The Power of Prayer

“If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.”
2 Chronicles 7:14-16


The power of prayer is something that I have known in my head for so long, but after two weeks in London, I see that my faith is so incredibly small. In my religion, I have made so many things so complicated. They really are quite simple. When we have faith to step out and believe that God is good, he shows up! The people at Christ Church have blessed me during the past week with their simplicity and their compassion. Sometimes our prayers are so methodical; we pray like a “well oiled machine”, yet sometimes I think that in my machine mindset I lose track of the person sitting in front of me. This week has been about rekindling my passion for people. The people at Christ Church have such gentle natures and loving touches. When I heard about thirty minute to two hour prayer times, I thought, “Why haven’t they sped things up. Where’s the efficiency?” Wow, how quickly criticalness steps into my life. After receiving prayer from a team at Christ Church, I see it is not that they are wasting time; it’s that they are taking time to truly love people. I am quite convicted. My life has been so changed by a simple touch of Jesus! They are a people of great faith who are experiencing miracles in their midst simple because they believe that their God will come through and because they have experienced his love and know His heart for His people.

This week has been a week of learning greater humility and learning to keep going even when I am really tired. I feel like I have had many late evenings. I have had the opportunity to get to know so many kids. This weekend I got to see the power of intercession and how answered prayers can come forth in the immediate. He longs to heal the land. On Saturday we had a KICK Day. This is a form of outreach to the community. We played football (soccer – I am working on my British terminology). It was in Sand’s End, and it was to a group of completely unchurched youth. They were fresh and real. They spoke their minds even when it wasn’t super pleasant to hear. I fell in love with them instantly. We spent a significant amount of time in prayer prior to the day, and it was cool to see every word the Lord spoke come into fruition. Kids were changed! I was the “Craft Lady”. This is sort of funny because I am not super crafty. Still, I had the opportunity to touch many girls. There were a few in particular who kept coming back to do art. We spent most of the day talking. The first things out of these girl’s mouths were, “Do you believe in God? I don’t! I hate God. I don’t believe in your God!” Still these girls stuck around all day long. It was amazing. There was a little boy who didn’t want to play football either, so he was sort of my little helper. He was ten and his heart was still pretty soft. (As usually, there’s always one that I want to take home with me, Jonny was the one that I wanted to bring home from this event! I can only hope to run into him again!) The kids made fun of my accent, and we bonded over our strange words. The amazing thing was that after football, they came for the meal that evening and all the kids that I had spent my day with received prayer. What joy to be able to begin to tell these kids a piece of their DNA (How Jesus created them). The Lord lavished truth upon these angry kids and we began to see them soften. Almost all the young boys who had come for the evening (about twenty of them) received prayer. They all left with little pieces of paper and a whole lot more joy. It was such an incredible day. The Lord was good to show up and touch lives. Most of the kids were new and we hope to see them all at Sanctuary (the church created for Sand’s End youth) next week. To those intercessors reading this, I would ask that you prayer for my new friends! They can each use a touch from God.

The Lord is teaching me so much about the power of yes and the power of simply blessing people. I never knew that binding books for a Living Free Class could be fun, but when a good friend is sick and you get to help her out for the day, it brings joy. It’s fun to ask questions and see people light up as you begin taking interest in them. I have learned a lot this week about my own self-preoccupation and how much I really think about myself. I just want to have my eyes on Christ. I am so excited for this next week. The Lord keeps teaching me more and more! It’s such a joy. My goal for this week is to find an intercession group to join and to meet up with some kids outside of youth times.

Here’s some personal, yet random facts about my time so far: Having no internet access is hard, but I am learning that my addiction to the internet is probably not healthy. I have been learning to find other ways to amuse myself. Having no car has made me become much more dependent upon the grace of others. The Lord always seems to provide a ride late at night without me even having to ask. What a blessings. It’s also amazing how much you can do in London without a vehicle. Having no cell phone has also been a little difficult, but I am managing and believing that the Lord will take care of each call that needs to be made and provide me with ways to make each one. So, things are definitely different. Sometimes it’s a bit lonely, but I am learning more about how much the Lord’s presence is real and how I am never alone. He meets me daily. Christy is also a huge blessing. What a joy to have a friend and fellow adventurer! I pray you are all well! I miss you like crazy! Lots of Love from London!