The Necessity for and Power of Prayer

In Nelson’s Student Bible Dictionary, prayer is defined as, “communication with God.”
This communication with God is vital to our walk with the Lord.  In First Thessalonians 5:17, Paul reminds us to “pray without ceasing.”  To pray without ceasing we must live with an awareness that God is with us at all times.  We must keep our focus on Him knowing that He is actively involved and engaged in our thoughts and actions.  This requires a conscious effort on our part to keep Him at the forefront of our thoughts at all times.  But, how many times do we find ourselves as Paul describes in Romans 7, “I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”  We know we need to be in constant communication with God, but our human nature, selfish ambitions get in the way. 

It is said that prayer doesn’t always change what you’re praying for but that it changes the heart of the person praying.  I agree.  We must be surrendered to the Lord and willing to allow him to make and mold us.  We can do that by agreeing with him in prayer.  This will help to counter attack our selfish ambitions.  It will transform our minds, if we’re willing.  What about the way prayers are answered?  I have a plaque hanging on my wall.  It says, “God always answers prayers.  Sometimes He says Yes, sometimes He says No, and other times He says you’ve got to be kidding.”  Joking aside, I believe He always answers our prayers.  He just doesn’t always do it the way we want or think he should.  Think back in the Bible.  How many examples can we mention of ways that God answered someone’s prayers in a way they were not expecting; in timing that they were not expecting.  Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, Joseph, Ruth, Saul, the list could go on.  Think back in your own life.  God knows the desires of our hearts and he also knows what’s best for us, but He is sovereign and His will shall be done! 

The deeper I’ve gotten in my walk with the Lord, the more I’ve seen the importance of prayer.  It is the foundation of our relationship with Him.  It is the way we stay connected day in and day out.  It has been part of our strategy to reach the Antandroy.  We have sought to cover everything in prayer as we’ve had the privilege to work among the people.  And we have seen His power poured out as He has answered those prayers.  They have not always been answered the way we expected.  For example, our main two partner groups that send short term teams were not signed up as partner groups when we first came on the field.  Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary adopted and sought to engage the Antandroy and in doing so have sent four groups in two years, commissioned a 2+3 program couple that arrived in April and seen thousands hear the Gospel.  North Garland Baptist Fellowship sought to be prayer warriors, advocates for the Antandroy people and have been able to send two groups to reach out in and around the village of Tsihombe.  We didn’t realize when we moved to Toliara for a short time that our language teacher and her husband would be the ones to answer God’s call and move to Tsihombe and see the first church under our leadership planted.  When we signed up for this job, we came knowing we would be in a very remote location without other personnel closer than a 20 hour drive. There are 20 of us with the IMB living in Fort Dauphin!  I could go on, but…

All of this to say:  Keep praying prayer warriors!  We need it.  We feel it.  We see it at work around us.  We practice it as we are lifting you up.  He who calls us is faithful and we are grateful that He answers!

Praises:

*Ashley finished her journeyman term and made it back to the USA!
*Phoebe comes home for break on July 15^th.
*Both summer volunteer teams that we’ve hosted and another that our partner church planters have hosted has seen fruit of their labor and many seeds have been sown!
*The weather is cooler.
*We got new teammates.
*We’ve been healthy for the most part.

Prayer requests:

*Health
*Language
*Support for our national partners.
*Plans coming together for our stateside furlough.

 River sends his hugs

 Raising puppies has been a sweet blessing

 Adam & Emma enjoying dinner with the SWBTS team

 Emma, Baylee & the SWBTS team playing games with the Malagasy 

 Emma, Baylee & Ashley enjoying the view from high above Fort Dauphin (top of Peak St. Louis)

SWBTS with our partner church, CEIM