Earnest Prayer

Prayer is the life blood for Christians.

I have always known that prayer was an important activity in my life as a follower of Jesus. I just have not been as consistent as I should have been over the years. About a year and a half ago I felt compelled to read and study about prayer. It became apparent to me that I was missing out on an incredible experience as a Christian.

In September of 2023, I experienced the power of prayer personally. An opportunity came up to travel to Indonesia to explore the possibility of partnering with a local Indonesian ministry to reach an unreached people group within the country. Before leaving, the Lord impressed on my heart that I needed the support of a band of people who would pray for the trip and for myself and my travel companion, Carl. Carl had travelled to Indonesia a number of times and he had contacts that would help once we arrived. I was able to recruit 20 people for the prayer team. One of the concerns that Carl expressed was that on every trip he had taken he had come down with a stomach bug that laid him up for a few days. One of the requests I asked the team to pray for was that we would have good health and no sickness. Long story short, we were there for 10 days and did not experience any problems with sickness the entire trip. Carl did come down with a stomach bug a day or so after our return, but I never did.

That experience gave me the confidence that God had indeed intervened and answered the prayers of this band of Prayer Warriors! Shortly after the trip, I attended a Kairos class and had the opportunity to learn more about prayer as part of the course. After completing the course, I was invited to become a Kairos facilitator.

The following spring (2024) I was asked to be part of the facilitation team for the Kairos course in Oregon City, Oregon. I had continued my reading and study of prayer, and I was convinced that I needed to have a team of people praying for our Kairos course and the participants. I recruited a team of 21 people from my church to pray for the class. These people did not have any connection to the church hosting the Kairos course or any of the participants except for myself.

During the class I kept providing the prayer team with specific requests for the class, whether it was for health needs or other requests that were shared. About halfway through the class I facilitated a devotion on prayer and during the presentation I pulled out the list of people on the prayer team and held it up to show the class. The room became very quiet, and one of the students asked who these people were. People from my church I told them. But they don’t even know us…

I can’t say we had no illness or other issues during the class, but I believe in my heart that if we had not had the prayers of these Prayer Warriors the class would not have been as successful as it was. A couple of people dropped out towards the end, but most of those who started the course finished.

I am convinced more than ever that prayer is the key to successful ministry, whether it is a class or some other effort.

J.O. Fraser, Missionary to the Lisu people in southern China with China Inland Mission in the early 1900s, said…

“We work on our knees. I am feeling more and more that it is after all just the prayer of God’s people, that calls down blessing upon the work, whether they are directly engaged in it or not. Paul may plant and Apollos water, but it is God who gives the increase, and this increase can be brought down from heaven by believing prayer whether offered in China or England.  If this is so, then Christians at home can do as much for foreign missions as those actually on the field. I believe it will only be known on the last day how much has been accomplished in missionary work by prayers of earnest believers at home…"

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16 NLT