The Importance of Prayer
This last week, I was in Denver being trained on how to lead a summer project. This covered everything from making a vision plan to buying flights to what to do if someone is bitten by a monkey. Yes, bitten by a monkey…it actually happened on a summer project last year! Needless to say, the conference was quite comprehensive. When my team and I arrived in Denver, we met together with staff members and students who were leading summer projects all over the world. In fact, there were 87 different international summer projects represented going to 33 countries. Considering the number of people at this conference, I was a little hesitant when the emcee said that each of us had to introduce ourselves to the entire audience. As we moved from one person to the next however, I started to get a big picture of what God was doing in the lives of these leaders and what God was going to do in the lives of each of you students that answer His call to go. It truly did have a huge impact on me.
Right before attending this conference, I listened to a sermon by John Piper on prayer as part of my staff training. He said, “Until we believe that life is war, we will not know what prayer is for.” That quote has been dominating my thoughts since then. I have always seen prayer as a way to communicate with God about the needs of myself and others. But prayer should be more than that. It should be seen as an opportunity to bring nations and peoples before Him. Prayer is the work of missions! In other words, missions is not effective without prayer behind it at all times, for it is God who must do the work. So as I sat taking in all of these names at this conference and listening to where each person would be going, my heart continually turned towards prayer and has remained there as I continue to think about the summer. I pray that as you think through whether or not to go on summer project and even as you go throughout your week, that you remember to keep others in your prayers. It is not just important, it is life-changing!
Here’s the link to my blog if you want to check it out and the sermon if you want to listen:
