Getting through

Mark Batterson says sometimes we need to pray "get me through" prayers rather than "get me out" prayers.

In his book Draw the Circle, Batterson says that sometimes God's answer is "No" when we pray to get out of a tough situation.  Why he says no can be hard to determine.

But rather than getting angry and giving up, Batterson urges us to pray our way through and get insight into what God is doing in our lives.

"Can our prayers change our circumstances?" asks Batterson, pastor of a large church in Washington, D.C.  "Absolutely!  But when our circumstances don't change, it's often an indication that God is trying to change us."

He points out that the chief objective of many of our prayers is "our own personal comfort rather than God's glory".

Sometimes these prayers do not further God's plan for our lives.

So Batterson says he has learned to change his approach when God says "No" to one of his prayers.

"Even when a prayer isn't answered the way I want, I have a peace that passes understanding because I know that God heard me.  It just means the answer is no.  And I've learned to praise God when the answer is no, not just when the answer is yes."

A "no" answer may be because we are asking for the wrong thing or for the wrong reason or at the wrong time.

"And I'm convinced that the day will come when we thank God for the prayers he did not answer as much as the ones he did because he had a better answer."

The best answer brings God glory.

The prayers of David - his Psalms - are littered with "get me through" prayers.  And God did take him through some very tough times.  David learned from his mistakes and he is known in the scriptures as a "man after God's own heart".

For me, Mark Batterson's comment is a timely reminder.  God knows best and he is working things out for my good and his glory.

Pray, care, share

I am intrigued by the "House of Prayer" concept - Christians banding together in neighbourhoods to pray their neighbours into the kingdom of God.

It involves several people in a neighbourhood or place of work joining together to pray for their neighbours or workmates, help them with their needs, and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Typically, two or three people get together to pray consistently for their neighbours.  They ask their neighbours for their prayer needs and they pray for them.  This opens the door to closer relationships.

As their relationships deepen, they offer to help with such everyday needs - perhaps looking after a pet while the neighbours are away.

Then, the neighbours are more open to hearing the gospel.

In one case, van der Griend says the Olive Hills Nazarene Church in Bakersfield, California, "spearheaded a prayer-evangelism ministry that targets apartment complexes in a high-need area".

Police were often called in two or three times a day into these complexes to deal with crime.  Drugs were openly sold and unemployment was high.  Families were broken and many lacked the basic necessities of life.

Church members prayer-walked the area and planted eight "Houses of Prayer" in the complexes.  Members met weekly to pray for residents and their needs.

The results? Drug dealers moved out and the crime rate dropped.  The manager at one of the complexes became a Christian.  An "out-of-control" boy turned into a straight A student.  Ten people became believers.  Many others started going to church. Eighteen young people joined the church youth group.  Several new Bible studies were launched.  Forty-five families received help from the church.

Police now come to the complexes barely once a week, a dramatic drop from the past.  And the police have asked the church to plant Houses of Prayer in other tough neighbourhoods.

"Not only is the ministry simple enough for anyone to do, it is also culturally correct for today," says van der Griend.  "People, even unbelieving people, welcome prayer."

He notes that a church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, prayed for and visited people in a 12-block area for two years and had only one household reject their offer to pray.

"The door is wide open," writes van der Griend.  "God has set the stage for effective prayer evangelism ministry."

Prayer works!

Paul Covert learned as a young pastor that prayer opens the door to God working his wonders.

Covert and his wife had started a new church in their living room in an Arizona city in December 1984.  The church had grown to about 100 a year later when Christmas rolled around.  The few families in this new church decided to help a couple they knew that had fallen on hard times.

After looking over the situation, they realized this poor family was living in an apartment complex with 25 other needy families.  Someone suggested they help all the families in the complex.

Covert remembers saying: "There is no way one small church can help twenty-five families. This is out of our reach."

But others insisted on going ahead with this idea.  Ultimately, they decided to move together in prayer and action.

"I was astounded by what transpired," Covert writes in his book Threshold: Transforming Prayer, Transforming Prayer Leadership.

Massive donations of clothes, toys, personal hygiene items, toasters and blenders poured in.  There was more than seemed possible for a church their size.

But they were still short of one thing - food.

Covert remembers sitting in his office praying about this problem when the phone rang.  It was the administrative assistant of the president of Fry's Food Stores.

She said: "We have two pickup loads of canned goods that we would like to donate to a church that is helping others at Christmas.  Do you all have a use for the food?"

"I was dumbstruck and actually dropped the phone," Covert recalls.

He goes on to say: "I learned a great lesson that day: prayer opens the door to the supernatural."

Covert realizes this can be dismissed by skeptics as coincidence.  But he says he has seen many such "supernatural connections".

Covert's book is a delight - filled with prayer ideas and stories of the power of prayer.

Prayer works!