Testimonies, faith and prayer

Mark Batterson says he has become "a connoisseur of prayer testimonies".

He means that he cherishes stories of answered prayer because "they have lit a fire under my faith unlike anything I've ever experienced".

I know he's right.  I am uplifted every time I hear a story of God answering a prayer in a seemingly impossible situation.

Recently, I read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11.  The result was that many who saw this miracle believed in Jesus and told others about it.  And crowds poured out to see him.

Of course, answers to prayer are not always as miraculous as that.  But a striking answer to prayer does build faith.

As Batterson says in his book Draw the Circle, we often react to amazing answers to prayer by thinking: "If God did it for them, he just might do it for me."

Personal stories are important in our lives as believers.

The gospels are really a series of eyewitness accounts of what Jesus did and said.

The apostle Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 that he (Paul) has taught him what he learned about Christ from "reliable witnesses" and he urges Timothy to pass on what he has learned to others.

"When God answers a prayer, no matter how big or how small, we need to share it," Batterson says.  ". . . Giving testimony is the way we give God all of the glory.  But we also need to share it because others need to hear it."

Batterson adds: "Our testimonies don't just remind us that the victory has already been won; they also remind the enemy that he has already been defeated."

He asks: "Is it any wonder that what gets celebrated gets replicated?"

When we hear stories of people becoming believers or being healed, we are encouraged.  And we see more people becoming believers and more healings.

"When we share our testimony, we are loaning our faith to others," he says. "When we listen to a testimony, we are borrowing faith from others."

I have become increasingly convinced that we need to record answers to prayer in our church for the encouragement and building up of members of the congregation.

Together as one

Why is the church booming in Africa, South America and Asia - and not in Europe and North America?

One important factor is people praying together.

John Franklin offers a flood of statistics to describe the astounding growth and spiritual power of the Christian church in the Third World in recent decades.

In his book And the Place was Shaken, Franklin says that the number of believers in Nepal jumped from 2,000 in 1990 to 500,000 in 2000.  In Korea, the number of Christians rose to 40 per cent of the population at the end of the twentieth century from only 2 per cent at the beginning of the century.

In Uganda, group prayer played a key role in a major revival in recent decades.  The number of believers skyrocketed and the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic which had claimed one-third of the population was brought under control so that the infection rate was reduced to 5 per cent.

Churches throughout the developing world are packed with people praying together.  Indian evangelist and mission leader K.P. Yohanan once said that typically churches in India are filled on prayer night - but he noted that is not true in North America.

Franklin says he once felt that churches grew from concerted efforts at evangelism.  But he now believes that successful evangelism flows from power with God.  And power with God flows from a deep relationship with the Lord - prayer being a vital factor.

When you pray with others, the Spirit of prayer draws you together as one.

And, as Jesus pointed out in Matthew 18:19-20, God acts when people agree in prayer.

I often turn to Acts 4:23-31 for inspiration on praying together.  The young church in Jerusalem was faced with persecution and the believers responded by praying.

As they prayed together, they began by worshiping God and celebrating his power and authority.  Then, they asked for boldness in preaching the good news and for the power of God to work miracles of healing and other signs and wonders.

The result? God responded by shaking the house they were in and, in the following days and weeks, thousands more were added to their flock and many were healed.

If we want to see God's power at work, we need to pray together as one.

The wonder of blessing

"Bless those who persecute you," says the apostle Paul.  "Bless and do not curse."


Those words have stuck in my heart for a long time.

More and more I recognize that blessing others can only come from a heart given over to God.  When we bless others who have hurt us, we are stepping beyond human boundaries.

It is a sign of God's love, flowing from us to others.  These words of Paul above come in a passage in Romans 12 where he is speaking about how we are to love other people.

I have written several blog entries on blessing in the past couple of years - a number in recent months alone.  I have read and enjoyed books such as The Grace Outpouring by Roy Godwin and The Power of Blessing by Kerry Kirkwood.

I am preoccupied by the topic.  Now, I need to let God work through me to bless others on a daily basis.

I anticipate that blessing others regularly will change me.

The Bible draws a stark picture of blessing - and non-blessing.  As Paul points out, we must not curse others.  And cursing is much easier to do.

At first, cursing does not seem such a big deal.  It's only words.  But cursing suggests you have judged someone - and that judgement hangs between you and the person you have cursed.

I find that hard to accept.  If someone has let me down, am I not justified in condemning him?

No, says Paul, I am not justified.  Judgement belongs to God alone.

So, how can I bless someone who has let me down?

As I think about it, I must first begin by giving the incident to God and leave it in his hands, acknowledging my hurt.  Then, I must thank God for the person and his qualities and pray a blessing for his good.

As Kerry Kirkwood suggests in his book, I can pray that the person will become what God wants him to be.  I can pray spiritual, emotional, and physical blessings for him, too.

As I say, blessing others will surely change me.  And God may work through my blessings in other people's lives.

That is certainly the testimony of books I have read.

That would be a great blessing from God in my own life.

Prayer and how you see God

Is God like a soft-drink machine, dispensing drinks when you insert the right amount of money?

Is he so far above you that you're sure he doesn't hear you - or even see you?

Is he like an angry parent, disgusted with you and bound to deny what you ask of him?

If you see him any of these ways, you may have trouble opening the door to God through prayer.

Last week, I wrote that how you see yourself will influence how you pray.

It is equally true that how you see God will affect your prayers.

More than a century and a half ago, the great British preacher Charles Spurgeon declared that you should approach God with awe and respect while rejoicing that he loves to pour good things over you.

In The Power of Prayer in a Believer's Life, Spurgeon says the writer of Hebrews gives a good picture of God and prayer in chapter 4, verse 16: "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Here are Spurgeon's main points in my words:

• When we pray, we are entering "the courts of the royalty of heaven".  God is the awe-inspiring king seated on a throne.  We need to bow before him in reverence.
• We need to submit to him and his will.
• We should enter his presence joyfully and thankfully because he has called us into his presence.
• We should stand before him confidently and with great expectations because he is king and he offers grace to his loved ones.
• We can expect grace and mercy from God even though we sense our unworthiness.  "It is in Him (Christ) that God is able to dispense grace to the most guilty of mankind."

Spurgeon eloquently expands on these and other thoughts in his article.

But his point is simple: God is a stupendous king - marvelous to behold - who loves us and offers us good gifts.  Our task is to recognize that what he wants for us is far better than anything we could ask or imagine.

As we seek what he wants for us, we can be sure we will receive his mercy and grace.