By: Gabriela Yareliz
Happy 2014 to all of you! 🙂
It has been lovely to take a long (and well-deserved) break from school.
As we start the new year, I thought it would be appropriate to begin by joining the world-wide and annual”Ten Days of Prayer.”
At GYC (Generation.Youth.Christ) 2013, there was a seminar held by medical missionaries. The hosts were doctors who have done medical clinics in India, the Philippines and Bangladesh.
An Asian doctor who went to Bangladesh for medical missionary work told us this experience:
There was a doctor on the team who would take his laptop to the town square. From his laptop, he would talk to the town’s people about Jesus. People would gather around the doctor and his laptop to hear his gospel stories.
One day, the doctor was preaching. He was preaching about the paralytic man whom Jesus healed (Luke 5:17-26).
Awkwardly,a crippled man was brought and set in front of the doctor while he told the story of Jesus healing the paralytic man.
The doctor finished his story and then waived to the villagers nervously to bid his goodbye. The translator, who had been beside the doctor the entire time, asked the doctor where he was going.
“What do you mean?” The doctor replied.
“The crippled man, he is waiting for you to pray for him,” the translator said.
The doctor nervously turned back toward the crowd and saw the crippled man’s hopeful eyes.
The doctor prayed. He nervously prayed a long prayer. He practically preached the entire gospel in his prayer; the doctor continued to pray for the Lord’s will to be done. After the prayer, the doctor nervously thanked the villagers for their attention. He felt mortified and humbled by the crippled man’s hope and longing for healing.
The doctor went to another village with the team. While he was there, he received a phone call from the village where he had been with the crippled man in the town square.
“Is everything all right?” The doctor asked the team member from the other village. He wondered if a riot had been started or if he had left a bad impression of the doctors on the team.
“The man, after you left, the crippled man stood up and was healed!” The voice on the other end exclaimed.
Stories like these from far places inspire our faith. I am not talking about churches with people strewn all over the ground, where people shout and “healings” and other things occur through emotionalism and sensationalism. I am talking about a doctor who earnestly believed, and who with humility and a trembling spirit prayed to God for a crippled man who had faith in the healing Jesus he was hearing about.
A crippled man who was filled with enough faith to “rise up and walk.”
Clearly, the doctor takes no credit for this miracle. He simply prayed a humble prayer, and as any of us might have, he left the town square feeling like a failure.
God chooses impossible and dark moments to show His power before mankind.
This doctor and us, we have no power of our own, but we can choose to be connected to one who has ultimate power, God.
Power is attractive because it’s the power to effect change. God has the power to make a change in your life. He has the power to heal and forgive our sins.
The secret to power is the prayer of faith to God, our Father.
“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdon come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.” Luke 11:1-2
While Jesus was on earth, He taught us to pray. We are not to use vain repetitions or prewritten prayers or mantras. He wants us to open our hearts. He wants us to bless His name for all of the blessings we receive from Him. Rather than Him hearing a prayer from centuries ago, He wants us to tell Him our needs and to ask for His perfect will to be done in our lives.
Ellen G. White compared prayer to opening your heart to a friend. (Steps to Christ).
I often go to a church that is open during the day to pray. Going to a church to pray is not necessary, since we can pray anywhere at anytime, but I find this church to be a really special place. Anyway, when I go, there is a stained glass window depicting the story of Lazarus.
Sometimes, I go into the church with a heavy heart, but looking at that window always reminds me that God makes all things new. He can turn something dead alive again; He can restore, renew and fulfill promises beyond our wildest imaginations. Why? He is an omnipotent God. There is nothing too hard for Him, and His promises are sure.
This new year, is there something you want to change? An old habit to replace? