The Power of Prayer...and its Desperate need!
Please bear with me for a moment for a quick bit of sharing on the power of prayer from God's perspective. In the book of Revelation Chapter 5, verse 8 a scene in heaven is described:
"And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."
Later in the context of the same extended scene in heaven, in chapter 8, verses 3-5 it says:
"And another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer; and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake."
It may be a radical concept to you, and you may or may not completely agree with my theology...but...I believe that when you take the prayer requests in this email and take them to the Lord, you are literally filling those "golden bowls" with a beautiful incense that rises up before God. That much is clear to me from those verses. An interesting and encouraging thing is that the angel is given more "incense" to mix with our prayers. Heaven itself seems to amplify our prayers before the Lord! We have the host of heaven on our side!
Finally, the angel, in the context of this billowing, fragrant incense before the Lord takes some of the fire of God and throws it on the earth...heaven comes down and the realm of the spirit touches our physical realm! When taken in context with many verses and stories about prayer in the Bible, it is clear to me that there is is a direct cause and effect relationship between our prayers and the power of God released on the earth. There are many other aspects to this but that is a brief start.
Whether you see it this way exactly or simply believe, "Prayer Changes Things", or believe in "The Power of Prayer" is not the important thing. The believing prayer you bring before the throne of the Lord is the important thing!
Prayer's desperate need? Well, I won't go on about this in general, but there are some things in the items below that are desperate in our human perspective, but we know that our God is bigger. Let's give heaven a chance to amplify our prayers this month!
This month's prayer topics:
|
Health: Praise God, Olivia's chronic cough finally completely left! We've had a good stretch of health up 'til about now. Rachel and Noah seem to have a bit of a cold now and the weather is currently cold and snowy. Angela has had a bout of headaches lately that have been very frustrating for her as they basically keep her from her daily activities. Pray for a quick end to these colds and an end to these headaches of Angela's. The headaches, in particular, could use consistent and extended prayer that they would be broken once and for all.
|
|
Language School: The challenges continue each week. This is really a place where perseverance is what is needed. Learning a new language to the point of fluency/proficiency is a looonnnnggg process and there are always a string of encouragements, challenges and discouragements. Pray that we will lean on God's grace daily in both the ups and the downs of learning.
|
|
Kid's School: Noah continues to make better progress in his new class this trimester. That is such an encouragement. Rachel has just begun to tackle some new regular classes in school. Pray that Noah builds real momentum in his French learning to the point where he can begin to flow into the regular flow of his class. Pray that Rachel would find a couple of real friends in the regular classes. That is a real key for her right now which has meant the difference between enjoying school or feeling overwhelmed.
|
|
Future: We would ask you to join with us in praying about specific direction for us after the language school is over. In case you were not aware, in addition to the finances involved, this school is a step of faith for us because we don't have any plans lined up after it. God can make our permanent move to France happen any way He wants to. We know that. From a strictly practical standpoint however there are difficulties that would arise if we end the school this summer still "plan-less". After the school we must return to the UK to sell our house and close up our affairs there. If we have a more permanent residence permit here in France at the time we leave we should not have any problem coming back. If we don't, then we would need to initiate a process from the UK that could be very drawn out and difficult to get us back into France permanently. Pray that God gives us His wisdom in this.
|
|
EXTRA THINGS: Remember I said that there were "desperate" things in this email? Well, here are a few that are not directly about us, but if you have a heart for any of them...PRAY!!! First, we have some dear friends in ministry in YWAM Scotland, who are experiencing a very desperate situation in their marriage, and are, in fact, separated right now. Please pray for a resurrection in this marriage and that satan's deceptive power would be broken! Secondly, another dear family in YWAM Scotland is in tight financial straights, has just had death in their family back in the States and are questioning whether they should be out on the mission field at all. They need wisdom and encouragement that is super tangible right now! Finally, and in general, pray for the marriages of all missionaries that you know and couples in ministry. The attack is great and comes from so many sides. Satan hates marriages for so many reasons and wants to destroy them ANY way he can. Pray! Pray! PRAY!
|
|
Thank You and God Bless!
David
|