needed His son to change a tire. But because God made a decision to work through people on this earth, He will patiently wait for us to ask for His help. He will guide, direct, and empower us to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to earth. We can fumble around trying to figure it out for ourselves and that will just leave us frustrated and dirty. But if we ask…if we pray to our heavenly Father, He will hear from Heaven and then…anything is possible.
For proof come back tomorrow…
