How Prayer Can Impact the One Who Prays

If  you are reading this blog, you are most likely a Christian or someone at least interested in Christianity. If you fit in the latter category of people, I urge you then to be open to statements that may not make sense to you. You can address any question to me as a comment and I will do my best to answer.

Without further do, let’s dive into our topic–prayer. The kind of prayer I want to address is one of the Biblical types of prayer, and more specifically–intercession for others. Interceding for others means bringing their needs to God and asking for His intervention on their behalf. One of my first experiences with intercessory prayers goes back in the Spring of 2005 when I worked as an interpreter in Haiti for a two-week American Mission trip focused on medical outreach by an organization named “Friend Ships.”

During these two weeks of translating for patients to nurses and vice versa, I experienced the most beautiful effect that prayer exerts on the person who prays. The Friend Ships crew set up about six medical tents on a large compound of a Church named Tabernacle de la Grace (Grace Village Ministries). They would see patients from 7:00 am until 5:00 pm with a lunch break in between and dinner at the end of the day. So, for a first-time interpreter I had my hands full. However, the excitement of meeting Americans and interacting with them for the first time in my life gave me more incentive than any addicting drug could. I found myself waking up at about 6:00 each morning and shoveling my toast and coffee into my throat faster than ever so I could join the missionaries in their loving work on behalf of Jesus.

In this devout endeavor for Jesus, the nurses and doctors required each interpreter to pray for each patient that walked into our tents on top of medical care. This policy commanded my utmost respect for the team for it showed their faith and dependence on God. I had fun lifting up every sickness or disease we dealt with. I prayed against unusual migraines, eyes infections, chest pains, intestinal parasites, urinal infections, yeast infections, cysts in hands or legs, etc. Besides the praying, I also enjoyed peering through the deep blue, or brown, or kaleidoscopic eyes of each nurses I work with as I switched my attention back and forth between them and each patient. Being the middle-man could not feel any better. Such a work allowed me to grow both culturally and spiritually.

Unlike the cultural growth I experienced, my spiritual growth did not kick in immediately. It took me the full two weeks of working as a translator and a prayer warrior to realize what God accomplished in me through the Holy Spirit because of intercession. Although I didn’t see the patients afterwards in order to assess their healing or effectiveness of the treatment, I felt closer to God just for invoking Him all day long. That didn’t stop just with feelings. Things would get better.

Before I can tell you how things got better, let me first explain the situation I was in. I was attending back then a college for Social Sciences called FASH (Faculte des Sciences Humaines) and took a break in order to work with the missionaries. School was on saturday as well as late weekdays, so I could afford to skip a few classes. This campus teemed with some of the prettiest girls Haiti had to offer the world. And as a young man, striving to keep a pure mind before the Lord, I found myself battling with certain thoughts when these girls would walk around campus dressed in the most provoking manner I had ever seen. By provoking I mean a way that the church girls didn’t dress. Some of the non-Christian ladies would wear tight-fitting pants and shirts that reveal their belly buttons–things that my young eyes were helpless to. When these females would walk around, that would turn my head around as well as if my neck was magnetically polarized to their hips. When they would sit down in the first classroom rows right in front of mine, I had a harder time focusing on the professor.

Now, after the two weeks of intensive translating and praying for the sick all day long were over, I started to notice a change in the way I viewed women. I went back to school and when these provoking-and-enticing-despite-themselves women would walk by, my eyes would not follow them up as my previous routine would demand. When they would sit in the front rows and I would happen to see what only a doctor or a husband should have seen in a certain context, I would find my thoughts fixed on God’s perspective on these ladies. The girls were no longer sexual objects to fantasize upon or people to put down, to despise or disgust. Rather, they were created in God’s own image.

For the first time in my 9 year-old Christian journey, I realized that I could think with purity about those females who didn’t know God and exposed too much of their bodies. My flesh could not take over my mind and body any more. I began to see these girls with compassion. I would think to myself, “If only so and so knew the Lord, she would value her body more and save her intimate parts for only one man and do so in the proper context.” Along with such thoughts I also felt the need to love the girls despite the darkness they were in and to share the light with them whenever I had the opportunity.

This change of behavior can only originate from a renewing in attitude and thinking. And this transformed mind, for my particular experience, came as a result of time spent with God on behalf of total strangers. Isn’t the Lord amazing? I wonder how many bad habits and inward sins that we Christians could successfully change if we practiced the right type of prayer (among others). How many victories we could get over sins if we just prayed more often for others and forget more about ourselves?Intercession serves sanctification well in the life of the one who prays. Praying for others brings inward purity.

Ephesians 1:16 “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.”

A little Update

It’s been a while since I posted anything. I am sorry for my lethargy in writing. Busyness cannot be an excuse because people always find time to do what matters to them. Here is a little update about my present situation.

I am grateful to be a second-semester sophomore in Pastoral Pre-Seminary Studies at Moody Bible Institute. I am currently taking these courses that I love so much: Hermeneutics, Pastoral Ethics, Intro to Philosophy, Intro to Psychology, and Christianity and Western Culture II.

