WHO DO I TURN TO FOR PRAYER?

It’s a good question. We all periodically go through challenging times when our patience is tested, our faith is questioned or life just throws us a bluster of pain or disappointments!

First  -  PRAY!

At times like this, we know that we need help and we would prefer Divine Help!

For the Jesus-follower, crises and complications should drive us to prayer.

Annie Johnson Flint gave us a wonderful hymn back in 1930, that states clearly the reason for followers to pursue God in prayer:

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
when our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
when we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Therefore, believers should pray when they face obstacles or opposition. Doing so helps us to clear our hearts of clutter and remind ourselves of the proper order of things. For us, turning to God for answers or help is not our LAST RESORT, but our FIRST!

But there’s more to it than just the motivation or ability to remember to pray.

Second  -  Pray in Agreement With Others!

We must fully realize something that frequently seems to slip the minds of believers. Jesus clearly taught us that there is added influence when we pray together! I’ve always referred to it as ‘agreement prayer’. We learn about this from the Master in Matthew 18:19-20.

Also, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about something and pray for it, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. This is true because if two or three people come together in my name, I am there with them.  [NCV]

This is VITAL news for married couples! When it comes to the trials of raising a family and navigating the constant changes in our culture, we must capitalize on the benefits of praying together as a couple!  Twenty-eight years ago, when Debbie and I walked through our most desperate days, we learned to pray! We spent hours at the side of our bed or at the couch in our living room - on our knees before God!  Little did we know that it would be seven years before we would see the answer to our prayers, but we stayed faithful, and God honored our agreement prayers!

Therefore, praying with a few other believers strengthens our prayers! Somehow – mysteriously – it brings us into the very real presence of Christ! Jesus clearly recommends it to us as a more effective way of praying!

Third  -  There are Those Who Have Made a Deep Commitment to Prayer!

I can best introduce this idea to you through a story:

My first full-time appointment was to the Jeannette Free Methodist Church [actually relocated in Harrison City, PA]. The congregation was greatly reduced in size due to a split while building the new structure.

 

Immediately we met Goldie Nesbit. She was 78 years old and had been a faithful attender for many years. She was still an attractive woman who dressed immaculately and exuded a grace that drew you to her.

 

Debbie and I had a little 6-month year-old in our home [Travis] and we had no experience. Our parents each lived two hours away, and so Goldie became our ‘go-to’ person. When we called and told her that he had a fever, she told us to wrap him in a cool towel and kept calling to see how he was doing.

 

We turned to her repeatedly for advice and prayer. She was an old fashioned prayer warrior! She lived downtown with her cousin, Alice. I stopped one afternoon to visit them and Alice informed me that Goldie was in her prayer closet from Noon to 2:00 PM and that I should stop back later if I wanted to talk with her.

 

This was a first for me! Goldie had a more important appointment from noon to 2:00 PM. She was meeting with Jesus! She was interceding for family, friends and her community! No wonder she was so loved and respected!

All through the Old Testament the kings of Israel and Judah are sent to certain prophets to hear from God! These prophets were the spokesmen for the Almighty!

John the Baptist was a man who clearly enjoyed a close relationship with God through prayer. He had grown up with our Lord as a cousin and friend and together they integrated spiritual connection into their lives. John – like Jesus – lived an austere life, owning no home, and depending on God for all his needs. John – again like Jesus – drew disciples around himself to train for effective ministry! As a matter of fact, some of John’s disciples became Jesus’ disciples!  [Read John 1:35-51]

In Luke 2:25-35, we read of an elderly man – Simeon – who lived so close to God that he was told that he would not die until he had seen the Christ promised by the Lord.

