One of my most challenging experiences in ministry occurred last year when we went to India for our World Outreach Convention (WoC) and also to commission a mission house Christ Lifeline donated to Paul Ministry. I have interacted with believers in several cities and countries but I discovered a number of remarkable attributes about the brethren we met in India. I encountered some events that caused me to reappraise my Christianity and how most of us practice it. Let me share one of these attributes with you today.
We had just commissioned the mission house and suddenly felt the nudging to minister to the sick that were present. After we had prayed for the sick, a lady walked up to me and told me she wanted me to pray for her. I inquired what her “prayer point” was and I wasn’t expecting what I heard. In my entire life in the service of God, I have not heard anyone make such prayer requests. As I prayed for her, I was cautious to choose the right words as my mind raced in an attempt to understand the sincerity and motive behind the request. I kept thinking about that prayer point all thorough that day and I haven’t forgotten it even today.
Her simple prayer request was – “please pray for me, I want to win more souls for God”. Beloved, have you ever prayed such a prayer? When was the last time your prayers reverberated around this point? It is the beginning of the year and many of us have several fasting programs; is our fast all about us or does it include a burden for souls as well? I saw the Indian brethren fasting for souls to be won to the kingdom of God and I said to myself – do they serve the same God we serve back home? I tried to flip through some scripture in my mind – especially from the time Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and it dawned on me again that the prayers in the book of Acts of the Apostles down to Revelation greatly differ from the ones many of us chant today.
As I write this piece, my eyes fill with tears and I am sobered by the central focus of a prayer centered on our collective purpose as believers. For “God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him” (2 Corinthians 5:18 – NLT). I am challenged to make a difference by devoting my prayer, family, time and resources to the business of soul winning for God’s kingdom. What about you?
