Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Beginning of a Prayer Journey

The beginning of a prayer journey

I have shared this before with our Victory Call readers, but I want to share again as we begin this series on prayer.

It was a little over a year ago that God began to tap me on the shoulder to encourage me in the area of my prayer life. I have always admired prayer warriors, wondering how they do that.

Perhaps you remember my Victory Call from May 06 about the lesson God taught me when my son flew to Hungary alone. He made my choices clear, very clear. I could either prayerfully trust God or I could panic. I literally had no other options. I chose to prayerfully trust God. Little did I know that was the beginning of a journey for me deepening my personal prayer walk with Jesus Christ.

Then in June, when word came that Stephanie's daughter was in a life or death situation we cried out to God that very moment. Since Steph's daughter was in San Francisco for specialized care that is where the family flew to, to be by her side. We were left here to pray. We couldn't run to visit at the hospital or take meals; all we could do was pray. I learned a lot about fervent prayer during those days, weeks and months.

Around the same time, a number of prayer warriors I knew were graduating to glory, leaving us wondering who will take up the mantle. I believe God was using these events to begin to raise up a new generation of prayer warriors.

Chaplain Bill was one of our beloved chaplains in the Colony of Mercy. He was well into his eighties when God called him home. I remember his bewilderment that people seemed to have lost the passion for persistent, fervent prayer. He asked on more than one occasion, "What happened to all night prayer vigils?" I could hardly imagine. What could a person pray that would take all night? Luke 6:12, "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God."

I have been given the privilege of participating in Keswick's regional prayer meetings. As I sit around with this small group of people who take prayer very seriously it causes me to wonder, "What will happen to our churches, our ministries, or families, our nation, our world as these senior saint prayer warriors move home to glory if we do not have junior saints ready to stand in the gap?

Diane

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