Prayer | Beyond

Praying Kingdom Opposites

Sep 27, 2018 | Stories

From a field worker in Austronesia: “Yanti* called, desperate to line up a second DMM training. She described renewed enthusiasm and attested that this is the only method that really works in her region. We had trained other partners from the same region and when I (Melissa*) mentioned them, she described an ugly falling-out. This is a perfect scenario to pray Kingdom opposites over the work that was begun. God’s Kingdom is full of unity and peace (Ephesians 2:14, 4:3). Instead of division, I pray unity and peace over the situation, so that His glory will be showcased through these followers of Christ: “The glory You have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and You in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent me and loved them even as You loved me” John 17:22,23.

As illustrated above, praying Kingdom opposites means asking God to bring His Kingdom-sized future into being. Our prayers of faith are based on God’s promises, specifically those in direct opposition to troubling things presently happening. God has already declared His intentions through His promises. When we align our prayers with His declared intent, He will answer. Our lives will be changed from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18). As we wait on Him in prayer, we will see what else He will accomplish. Because, as God speaks, all opposition to His anointed King will fail. King David knew this when he penned Psalm 2 and Psalm 24:7-10. As we become aware of hindrances to the advance of God’s Kingdom, may we ask all the more for His Kingdom to come, and His will to be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10). May we usher in the King of Glory as His Kingdom reigns in and through our lives and our prayers.

A Few More Examples of Kingdom Opposites

• Confusion: Peace. “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace” 1 Cor 14:33.
• Hard hearts: Receptivity. Pray that Gospel seeds will fall on hearts prepared to receive it. Matt 13:8
• Despair: Hope. “Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him, shall not be disappointed.” I Pet 2:6.
• Weakness: Strength. “The joy of the Lord is my strength” Neh 8:10b.
• Rejection: Acceptance. “for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” I Pet 2:10.
• False religion: One Way. “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” 1 Tim 2:3-5.
• Mental fog: Clarity. “Gird your mind for action, sober in spirit, fixed hope on God’s grace” 1 Pet 1:13.
• Frustration in language learning: God’s provision. “The Lord has given me the tongue of disciples and He awakens my ear to listen” Isaiah 50:4,5.
• Darkness: Light. “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life’” John 8:12.
• Destruction: Life. “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” John 6:33.
• Deception and lies: Truth. “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” John 8:31b-32.
• Fear: Love. “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” 2 Tim 1:7.
• Unbelief and Doubt: Faith. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Heb 11:1.
• Weariness: Rest. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Matt 11:28

*pseudonyms

God Changes Even the Hardest Hearts

Sep 11, 2018 | Stories

Recently, Wilson, one of our field workers got to meet with Mr. Suni, a local worker. Mr. Suni was born and raised a Muslim with very strong convictions about his faith. Upon graduating high school, he joined a hardcore religious group that trained him to be sent out as a “Muslim missionary.” In his first two-year assignment, he was tasked with converting people to Islam on one of the islands.

One day he heard a radio broadcast story about Jesus. He called into the radio station seeking to know if the things he was hearing about Jesus, so different from what he’d been taught, were true. After months of Mr. Suni pursuing truth and the lady at the radio station faithfully answering his questions, he renounced Islam and put his faith in Jesus!

The lady that answered those calls is now his wife and they now live and serve P-city, aiming to bring the Good News there.

It is amazing that God can change even the hardest of hearts and is now using Mr. Suni to draw others to Himself! Pray that our local partner, Danny, and his team will be able to work together with Mr. Suni in the future to engage this extremely devout Muslim area.

We hope these stories are as encouraging for you as they are us in showing God’s faithfulness to answer prayer.

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Always There, at the End of Ourselves

Sep 11, 2018 | Stories

It had been almost a year that Luke and his family arrived in their host country. After learning the language, acclimating to the culture in the capital city of this remote East Asian country, they started moving into the countryside. It was around midnight when Luke and his team had finished loading three vehicles in preparation for their big move early the next morning.

Everyone had already gone to bed when Luke discovered that the used brake line which he had installed after replacing a wheel bolt earlier that evening was leaking. He struggled alone for hours to fix it. Feeling frustrated and at the end of himself, Luke prayed quietly, crying out for God to help him. Seconds later, he heard gentle footsteps approaching. There in front of his vehicle stood a smiling, young man, a native from those parts, who offered to help. He helped Luke repair the brake line and the next morning Luke and his family drove the three-day journey to what felt like the end of the earth, which has now become their home.

Nate praised God for sending the young man to help and felt comforted that the God who led them to that remote part of the world would continue to help him and his family build His kingdom among the least reached peoples at the ends of the Earth.

Please pray for Luke and his family, that they would experience many more moments of God’s provision and intervention as they help spread the good news of the gospel in this village that has become their home.

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His Hand is in the Details

Jun 15, 2018 | Stories

Sam’s wife and children had already gone to sleep in the primitive dwelling when he felt being reminded by the Lord, “to search for a worthy person.” The next morning, his family and the team paused to pray and listen after loading up their vehicle. They asked God to show them exactly where He wanted them to settle in the rural province. While they listened, one person said that they had had a vision of a village with snow covered mountains, trees and water. (They had been driving through barren desert for days). They read Jesus’ words regarding the parable of the lost sheep and Matthew 10. And then continued on their journey.

