PRAYER: The Currency of God's Economy

I think that everyone will agree that there is nothing quite as essential to the whole enterprise of worldwide missions as is prayer - it is the very language of the Kingdom of God. Nowhere in the world is the need for intercessory prayer so obvious as on the mission field, on the frontlines and in the foxholes where spiritual warfare is not a theological argument but a stark reality.

God does not do anything if not in response to prayer. God has limited Himself to intervening in human affairs only at the request of man so as not to violate his free moral agency. Prayer frees the hand of God to operate on our behalf. It gives Him the legal "power of attorney" to confront the powers of evil and defeat them on our behalf, as we yield our freewill to Him and ask Him to intervene.

Prayer is not just a practice in religious asceticism. It is not just an exercise of reflective powers to help energize and/or relax the human body. Prayer is not a tool to which we can apply a logical equation and expect response in mathematical precision. It is not a pronunciation of magic (positive) words and formulas, even when taken from Scripture, in order to obligate and manipulate God subjugating Him to our human will and knowledge.

Prayer can elevate the soul so that it is in communion with Almighty God. Prayer is the key to the victorious life of the Christian. Prayer is the means by which we intervene on behalf of eternal souls and God's servants who are giving their lives for that cause. Prayer is the admission of our human frailties and shortcomings but at the same time a powerful expression of our utter and total dependence on God. It is through prayer that we establish that relationship with God through the virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ, that from the moment we set our hearts to understand and humble ourselves He hears and answers.

There are many times on the mission field, in the heat of the battle, in times of life threatening sickness or danger, that no amount of money could bring the answer - only as God's people set themselves to pray and intercede on our behalf did we gain the victory. When a pill had perforated the interior of my stomach and caused massive internal hemorrhaging and I had lost half of my blood, it was prayer that touched heaven on my behalf and God healed me! It again was prayer to which God responded and created the head of the femur (bone) to go into Ruthie's hip socket when she was a baby and born without the bone properly formed. It was prayer that turned the fatal poison that Jonathan had swallowed when only 20 months old and neutralized its mortal effect so that it did not harm him at all. It was prayer that totally healed Paul of the crippling effects of infant arthritis.

The times that people have been killed and we have seen them die, on the freeways, on the sidewalk, by the anesthesia for a senseless operation, total destruction of buildings where we have been - destroyed by terrorist bombs, through revolutions and uprisings, yet the merciful hand of God has spared us - it is because God's people have upheld us in prayer. The people that have been saved, miraculously healed, cripples walked, demons cast out and souls set free. Prayer has always been the key!

As we ask you to approach the majestic throne room of God on our behalf, on behalf of lost souls and the sick and afflicted for which we request prayer, we remember that it is through the blood of Jesus Christ that we are justified and redeemed and gain the position in Christ as sons of God so that we can call out, "Abba, Father!" It is through that intimate relationship that we now have with the Father gained through the atonement of the blood of Jesus Christ, that our position as believers is guaranteed and the petitions of God’s people can and will be answered – the legions of angels and all the power of the armies of the Lord of Hosts are unleashed against the enemy of our souls. Victory over the enemy is accomplished through the fervent, unceasing, prevailing, consistent and insistent intercessory prayer of righteous men and women of God!