Enrique spent the morning praying to the Lord to provide him the needed $3 to make the round trip into the city to attend the church planting training session that afternoon. When it was time to board the bus, he only had enough money to make the trip in, but not enough to get back home. He went ahead and went out to the highway to await the bus. A fellow believer "happened" to pass by and Enrique's prayer for the needed money was answered. He was the first to arrive for the training even though he had come the farthest.
This afternoon's session was the "O" of "c.O.s.e.c.h.a" (harvest.) It is the prayer module of our church planting training. I had come prepared with a full afternoon of teaching and activities on the importance of prayer to church planting.
The first item we covered was that it is God's will that "none should perish." Everyone was asked to write down the names of all the family and friends they knew who are not yet believers. We went over the "3 steps" of how we should pray for the lost and I even prayed a short "model prayer" illustrating what we had just gone over making sure everyone present knew how to correctly pray for the lost on their list. I had planned about 15-minutes for this activity and was ready to wrap it up and move on to all the other important prayer points I intended to cover during our training session.
I was already on the next item when Enrique raised his hand and full of emotion in his voice and on the verge of tears began to tell us about two of the people on his list. I patiently waited for him to finish so I could continue my teaching on the prayer module, but Enrique begged us to stop right then and there and pray for their salvation. Before he was through speaking, Matias interrupted and shared his burden for 2-3 on his own list. At that point I lost control of the training session. My "model prayer" and teaching up to that point was absolutely nothing compared to the heartfelt praying and crying out to God that ensued for most of the remaining time.
No, we never got around to really dealing with all the "prayer tips" I had intended sharing. Several pages of great prayer materials and teaching on prayer were layed aside, but boy was there some genuine heartfelt praying for the lost!
Why am I so "content oriented" and think that information is what it is all about? Is my teaching on the subject of prayer what matters, or is praying itself what really matters? When was the last time I shed a tear for a lost person? How burdened and heartbroken am I for the hopeless souls around me? Am I able to fill out a whole sheet of paper with the names of lost family, friends, co-workers and cry out to God in passion for their salvation?
Today the students taught the teacher the prayer lesson.
8 comments:
That is truly beautiful. Praise God! How awesome it is when the "Word becomes flesh." Thanks for the encouragement, Guy. We're praying for you.
Guy,
Wow. I LOVE your stories. I got choked up on this one, and had to read it to Doug.
This is SO true.
BTW--can you send me your material on praying for the lost? We have been doing something similar, in having students list lost friends and family and pray intentionally for them. But I'd really be interested in the training material that you use.
In fact....is there a website where we could access all of the "C.O.S.E.C.H.A." material? We have students who could translate....but I'd really be interested in what you are using.
Alan,
Thanks for stopping by and especially for praying for us! We too continue to remember Caelan in our prayers, your last blog update was encouraging--thanks for sharing.
Kiki,
You're back! Good to see you blogging and commenting again.
COSECHA can be downloaded at http://www.wsaresourcesite.org/Topics/housechurch.htm There are lots of other cp materials on the site as well from all over S. America
Here are a couple of recent posts about COSECHA and FAQ.
We try to keep everything VERY simple. The prayer material is found on pages 9-13. What I write about in this post is just what is on page 9 which is a list where you write in the names of lost family, friends, etc. and pray daily the following that God:
1) would open their hearts and cause them to be disposed towards spiritual matters and willing to receive our message,
2) that God would prepare the circumstances (open doors) to be able to share the Gospel,
3) that God would show us which of those on our list are the "people of peace"
Happy praying!
Guy,
I can really identify with this post. I'm a content-oriented teacher and occasionally become irritated and/or exasperated when someone interrupts my teaching to talk about some personal matter or make a prayer request. Over time I have learned to be more accepting when this happens, but it is still a major struggle for me. Apparently it's one of those relational things that I seem to have trouble with.
I'm going to check out the link you listed for Kiki. One of the first things I tried to do when I arrived at Jackson Grove three years ago was to focus on intentional evangelistic prayer for the lost, but for whatever reason it never caught on. I want to try it again when I go to a new church, because I believe prayer has to be at the heart of evangelism. I think it would help to see how other people are leading in this area.
Tim,
Praying for the lost, just like church planting has to be intentional. If we are not really expecting God to answer and are not intentional about it, seldom will anything come of our praying. We tell our people to pray like the widow in Luke 18 who importuned the wicked judge. Keep crying out, insisting, "bugging God," remind Him day and night, and DON'T STOP doing so until He gives you those souls you are praying for. Guess what? God loves to answer that kind of praying!
Guy,
What a delight to read your post. I have family [a nephew, Jerry Paul Coy and wife Kathleen and kids] in Chile involved in church planting. I've been with them on two occasions for missions meetings and have heard similiar stories. Your words brought back the joy of those times.
Thanks for your blog, your work, and your heart that really comes through in what you say. Know the Burlesons will be remembering you before the Lord.
Paul Burleson
Paul,
Yes, I know Jerry and Kathleen there in Chile and have spent time with them over the years, especially in that we have in common adopted children (we have two ourselves.)
I have also very much enjoyed reading your comments on other blogs and admire the wisdom you bring to the discussion.
Thanks for your prayers for all of us. It is what keeps us on the field.
God is amazing.
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