On the way, up the mountain, they were deliberating about which way to go when Sam noticed a wounded sheep that appeared to be lost. They picked up the sheep, tended to its wounds and continued on their way. At dusk, they arrived at a village where there appeared to be no Christians. Sam felt led by the Holy Spirit to pause for a few minutes to pray. The village had a river, a small lake, and was surrounded by trees and mountains which were covered by snow. However, there appeared to be no hotels or guest houses.

When they had stopped to pray, they had prayed about meeting a person of peace and a place to stay. While praying, someone had had a vision of a red building so in faith they kept driving further into the village.

They had driven some distance when they stopped. A man came up to greet Sam and his crew. The man led them directly to the government building where he worked and was even willing to let the travel weary crew sleep in his office. When that didn’t work out due to other visitors already being in the building, the man and his wife took them to a relative’s empty house.

It became clear to Sam that this man and his wife were the persons of peace that they had prayed about finding. They helped clean the house, started a fire, and even made tea for everyone. The village electrician arrived at 11pm that night, to turn on the electricity.

Sam set the wounded sheep loose in the safe, gated yard of the house and after a few days the sheep began to show signs of recovery. A few weeks later Sam gave the now healthy sheep to the couple who had helped them find the empty house, since they were unable to find the rightful owner of the sheep.

The goodhearted couple introduced Sam and the team to many people in the village including the director of the local hospital, who offered Sam’s wife (who is a trained nurse) a job on the spot. They told Sam that he, his family and the team would receive medical treatment like the locals did after they registered with the city. The wife of the couple was a well-recognized school teacher who offered to teach Sam’s children the native language of the village.

Some weeks later Sam and the team were introduced to the former mayor of the village, who told them that she had tried, without success, for 10 years to bring people like them to their village. Sam, his family, and his team were all welcomed warmly by the whole village. They learned about an empty home that they could live in and even land on which they could build another home. And without Sam having to voice his intention, the persons of peace they had first found let Sam know that they were willing to participate in a Bible study with Sam and his family.

Join us in prayer for Sam’s family and team, that they continue to meet many persons of peace that are as open to the Gospel as the people they first encountered in this little village. Pray also that this village will see many movements in the days to come.

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God of the Hills and Valleys

Mar 1, 2018 | Stories, Tibetan-Himalayan

Dr. *Peters had never cared for a patient under such watchful eyes before. The room was filled with silent onlookers – little children, older men, young pregnant mothers, and the patient’s wife. They all watched silently as the doctor set down his medical bag and began to work. The group must have been there for quite some time, watching the dying carpenter struggle to breathe, waiting for help to arrive.

Five days earlier, the pastor had asked Dr. Peters to visit the sick carpenter. He asked multiple times. The first six times the pastor asked, Dr. Peters declined. He knew there was no cure for end-stage small cell lung cancer, and crossing a checkpoint without the proper paperwork to enter the restricted border area was impossible. Despite wanting to help, the doctor couldn’t see a way. On the seventh request, Dr. Peters agreed to pray about it. To their surprise, both the doctor and his wife Sarah felt God leading them to go. When the pastor asked for the eighth time, Dr. Peters agreed. (Their friend was a deeply patient man.)

After hours on the twisting, serpentine road that wound its way along the cliff face towards the little village, they crossed the river. They approached the checkpoint with some trepidation but much to their surprise, the checkpoint guard cheerily waved them through without any questions, and they began the ascent to the village.

Dr. Peters had spent years in the area, but the roads still delighted him. The rock, the ice, the warm sunshine, the trees, the river roaring thousands of feet below, the huge off-road transport trucks that looked like minuscule ants creeping along the threadlike trails on the far canyon wall – all echoed the power and majesty of a God above all gods.

After a long trek, they entered the little rock and hand-hewn wood home of the sick carpenter.

The Christians from the village had gathered at the old carpenter’s house that Sunday morning. They seemed to have been waiting for hours. Dr. Peters evaluated the patient’s fluid status, respiratory status, and gave him some opiates for his air hunger. The Sunday morning service took place in the single-room house of the ailing carpenter, so the doctor stayed by his side during the service, listening to him breathe, watching his wife and pregnant daughter care for him. Dr. Peters spoke that morning from Psalm 91, reflecting on the tension between joy and sorrow. The grief of a fallen world mingled with the calm assurance of ‘resting under the shadow of the almighty’. Before Jesus had done any miracle or preached a sermon, he was declared ‘my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.’

As Dr. Peters ended his brief sermon, he reflected that they too, as they walked through a life of suffering and joy, did so knowing they were God’s beloved son, beloved daughter, in whom He was well pleased. They left quietly after a communal meal, the old carpenter breathing more easily after a second dose of medicine.

A few days later, the carpenter passed away, and the villagers all gathered at his home again. This time they came to beat the pastor and take the body. For six hours, the believers in the village stood around the pastor, preventing their neighbors from beating him. In the end, the pastor’s gentle appeals were heeded – the funeral was not about one religion or another, but about supporting the family and the legacy of the man. The ceremony was completed without violence – the first Christian cremation ceremony ever to occur in that little village.

Pray for the people in this icy, rustic village. They live amidst great beauty, great suffering, great opposition, and a great God. And they are dearly loved, this story provides a small glimpse into their complex and varied lives. Pray for their strength despite the pressure, for faithful leaders to be raised up, and for God’s people to complete the work that has started here.

*pseudonym

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