Grain drying in front of a home and children playing in a Tepez village of the Karamojong people.


Recently, God has has been working in ways I have seldom seen Him do, through my prayer life. I am sharing this today, because in both cases, I was apprehensive to act upon what He wanted me to do. I was apprehensive because it was difficult for me to believe that He was doing what I thought He was doing, and I wasn't anxious to be the messenger in either situation.

In short, I will say that when the Lord reveals Himself in prayer, I need to pay close attention, I need to believe what He is showing me, and I need to be faithful to act upon it.

The first situation, was about three weeks ago. I was at a prayer cottage with eight other men that God had assembled. It was an impromptu meeting, and the only person with me that I knew well, was from our offices at Awe Star. Two of the men had traveled to NW Arkansas with us, but I did not really know them. That is changing.

We had traveled to Arkansas to hear a man speak on marriage/divorce and its impact in the business culture. Two men were supposed to accompany us there, but when we stopped to pick them up, something had come up at their place of business, and they could not attend.

They invited us to return after the meeting to pray with them at their prayer cottage.

We did so, not really knowing what to expect.

When we assembled, there were eight of us, ranging in age from 25 to 84. We were a fairly representative sample of adult men in the US.

They asked me to start off by sharing about my trip to East Africa, and the story of Elijah Ajaang and my Bible (you can find that story on or around Feb 10th). As I did so, the Lord began to draw us together.

We began a season of prayer that spanned many hours and they passed without our team having any concept of time. It had not been planned, and it was evident the presence of the Lord was moving in and among us.

We took turns sharing what the Lord was doing in our lives and the dreams and visions He had given us. Then we prayed over each man. It was as sweet a time in prayer as I can ever remember having!

As one of the men, whom I will call Tom, moved to the center for us to pray over, the Lord immediately gave me a picture of a young blond girl somewhere around the age of 6. I knew I was supposed to pray for her. I felt she was his daughter. I had no way of knowing, except to trust the Lord.

While other men prayed for Tom, I asked the Lord to assure me I was to pray over this child, and that in fact I wanted confirmation that she was his daughter.

That would come, but not until I stepped out in faith.

When my turn came, it was clear I needed to lift this child up. I began rather hesitantly, unsure what to say, exactly.

I prayed something along the lines of, "Father you have given me a picture of a young blond girl. Tom, I don't know if you have a daughter?"...

"Yes, he does," came affirming words from a friend of his.

"Tom I don't know if she is blond"...

"Yes she is," spoke the same friend.

From there, I began to pray for her and for Tom, her dad. The Lord has a special anointing on that child that needed to be lifted up and that Tom needed to be aware of.

We had begun our prayer time in the early afternoon. When we rose to leave, darkness had fallen. The only indication that the hour was late during our time in prayer was the occasional phone vibrating, as wives began to try to reach unresponsive husbands.

When we finished, I knew I had been obedient to what the Lord has asked me to pray. I must say, however, that my apprehensions prior to doing so were largely based on not wanting to assume things that I really did not know.

I learned that God wanted to see if I trusted Him. He gave me a picture and compelled me to pray for a child I did not know, and had never seen before. A child He loved dearly, and had significant plans for!

My call to obedience, would open the door to recognition of how He wanted me to speak from his heart, to share a word that He wanted another to know. I did not take this responsibility lightly! It made me very nervous, and honestly a bit uncomfortable.

Afterwards, I felt His peace.

A couple of weeks later, He would do something similar. My obedience would be tested on a more significant level. I found myself not wanting to share what He put on my heart to speak.

I will write about it tomorrow.

Suffice it to say, that when the Lord speaks, I need to listen, evaluate and respond. He is teaching me that I need to spend less time in the evaluation process and simply trust Him. My thoughts tend to get in the way as I mull over what He has revealed. I know He has made me this way, but I am learning that He wants me to become more like Him and less like me.

I must become less that He might become more!


brent