God Answers Prayer
27 Jan 2017
God has always shown his faithfulness in answering very specific prayers in incredible ways since the day I first believed. This intensified when I moved overseas in missions. Here are some answered prayers from the past four weeks alone
Our newly formed church had big dreams regarding outreach over the Christmas period. We had prayerfully chosen a specific small town to reach out to, however we didn’t know anyone there. We were hoping to meet a ‘Person of Peace’ (as Jesus taught in Luke 10:6) or even just a friendly welcome from the locals. I’d never been there before, I had no idea if we were making the right choice. But regardless, we prayed, bought all the supplies, loaded up the bibles and headed off in an old rickety bus.
On the bus I tried to keep a cool, calm composure, however on the inside I was freaking out! How are we gonna reach out? Who to? Will anybody show up? Where? What bus stop do we even get off at? Would I need permission from the local authorities? Would they kick us out? All I could do was pray for God’s guidance.
Suddenly, the man who collects the money on the bus started talking to one of the new believers in our group. He asked him what we were doing in this random town. The new believer shared our desire to reach out to the community with goods as well as the good news. Amazingly, the money collector suggested that we go to his house to distribute the things we had brought. The new believer agreed immediately. I was more cautious but at the same time amazed at the bus collector’s willingness to help. Sure enough we got off at a random bus stop, jumped on motorbikes and went to his house in the middle of the village.
Once we arrived we are greeted by the bus collector’s mother. She was very welcoming of us. I quickly mentioned that we wanted to do a donation but needed to register with the local authorities first. To our amazement, she was the local authority! I also mentioned we were preaching a Christian message, and she gave us permission to say whatever we wanted! Unheard of here.
This lady knew everyone in the neighbourhood by name, and she said she would round up the people who needed the goods the most. Within an hour we had over one hundred people arrive at her house! They also called the local school to temporarily come out of class to hear our message – both teachers and students! They even built a little wooden stage for us to preach on. I sat back in awe, seeing God go above and beyond our expectations. They loved hearing the gospel message and asked us to come back next week!
Our second trip was a huge success, with well over a hundred people showing up again to hear the gospel message. They requested that we come back to teach them further. We had made this second trip by taxi. The taxi driver was not a believer, however he suggested we visit the village he grew up in, also in that township, as they had no church and no known believers and it would be beneficial to the people there. WOW!
Once again I sat back in awe of God’s power. I’m not really a miracle/wonders seeker, however a lot of remarkable things are happening in regards to our prayers for our outreaches. Praise God!
In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly. – Psalm 5:3
-DP