"As Christians, we must be dependent. We have to reject the idle of self-sufficiency."
-Pastor Dave Clark, Living Hope Neighborhood Church-

This morning at church, we were looking at the behavior of the early church in the Book of Acts. Prayer was a way of life for them.

When waiting for the Holy Spirit, they were praying "in one accord". When they faced persecution, they were praying. When Peter was arrested, they were "praying fervently" (and an angel came and got him out of prison). When the Greek widows asked for food, they prayed and fasted over who should be selected to serve them as Deacons.

You will see this habit consistent for any body in the Scripture that actually saw things get done.

We need to pray. We need to pray together. We need to pray separately. We need to pray for each other. We need to ask for prayer from each other (I am not talking FB posts either - I mean IN PERSON with your neighbors, friends, community and church).

I have a personal testimony on this matter:

In 1994, I was a student at Youth With A Mission (YWAM)'s Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Lindale, Texas.

There was a local church in Tyler, Texas (I do not remember the name) that also had a large private Christian school.

Kip Gaines, the leader of our particular class, told us that the school administration had asked for prayer. The students were out of control - fights, sex, drugs, truancy, insubordination and even gangs.

Kip told us we would be going to the school that coming Saturday to pray over it for 6 hours.

We did. Our entire DTS showed up (I think it was a couple hundred students altogether. but do not remember the actual numbers), and we prayed, and prayed, and prayed. Some of us did "Jericho walks" around the campus, some went classroom to classroom, some went chair to chair, some prayed over the lockers and the walls and even the closets and gymnasium and playgrounds and sports fields. All of us prayed separately in our own ways, walking around and praying as the Ruach haKadosh (Holy Spirit) led.

At some point during this, a couple dozen of the school faculty showed up, and we gathered in the gymnasium and prayed for them for a couple of hours. We did not ask what they wanted prayed for. We just prayed.

There were many tears flowing and there was much humility and bowing before God.

When the time came, we all returned to our campus.

A few days later, Mr. Gaines told us that he had heard from the school board that upon arrival on Monday, the students broke down and cried. They confessed sins, forgave, hugged, apologized, repented and gave up their wickedness. My understanding is that it was over a thousands students, but my memory could be wrong on the numbers (It has been 24 years since then).

Of course we praised God for His miracle.

I had forgotten this event. Life went on, and for some reason, this event never came to mind in the years following - until this morning.

As my pastor was going into the need and power of prayer, I remembered this event. And it was a witness to me of how God works through us when we come together as one.

So now I will say this:

It can not be overstated how much God can do when we join as one in prayer for a single purpose.

I challenge each of you to take this today with you and put it into action. When you go to your church, ask a large group of people there to stop and pray for each other. Don't ask what is needed - let God show each person. Each person - take ten minutes and pray for a person near them (You join in too of course). THEN, ask them to continue praying for that person at least 3 times each day through the week, and then to do it again the next week with a different person, and you get more people into this prayer movement

If your church becomes a praying church - nothing in this world can stop its testimony. Make your church a praying church. Start now. Get off of Facebook and pray now for the person you like the least, and pray that God BLESSES that person so that they can see His mercy and know His love.

Happy Sabbath.

#prayerworks
#dependonGod