Prayer is More Important than Money. I could not always say that, but I have learned through experience that money is no more than a tool. We could have $10,000 surplus each month and if we did not have the power of God, it would be worthless. At the time I am writing this article, we are currently at 79% of our budget with promised support. That means churches and individuals that that have promised to send a certain amount of money monthly, only 79% of them are actually sending it in. Some have discontinued or cut their support due to economic or other reasons. A few weeks ago I looked at a 6 month average for our contributions and guess what – we were at 100% every month! How does that work? It is God that works it all out. To make up the deficit He has a person send extra money this month. Then next month a few people add extra with their regular support. Then another month a church has a special offering and sends it our way. Something I have learned is not to worry about paying for next month’s expenses until next month. If you have a bill due in the 27th, then don’t try and “find” the money on the 3rd, it’s not time yet. There is a song I heard that said that when Lazarus died everyone said that Jesus was too late, but even when He is 4 days late He is right on time! Praise Jesus Christ!!!!
James 5:16 KJV Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
There is a story of a solider in World War II and he and his fellow soldiers were pinned down and a thick fog came rolling through and they were able to make it to safety. After he got back to the states, he was sharing the story with friends and relatives and an elderly aunt asked him the date and approximate time that the fog rolled through. After some discussion she realized that she was awakened in the early morning hours and felt impressed to pray for her nephew. Not knowing exactly what to pray for, she asked God to send a cloud to help him out! I have yet to meet all of those that have prayed for the “clouds” to cover me and my family, but praise be unto my God in Heaven I have felt the presence of the “fog” that has blocked and confused Satan’s fiery darts.
Call on your Epaphrases
These are people that in rough situations you can call and you know that they will drop what they are doing and pray. When I have an urgent situation I make two phone calls: the first to my mom who in turns calls my grandmother and sister. The second is my pastor who in turns calls upon his wife and a few others. It is amazing to see God work, sometimes within a matter of minutes, after making those phone calls. I encourage you to find some people along the way, like Epaphras, to pray for you.
Col 4:12 KJV Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
Seek out your Prayer Team
I have been to many small churches that said up front that they could not support us to which I would always reply, “All we ask is that you pray for us.” I have seen God do many miraculous things because His people are praying for us. Deputation is the one thing that I feared about becoming a missionary. For those that are not familiar with the term “deputation,” it the process in which missionaries travel from church to church or individual to individual seeking financial support. This process can take anywhere from 6 months to 5 years depending on the situation. I did not want to go through the process and knew ahead of time that I would fail. Well that is just the point, “I” will fail, but God can do things that you could never imagine. Deputation is a needed process to teach you to live by faith. I plan to write another article on the importance of deputation later, but let me give you a few of the points. It increases your faith. It teaches you to organize your life. It gives you opportunities to preach. It connects you with people and resources you will need later on the field, etc. Some folks have tried to figure ways around deputation and I guess there are ways, but in doing that you bypass the power house of prayer partners on your prayer team.
“You will not believe this”
I can’t remember how many times I have told people that phrase when it comes to how the Lord Jesus has provided for me, my family and the ministry. I want to share some things God has done because of the prayers of His people.
I remember one time when we had just started on deputation we were headed to a mission’s conference and I did not think we had enough gas to make it to the meeting and we had no money in the check book and we did not even have a savings account nor a credit card. I told my wife to get the kids in the van and we would go as far as we could and if we ran out of gas we would call the church and see if they could pick us up. Well as we backed out of the driveway at around 5:30pm my wife said let me check the mail, which was unusual that time of day. Well inside we found a card that had $100 cash in it. We went a filled up the van with gas and made it to the conference. That night was my turn to speak and I was talking about how God provided because of the prayers of His people. After I finished speaking, the pastor got up and said, “This man came here broke, but God said not to let him leave here broke.” They took up a love offering for us and it was over $500. They also gathered around me and were praying for me. It was during this time I was struggling with quitting my job. During that prayer time God settled it in my heart that He would take care of everything and to go ahead and quit. At that time our support level was not even enough to pay our house payment, but I obeyed and God kept His word and has until this day. In fact if He never does another thing for me He has already done enough.
While we were in Haiti during our first term a few months before we headed back to the states, we began to pray for a few specific things during our family devotions. First was a place to stay during furlough, second was a video projector, and third was a vehicle to use during furlough. Two weeks before we headed back our pastor called to tell us that he had found a three bed room trailer to stay in for just the utilities. When we arrive in the states, someone had bought us a van, and a projector. When we got to the mobile home, our home church had gone in and made up the beds, and all of us had a new outfit hanging in the closets. All and more than we asked for.
We were headed to a church in the mountains of NC for an evening service. This was before GPS and we had gotten the directions from the pastor but we got lost anyway. It was getting lat and we were going to be late for the service if we did not find the church soon. We parked in a parking lot and decided to pray about it. When we finished praying within a couple of minutes a bus went by with the church name on and we pulled out and followed it to the church. When I preached that night, I told the church about us getting lost and as an answer to prayer, god sent us a personalized escort!
All of these things happened to us as the result of many people praying for us. Never underestimate the power and effectiveness of prayer. It is something that Satan wants us to forget and not use.
HGP3
Missionary Hindsights 