Bucket Filling

It seems as though God wants to teach me something. There have been continual messages around me lately, reminding me of an indispensable and precious discipline - PRAYER.
I am the type of person who likes to dream and act; to plan and pursue... Thus it has often been a struggle for me to dedicate my heart and my time to prayer.

This past week a team came to Guate with the sole purpose of prayer. They visited minstries, sat with leaders, and offered up an abundance of prayers.  I had the privilege of translating (a skill I am far from perfecting...) a sermon one of the team members gave on prayer.  He pointed out the importance of "fervency" in prayer; reminded me of the fact that God's hand and heart are moved by passionate prayer.  He also reminded me that praying hard is a time commitment. 

I appreciated an illustration Pastor John shared with the congregation. Visualize the enormous buckets in the kiddie pools at waterparks.  Water pours into them, and little by little the level rises. Once it fills completely, a little bell rings, everyone runs to gather round, and water rushes over them like a giant tidal wave.  God often answers our prayers in the same way. We must continue to pray, not knowing how much time and passion and faith God will require of us, until the bucket begins to overflow with petitions. Then, the bucket begins to tip and the water rushes over us.  And we rejoice that God has answered our petition.

Two such examples of this 'bucket-filling' might be the prayers of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, and Elijah in 1 Kings 18, in case you would like to dig deeper into the concept of faith, persistence, and passion in our prayers.

However prayer's effectiveness is not determined passion and fervency alone. The most important element of prayer is FAITH, without which our prayers are like a paper airplane resting on a tabletop. It cannot lift itself to soar on the breeze. It needs a hand to thrust it into the wind. 

I love the story from Acts 12, when Peter and James are imprisoned by Herod. An angel appears to Peter in the night, and miraculuously delivers him from prison. Each locked door swings wide and Peter finds himself suddenly on the street, asking if what happened was a vision or reality.  He goes to Mary's house, the mother of a friend. Gathered there is a group of believers, vigilantly praying through the night for Peter. When he knocks on the door, the servant girl recognizes his voice, and excitedly runs to tell the rest of the believers.  This is the first door, ironically, that which the church is behind, that does not open supernaturally.  However they simply do not believe her - they think she has seen Peter's angel. But he keeps knocking, and in the end they let him and he shares with them what God has done for him.

Pastor John pointed out that the Christian were praying fervently for Peter.  They spent all night in a prayer vigil, dedicating their time and passion.  However they were missing a key ingredient. God uses this story as a lesson to his church. The believers prayer fervently, but without hope of seeing fruit. Peter rescued was recsued and they simply could not believe it! They lacked the faith necessary. Yet God fulfills their prayer even despite the lack of faith, in order to teach them. We must also believe that God is powerful to do whatever he desires.  Our fervent, faith-filled prayer reaches to his heart.

Praying with you!

 Kim <><

PS -- A ministry update will be coming soon via email. Watch for it!