I am learning so much both spiritually and relationally, and the Lord has been blessing me with great friends and prayer partners and a very welcoming Assembly of God church that I attend.

How do I make it financially speaking? Well, I came close many times to discouragement and despair in face of financial challenges but the Lord has proved Himself faithful as always. For instance, last month two anonymous donors sent a total of $1,100 toward my school bills while I was close to be in trouble with deadlines of some of my room and board fees. This was one of the many miracles He has done in this area in my life. I currently work 20 hours a week for Moody Distance Learning Center as a Student Resource Assistant (fancy name for customer service type of job), which helps a little bit with my expenses.

I am so excited and looking forward to accomplishing my B.A. degree in order to enroll in Seminary for M.Div. The vision–although I am open to God to change it whenever He wills–is still to use this training to train Haitian Pastors in Haiti who never got the chance to obtain formal Biblical training. Building a Bible College to this effect is a plan that warms my heart and lights up my face when I think of it. You would be amazed to know how much the church in Haiti is suffering from spiritual malnutrition because of lack of competent preachers and spiritual leaders. As a matter of fact, some of these ministers sadly cannot even read the Bible for themselves really well. Thus I am convinced that God put this burden on my heart so I can use the training He is entrusting me with so I can be a blessing for Haiti somehow.

Feel free to contact me via this blog or by e-mail at weltwok@gmail.com if you want to partner with me in any manner either now for my present challenges or future ministry goals. Feel free to share your prayer requests as well. We are called to carry one another’s burden and I want to use this blog to connect with others in this calling.

God bless you richly.

Humility and Trusting

Have you ever wondered why you always have to figure things out before you can surrender, obey, or trust God in the challenges of life? As believers we tend to act like unbelievers who, for the sake of logic, have to make sense out of the issue or feel in control of the agenda before acting on God’s word.

I remember this story about a fellow tailor among my father’s neighbors, named Matthew, who came to pay him a quick visit one day a few years back. While the two were enjoying their conversation, Matthew’s peripheral father-type-vigilant vision caught his one and only son, about 10 years old, perched on the fence of the house where the shop was at. With a voice tainted with concern he yelled, “Marco, come here immediately please.”  At these words his son came running across the street as if his dad was about to recompense him for his past 4.0 at school or some commendable gestures. When Marco reached our sidewalk, however, the gentle voice of his daddy whispered, “Check out the bottom of the wall.” Upon turning his head toward the fence, Marco’s face fell in a kind of fear that people experience after coming as close as a hair to an accident. Then Matthew continues, “Do you see why I called you to come and see?” He didn’t need to add any more loving warning to these words, for Marco’s face was already displaying a silent resolution to never climb up there until the big gap missing toward the bottom of the wall was fixed.

This story kind of makes me think about how much I wish God was that clear with me when he asks me to do something hard such as believing He has blessed me despite the circumstances, or trusting He is bringing my good out of tough decisions He wants me to make. But the bottom line is that, although God is a logical being, He doesn’t owe us explanations for unwelcome events or suffering of all sorts, or hurtful relationships, or even habitual sins that seem worse when we pray. If you want a witness, go ask Job how he felt when God rebuked him for his discourses during the predicaments Satan inflicted.

Can we humbly trust the Lord to do what He promised in His word? Can we utter a prayer of surrender such as, “God I don’t know what I need but what I want, but would you please bring what serves best your glory?” Until we accept the fact that we are humans and God is God and thus humble ourselves, trusting and obeying wholeheartedly can be really tough.

May this little devotion make sense to you and if there is any spiritual benefit you can glean out of it, do so and disregard my lack of eloquence and knowledge. God bless you who read this blog post.

Spiritual Atrophy

One of the muscle training principles says that lack of exercise atrophies our muscles, which means that it causes them to decrease in mass and consequently in strength. I haven’t lifted weight for a little over a week only, and when I went back to the gym I couldn’t hit my usual pair of 70 lbs dumbbells on the inclined bench. I had to limit myself to the 65 lb one for the first set of my burn-out (a series of sets that does from heavier to lighter weights). I couldn’t even do five good repetitions in my first set, while a week ago I would do 8 slow and controlled repetitions in full range of motion. In body building the motto is “No pain, no gain!” I believe this is similar to spiritual growth. When we stop exercising spiritual disciplines and routines such as prayer, Bible reading, quiet times of personal worship of God and things like that, we lose our spiritual momentum and our souls get dryer and dryer the longer we stay in that state of laziness. We lose the sense of the holiness of God and feel estranged from Him and want to run away from Him as far as we can just like Adam in the garden when he sinned. When we don’t commune with God we grow further away from the knowledge of Him. This is spiritual atrophy.

 

An ironical reality is that we cannot cope without God’s presence, as Christians. When we suffer spiritual atrophy we lose our joy and thankfulness toward God.  For David, failure to go to God [after he sinned] meant bones atrophy due to constant groaning: “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Ps. 32:3, NIV). Paul, writing to the Thessalonians church, contends that God’s will for them in Christ is to be joyful always, pray continually [emphasis mine], and give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess. 5:16-18, NIV). And Paul also instructs Timothy, a young pastor, to train himself to be godly, and then he goes on to give the reason: “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:7b-8, NIV).

