Ireland has arrived.
Today I found myself doing ministry that I am not really good at.
I sat in an office. Listened to sermons. I typed them word for word.
This process takes hours. Literally.
As I deciphered through the thick Irish accents, it took me roughly an hour to only get 4 minutes into one of these things. I found myself discouraged, but its ok, I had the opportunity to hear the message God wanted me to hear about 50 times.
The church we are working for had a leadership conference, and they mentioned how many of the people in their church have been healed of scars.
Scars that were self inflicted.
Scars that no longer exist because God is rewriting what people put on themselves and calling them beautiful.
A mother was sitting in the audience and she decided to text her daughter who had been a former cutter. Her daughter had branded her own legs with the words, “I am vile.”
The text message simply said the following: Hey… so I am at this conference, and I really wish you were here. We are talking about scars being healed. I think it would encourage you.
When the daughter received the text she rolled up her pants and stared at her legs.
The scars were there no more.
God had answered the prayer of the mother, this girl was healed.
As I was sitting in this little room listening to this, all I could simply do was smile. These past few months I have been challenged and have found myself for the first time not being afraid to pray for specific things.
God is answering them…. why? I think He is simply building my faith.
In Thailand I prayed for $1,300 for bar ministry….. 24 hours later it happened.
Since month two I prayed for a guitar to worship him…. I was given a free guitar.
I went caving with an Olympic swimmer for Brazil (life is crazy sometimes). I prayed to be able to share my faith with him. He invited me for breakfast the following day and made this possible.
I prayed for a sleeping bag for cold months ahead in Europe…I found one in a free pile at a hostel.
Still not convinced that these were all mere coincidences I decided to pray for a much simpler thing.
This week I prayed for a sock bun… yes, walking home from ministry one day I find one on the side of the road.
I am not telling these stories to brag, but to challenge. God is stretching my prayer life.
I used to be afraid to pray for healing because it might not work.
I used to be afraid to pray for specifics because, well what if God did not pull through.
Vineyard Church says it well. “We pray for healing knowing that most of the time it ended in disappointed, but the same God that answered one of those prayers in the Bible is the same God of today”….
Now I am not asking everyone who reads this to go and pray for sock buns, but what I am asking is for you to consider stepping outside of your prayer box today.
No longer do I think I can pray for general things. That is like my mom sending me to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for the dinner she wants and not giving me shopping list.
Pray for specifics.
Pray for the sick to be healed.
Pray for the impossible to happen.
Pray for the kingdom to advance.
Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious about nothing, but in everything with PRAYER and supplication let your requests be made known to God.”
