A huge theme for me throughout my race has been prayer. In Guatemala I was working with drug addicts and drug dealers. I was spending my days loving and serving them, but I never saw the fruits of my labor. I had to learn to trust God. I had to learn that it was not going to be by my actions that they decided to get off the streets. I had to hand them over to the Lord and realize that my greatest weapon in helping them was interceding for them. Now in Malaysia I am living in a culture that is heavily influenced by Hinduism and Islam. Just this past Friday I preached and after I cast demons off a woman as she collapsed to the floor. That night I preached on praying in expectancy. Praying from a place of victory, instead of defeat. Praying in alignment with The Holy Spirit and walking in that will. I have found that in most all situations, on The Race and off, I am powerless without the action of prayer.
I wrote this blog before I even launched, but after preaching this week I thought I would share it with you. I hope you come to grasp the authority you have in Jesus! The authority you have in interceding for both yourself and the ones around you! Whether it is casting demons off someone or talking to Jesus about your day, God is always listening. He is faithful and he will answer.
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Prayer is at the center of a relationship with Christ. An open dialogue with Christ can completely revolutionize our relationship with our Creator. Please note I wrote dialogue, not a one-ended conversation. God desires a personal and intimate relationship with every believer and nonbeliever. He is constantly pursuing you. Christianity is the only religion where it is not only man pursuing God, but God pursuing man.
There is power in prayer. Let me say it again, THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER. Prayer is one of the greatest weapons God has placed in our toolboxes. Prayer provides unlimited access to communication with the Creator of everything. Prayer not only facilitates an intimate relationship, but prayer IS POWER. There is power in prayer and prayer is power.
People often say that they pray to God, but fail to have their prayers answered. This is why, for many, prayer has lost its power or value. When faith in prayer ceases often our faith in God ceases as well. This loss of faith and loss of expectancy often leads Christian’s into this habit of not asking because there is no expectation of an answer. We pray and pray and ask God for an answer, but fail to ever receive a response. If this has ever happened to you, I ask you what was the root of that prayer? Did that prayer come out of a place of mere hope and desperation, or out of a place of expectancy? Did you pray and wait patiently for that prayer to be answered? Did you even recognize when that prayer was answered?
This past Friday I preached at our church service and shared my testimony about how I came to be on the race. For those of you who don’t know, it began when I broke my right tibia in a soccer game about a year ago. Long story short, it was not till this week while I was writing my sermon that I saw the whole of God’s provision over that entire situation. I never realized God healed me the week after I applied to the race. Three weeks before I was actually suppose to be out of my cast and a week after I had wanted God to heal me. For the past year I have been so focused on the fact that my leg was not healed when I tore my cast off, that’s another story, that I missed the correlation between me applying to the race and my leg being healed. Don’t be so focused on your unanswered wants and prayers that you miss the will of God being fulfilled around you.
In Psalm 5:3 David wrote, “In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.” David models the godly process of prayer in this one single verse. This verse not only reinforces the idea of dialogue prayer, but also models the idea of praying in expectancy. David had a need, he had a request, and he had an expectation- an expectation that God would hear his prayer and answer his need.
John 15:7, “If you abide in Me [Jesus], and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ” Please note it was JESUS who spoke these words! In order to pray in expectancy and receive an answer it is ESSENTIAL to pray in accordance with God’s will. Jesus did not simply say ‘ask what you desire and it shall be done’, but instead began that statement with ‘IF’. ‘IF you abide in me and I in you, your desires shall be done’.
1 John 5:14-15 declares, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us- whatever we ask- we know that we have what we asked of him.” The Lord wants to answer our prayers, but we must remember the Lord’s way is higher than our way. Not every prayer we pray will receive an answer, but find confidence in that the creator of the world hears you! He wants your heart! He will fulfill your every NEED. Note I said NEED, not your every WANT.
John 16:33 reads, “I have told you things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. BUT TAKE HEART! I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.” Today, whether you just embarked on the World Race or are living your daily life, remember that peace is found in the presence of The Holy Spirit. Jesus never promised that life with him would be easy, but He does proclaim that HE HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD. No matter the problem, Jesus finished it on the cross. There is still a fight to be fought, but when He died on that cross 2,000 years ago he proclaimed that “IT IS FINISHED”. In the resurrection of Jesus we find life. Open your eyes and see the work being down around you.
There is nothing too big or too small in this world for God. There is no problem too big and no prayer too bold. God wants us to pray BOLD PRAYERS! He wants us to EXPECT him to answer those prayers. So I challenge you. I challenge you to ask God for things you usually wouldn’t. Pray for the BIG and LITTLE things! Pray from a place of victory, not a place of defeat! Listen for His voice and pray in accordance with what He says. Proclaim His truths over your situation and then sit in expectancy. He WILL take care of His children. He wants the desires of your heart. He wants an intimate relationship with you. He wants us to rely on him in a state of expectancy. So open your eyes. Ask Him. Listen for His voice. Wait patiently. And watch Him work.
With all the love in Malaysia,
Darby
