Transforming Prayer

I trust that God has given you opportunities to use your summer to deepen your walk and commitment to Him.  I have enjoyed spending time with Him while staying with my mom this summer.  One of the big areas in my life He has brought me back to again is the idea that it is not my ministry but His ministry that He has called me to.  I am to join Him in what He is doing, not come up with some ideas of my own, ask Him to bless the ideas, then proceed on my own strength.  A quote from a book I read this summer sums it up:  “We pray for more power and more faith, but many times don’t realize we are asking God to empower our flesh…it’s time to stop asking God to bless what our flesh is doing and [and ask Him] to start blessing what He is doing.”

In light of this I want to encourage you to continue to ask God to give you His ideas and plans and vision for bringing the gospel to your campus.  In the next few weeks I will send out a blog to help you develop a plan for being a light for Jesus at your school.  He delights to direct you as you delight to serve Him.  Please don’t neglect or minimize the most important part in planning – prayer!

I recently came across a great article on prayer by a man named Alvin J. VanderGriend.  The article is quite long, so I plan on sending you sections of the article at various times during this school year.  At the end of the year I will post the article in its entirety on the google site. I hope this will encourage you as you worship the One who can change lives, as you ask Him for direction and as you pray for lost people to be drawn into God’s kingdom.

Prayer can move mountains. It can change human hearts, families, neighborhoods, cities, and nations. It's the ultimate source of power because it is, in reality, the power of Almighty God.

Prayer can do what political action cannot, what education cannot, what military might cannot, and what planning committees cannot. All these are impotent by comparison.

By prayer the kingdom of God is built, and by prayer the kingdom of Satan is destroyed. Where there is no prayer, there are no great works, and there is no building of the kingdom. Where there is much prayer and fervent prayer, there are great gains for the kingdom: God's rule is established, His power is directed, His will is done, society is transformed, lost persons are saved, and saints are enabled to "stand against the devil's schemes" (Eph. 6:11). If that isn't enough to compel us to "devote [ourselves] to prayer" and "always [wrestle] in prayer" (Col. 4:2, 12), I don't know what is!    [emphasis mine]

Alvin J. Vander Griend