The Spirit led Simeon to the Temple. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to do what the law said they must do, Simeon took the baby in his arms and thanked God. (v.26)

 After praying over Jesus, Simeon blessed Joseph and said to Mary:

God has chosen this child to cause the rise and fall of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God that many people will not accept so that the thoughts of many will be made known. And the things that will happen will make your heart sad, too. (vs34-35)

 In the very next verses we find the following report:

There was a prophetess, Anna, from the family of Phanuel in the tribe of Asher. Anna was very old. She had once been married for seven years. Then her husband died, and she was a widow for eighty-four years. Anna never left the Temple but worshiped God, going without food and praying day and night. Standing there at that time, she thanked God and spoke about Jesus to all who were waiting for God to free Jerusalem.  (vs. 36-38)

Clearly, there are certain people who either have a special calling to prayer, or who are so in love with Jesus that they commit large portions of time to engaging with Him!  Some have referred to these individuals as saints or prayer warriors; whatever you call them, it is good to have them available!

I met one of these men while teaching in the People’s Republic of China!

The son of a Baptist minister, Samuel Lamb first began preaching in Eastern China at the age of 19. A little more than ten years later, Lamb was arrested under the Communist regime of Mao Tse-tung for “anti-revolutionary” activity before being sentenced in 1957 to 19 years of hard labor. Pastor Lamb spent the majority of his sentence working under extremely difficult conditions in a coal mine but continued to teach Christianity. Despite the death of his wife while in prison and harsh treatment by prison authorities, Pastor Lamb never lost faith and only a few years after his release restarted his house church in Guangzhou.

[https://persecution.org/2013/08/06/heroic-chinese-house-church-leader-samuel-lamb-dead-at-88/#content]

I was privileged to visit his church which was located on a back street and would never have been recognized as a church. It was a normal looking building with multiple floors and a small sanctuary on the top floor that opened to a rooftop garden area. The ‘pews’ were narrow benches set closely together. Possibly thirty Americans could be seated in this space, but the Chinese are far more comfortable with close contact. Every Sunday, this building would fill its multiple floors with Chinese Christians.

I had a friend at the time who had grown his church to nearly five thousand people. They had built a large mall-like structure surrounded by parking space and a rural setting that was simply beautiful. Samuel Lamb’s church packed the same number of people into this tiny structure five or more times every Sunday!

When we met him we were struck with his humility. He sent us away with gifts of books and pamphlets! He prayed over us after our half-hour conversation. His people were kind and gracious in the ways they treated us foreigners.

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I got some news yesterday that rattled me. I was tender and feeling very raw. I had already turned to God in prayer, but felt the need to have others praying with me. I’ve always told Debbie that if I’m in a situation where I need prayer – please find as many children as you can who will pray for me! I believe they have a simpler faith and I know they have access to God!

But my list of ‘prayer warriors’ has been shrinking!

o   My mom – who was the most committed person to prayer that I have ever known – was always my first ‘go-to’! But, to my dismay, she died in 1981.

o   My great-uncle, Rev. J. O. Archer, was my next ‘go-to’!  He told me repeatedly through the years that he prayed for me “every Sunday morning”! I believe he died during the 1980’s.

o   Of course, Debbie has been my faithful prayer partner through the years! She knows me best and is very familiar with my weaknesses, moods, and vulnerabilities. Most of the time, she’s already praying for me before I even ask! How can you express gratitude for that kind of gift?

o   My sister, Beverly, was a great deal like our mom! She was so committed to prayer and faithful in its practice in her daily life! After Debbie, for many years she was my first-and only other ‘go-to’ for prayer. But she died earlier this year!

o   I have one other. We became soul-friends with Randy and Jessica Facklar during our three years in China! Randy and I worked to encourage and support one another through those three years. He and Jessica are still there serving effectively for Christ! He and I texted this morning – though without spiritual references [you eventually get the hang of this]. I know that I’ll be lifted up daily by these precious friends in Christ!

Having people like I’ve been discussing as a part of your ‘contact list’ is of inestimable value!  There are those who have cultivated a connection with God that exceeds that of the average believer. Perhaps they have the gift of ‘faith’? They are always persistent! They have a deep relationship with God through His Holy Spirit!

Do you know someone like this? Do you call on them when you have a need?

Are YOU this kind of person? Do people trust you with their most personal requests and needs? Are you trustworthy?