 

I wonder how little we realize what we are missing out on when we don’t exercise our spiritual walk. Otherwise, why would we spend hours a week at the gym while we pray for about 5 minutes a day? Why do we hang out for hours a day with our friends and significant others while we read the Bible less than twice a week (I don’t want to exaggerate or say that these hobbies are wrong)? No wonder that our spirituality is dead at times and we wonder if the God we preach to this world is even real among us. Our spirits have gotten somehow wearier and wearier and started to stagger along the path of a hectic life that is jammed with all kinds of activities and deafened by all kinds of noises.

 

The good news is that we don’t have to remain in this valley of spiritual atrophy. We can stop the decline the very moment we realize we are slacking. Let’s just keep first things first. Our spiritual routine remains the same as it was for Joshua, David, Paul and other biblical heroes: prayer, meditation on the word of God, and obedience to God’s will. One of my favorite prayers is to beg God to refresh me with a strong appetite for Himself and His Word. We can’t climb our spiritual mountains on our own. We need the Holy Spirit’s impetus. And isn’t that refreshing to know that God is always there for those who diligently seek Him? He is the rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him (Heb. 11:6b).

Check this out

Hey friends! You might want to check out the other page “The Golden Rule.” It’s just about love. God bless!

Please join me in prayer for Haiti

Dear Lord,

Thanks for the privilege to be born in a two-century-old free country like Haiti. But it is still in bondage of self-destructive culture where voodoo tendacies such as hatred against those who better themselves, despair in face of problems, and dependence on foreign aids, and wasting food on idols while the people is starving. God, I long for that day when the gospel will set free the hearts of lost Haitians and change their retrograde kind of philosophy into serving for the progress of the whole nation. I long for that day when the Haitian church will rise up and show the world what knowing Christ is really about: loving and working for the blessing of one another. In Jesus’ name we pray! Amen

Hey friends! Hang on and bear with me a little bit. I have been gone for the last two weeks and I haven’t posted anything serious yet. But tonight I will publish a little message about “love”. So, check it out if you have time. God bless!

A Few Experiences

My flag

During Founder’s Week at Moody Bible Institute this Spring I had the privilege to carry the Haitian flag.

About Me

It’s such a privilege to briefly share what God is doing in my life in 2008. I am currently enrolled in Moody Bible Institute’s B.A. in Pastoral Studies program as a Pastoral Ministry major. I have just finished my freshman year. I can’t be thankful enough to God for bringing me to surrender my life to full-time ministry and for leading me to MBI in August 2007.

 

            The decision to quit pursuing lucrative studies in order to devote my life for ministry was not easy. Born and raised in a poor family in Haiti, my dream was to become prosperous in the sense of the world; besides, the scholarships provided by the Haitian State University were very promising. In 2005 I already had two years in Economics studies under my belt as well as two semesters toward a degree in Communications. Struggling with dire economical conditions trying to survive school and meet personal needs, I was wondering why God seemed not to care. And He showed me how much He had invested in me through my pastor and another mentor who had been training me for preaching ministry and taught me basic Bible study methods and courses since I graduated from high school. And then by faith I decided to obey God and gave up college in the middle of spring semester and applied for Pinecrest Bible Training Center, New York, in summer 2005.

           

            I had no clue how God was going to provide for my school bills and basic needs from then on. So I started looking into jobs in Haiti, again by faith, and I was hired by an American mission in January 2006 where I met friends who became subsequent sponsors after I began studying at Pinecrest in the fall of 2006. Upon my first year there I received such a passion for knowing God more through intense prayer and worship. My communion with God has never been better. However, I transferred to Moody due to the career God put on my heart to pursue, although I knew this was going to raise the challenges of my faith. In fact, when I started at Moody my sponsors could only provide for the first semester’s bill. Somehow they managed to pay for most of my second semester’s fees too. And thanks to a part-time job, I made up for the rest of the fees and miscellaneous expenses. I praise the Lord for His loving provision and care!

           

            My training at Moody will equip me to become a knowledgeable and faithful servant of God as a pastor and preacher who, under the power of the Holy Spirit, is ready to help others find true spirituality and know Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. My freshman year studies included Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, The Church and its Doctrines, College Writing, Research Writing, Principles of Lifetime Fitness, Beginning Racket-ball, Intro to Ministry, Intro to Disciple Making, Intro to Music, Studying and Teaching the Bible, and Spiritual Life and Community. I achieved a 3.48 GPA for the fall and a 3.3 GPA for the spring. I have three years left until graduation, which is planned on May 2011. Upon graduation I would like to enroll in graduate school either at Moody or Trinity Evangelical Divinity School for MDiv. My current goal is to start a Bible College in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and train faithful church leaders to be sent to and take over local country congregations which have been starving for effective teaching of the Word of God for years. This plan should also implement changing the misconceptions of the Haitian church so that Christians can help contribute to the development of this 200-year-old nation torn by political instability and stuck into voodoo culture.

 

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