Colossians 4:2 “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Do you believe in prayer? The “correct Christian answer” is, of course, yes. We might even believe it in some level, but sadly the more advanced we become in medicine and technology and the farther away from real poverty and hunger we are, prayer often just becomes a thing we should do. All the great saints and theologians have a lot to say about prayer. The mother of a very sick child, the man trying to change his life around and the elderly who are lonely also often have a lot to say about prayer.
I can personally attest to the fact that prayer is real- something happens when we pray with faith, when we pray with the humility and need of an open and sometimes broken heart. Something happens when words of thanksgiving are spoken and can’t seem to stop. Something also happens when there are no words to be spoken, but we sit in front of our Father with all our sorrow, anger, joy or peace.
There are so many amazing things about prayer, but I want to mention two:
First, the Creator of the Universe waits attentively to hear from us.
Secondly, our prayers change reality.
Whether it is believed or not (and why do we face skepticism from Christians as to the power of prayer I really don’t understand), I have seen cancer healed (without intervention and with), lost things found, relationships restored, huge amounts of money raised to build a church, a church started, joy and forgiveness under impossible circumstances, and the strength given for one more day. I have also had to see and deal with the answers I didn’t want in a baby dying, a marriage broken, and a dream became unfulfilled.
Prayers given in the middle of hard answers and after hard things are also so very powerful.
Prayer is real. It’s one of the most important things we can do.
We are going to do a 36 hour prayer chain the 14-15 of Nov. and ask as many people as we can to pray ( and have them pass on the word also) to storm the gates of Heaven. More info is given seperately, but as we pray, here are some prayer request from the El Camino Argentina team:
⁃ Thanksgiving! God really is so good. His grace, His love, His patience. It’s breath-taking and breath-giving. We are so amazingly blessed in so many ways! Let’s take a huge chunk of this time and be thankful.
⁃ For the Holy Spirit to be working on the hearts of those we will come into contact with. That people will understand their need for the Gospel and understand the Truth of God’s grace.
⁃ We ask God to direct us on where we should be for this time of our lives in Argentina.
⁃ Borders are still closed as the quarantine continues in Argentina and we ask for immigration to be opened again.
⁃ Supporters. We still need about half of the teams' monthly support. We would love for a church to partner up with us and commit for the long term as we are committed. We don’t want checks as much as we want partners. Prayer partners, encouragers, wisdom givers, friends who will hold us accountable and lovers of God’s kingdom. We want partners who celebrate in God’s goodness and trust in the Holy Spirit’s power and ability. We want partners who want to get to know us and our hearts.
⁃ Our mindset: eyes set on Christ and hearts burdened for the lost. We ask for wisdom based on love and boldness founded on humility.
⁃ Our children. This is not their choice all these changes and it has been really hard on them this past year or so and will continue to be hard for awhile. We don’t want to forget to be present and minister to our kids in the midst of it all.
⁃ Above all and in all we want to honor and glorify God with our lives.
As always, the purpose of prayer is to focus on God who is so close to us. To be in the presence of Immanuel - God is with us.
We encourage you and ask you to join with us in seeking God’s providence and guidance. Sign up and let us encourage one another in our belief that prayer moves mountains.
“The value of persistent prayer is not that God will hear us, but that we will finally hear God." - William McGill