I’ll close with a quote that hangs on my study carrel:

APOSTLE PAUL AND SAMUEL LAMB

The Apostle Paul speaks candidly about his life experiences in II Corinthians 11.  He speaks with a measure of mockery that he claims to have learned from the three-ring preachers.  He clearly can’t understand why the Corinthians have so much admiration for these rip-off artists.  Consequently, he goes on to compare himself to them.

• Do they brag about being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match.
• Are they servants of Christ? I can go one better. [Paul feels some awkwardness taking this approach.]
• I’ve worked much harder
• Been jailed more often
• Beaten up more times than I can count
• I’ve been flogged five times with the Jew’s thirty-nine lashes
• Beaten by Roman rods three times
• Pummeled with rocks once
• I’ve been shipwrecked three times
• Immersed in the open sea for a night and a day
• In hard travelling year in and year out
• I’ve had to ford rivers
• Fend off robbers
• Struggle with friends
• Struggle with foes
• I’ve been at risk in the city
• At risk in the country
• Endangered by desert sun
• Endangered by sea storm
• Betrayed by those I thought were my brothers
• I’ve known drudgery and hard labor
• Many a long and lonely night without sleep
• Many a missed meal
• Blasted by the cold
• Naked to the weather
• And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches.

He continues:  If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus.

Then, Paul shares one final memory:  Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretus posted guards at the city gates to arrest me?  I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life. 

I read all this and can only imagine the stories this guy could tell!  What a phenomenal life!

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I was privileged to meet such a man during one of our annual conferences while we were in China.  Our meeting was held in Guanzhou which is in extreme southern China.  This is the city where Samuel Lamb’s church met.  Our leaders had arranged a time for us to meet Pastor Lamb.  His church was on a back street and didn’t look at all like a church.  It was a large, common-looking, multi-story building.  I remember going up many passages of narrow steps to a small conference room where we sat at a large table with Pastor Lamb and a few of his leaders and caretakers. 

To bring you up-to-speed, here is an outtake about Samuel from Wikipedia:

Samuel Lamb or Lin Xiangao  (October 4, 1924 – August 3, 2013) was a Protestant pastor in Guangzhou, China. He was a leader in the Chinese house church movement and known for his resistance against the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM)

Lamb was born in a mountainous area overlooking Macau. His father, Paul Lamb, was the pastor of a small Baptist congregation. In the 1940's, Lamb worked with pastor Wang Mingdao.

Lamb was imprisoned for more than 20 years (1955–57; 1958–78) for his refusal to join the TSPM. In spite of "honey-bucket" duty at labor farms or backbreaking work in coal mines at labor camps, Lamb continued to teach.

In 1978, Lamb was released from prison and, in 1979, he restarted the church in 35 Da Ma Zhan, Guangzhou. Because the attendance grew quickly, he then moved the meetings to 15 Rong Gui Li, De Zheng Bei Road. The house church is now known as Rongguili Church, under the name Damazhan Evangelical Church. The house church continued to hold four main services each week, with an estimated attendance of four to five thousand, but was closed on October 14, 2018, and a second time on December 15, 2018.

Starting in 1979, Lamb published a series of booklets called "Voice of the Spirit"; now there are more than 200 booklets.

He died in Guangzhou in 2013, aged 88. For reasons of security and site elements, the date of the farewell ceremony was changed from August 17, 2013 to August 16, 2013, in Baiyun Hall, Yinhe park, Yinhe cemetery, Guangzhou. There were nearly 30,000 mourners in attendance.

He spoke to us in English.  He was a handsome man and very charming – even at his advanced age.  His people were clearly devoted to him and very protective.  He challenged us strongly and allowed us to ask questions.  He sent us away with bags of books and other materials.  We felt very privileged as we toured the church and saw the extremely limited conditions.

People filled the building several times every Sunday, with only a few able to be in the actual room where Pastor Lamb spoke.  His message and the worship was extended to many other rooms via a speaker system.  The pews were just benches tightly packed with very little space between. 

I will never forget this meeting!  He was indeed a modern-day Apostle whose life had impacted tens of thousands – largely because of his willingness to suffer for the Gospel! 

Raise up more like this, Lord!  We need men and women ready to suffer for the extension of Your vital message!

Here are some of the gifts he gave us: