Staring the idol in the face made me feel like a warrior… a warrior with stocking feet, and a dirty baseball cap.
Earlier last month our team took the afternoon to engage in a battle. We did a Jericho march at the biggest Buddhist Stupa (temple) around. We took an hour bus ride. We payed an entrance fee (for foriegners) and our eyes were opened (maybe for the first time) to blatant, large-scale idolatry. This place was massive, at least a quarter mile around. Its base was lined with prayer wheels people would spin as they walked around. Outside the Stupa was filled with shops, stalls and a few smaller temples. It’s customary to take your shoes off to enter the smaller temples. There the rooms are filled with giant golden effigies of the Buddha, encased in glass. It was a sight to take in…
It made me sad, because I began to ask, Who are those prayers to? Then I noticed the darkness. I realized the hopelessness of this place, where the truth of Christ is not known or felt. I stood there wondering to myself, What can I do?
Even though I’m on the other side of the world, our ministry is largely the same. Our ministry is prayer. We are prayer warriors. Nearly every blog I’m inviting you to pray for something else. I want to encourage you that prayer is not a lesser part of ministry; but rather a necessary and vital component. Prayer, because so often seeking Christ is the only thing we can do. Know that every thing I ask you to pray about is what we are also praying and seeking the Father’s heart about.
Standing there in the crowd, I felt an anger rise up in me. Not an anger towards man, but to the idols they were held captive to. The anger that knows the hopelessness of looking, meditating, inside and seeing nothing but more of my own brokenness.
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12
We did laps, 7 laps. With each lap we prayed. We sang songs. We declared the hope we have found in scarred hands at the foot of the cross.
I’m realizing prayer has a lot to do with faith. The desire to pray, or not pray says a whole lot of about our faith; what we believe God is able to do. Prayer gives us the opportunity to seek the Father’s heart and step into more faithful living. Prayer is not about what we can do, but rather about who Jesus already is. Be encouraged, fellow warriors! Let us rest rest in the sufficient promises of Christ.
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 17:13-14
