By: Patti Monk
In 2013, my husband and I went on our first mission trip to Hope of Life International. It was a week filled with the movement of God. We saw food multiplied, people healed, lives saved from darkness and hearts changed, including our own. Leading up to the trip, we spent countless hours with our family and friends praying. Someone once said that people serve in the name of Jesus all over the world, but great things happen when people serve covered in prayer. Prayer is a tool that everyone can use anytime and anywhere. This month we have a special time of prayer to specifically cover the ministry and all those people that are reached spiritually and physically by the work done in Guatemala and the United States. So often on the mission field we find ourselves in a situation that, despite the details, carries the peace of Christ. That peace is held together by prayer. God speaks and leads to help a desperate soul, or speaks words that you know you didn’t think up on your own, or share in a way that stretches you, and prayer is what opens up that communication with God. It sets our hearts to hear His voice and to take action to change someone’s life for eternity.
The book of James, chapter five says:
“Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.”
Prayer. From the tiniest little one to the most elderly soul, we can all pray and great things will happen. Please pray with us always and especially over the next 40 days. Pray for Jesus to shine everywhere that we go, for lives to be deeply healed physically and spiritually, pray for provision and peace, for protection, healing, and a boldness for the Lord, prayer for our children to know and live for Jesus, pray for Hope of Life and all the people that serve full time and short term. Pray for Jesus to be the banner over us that brings people to Him.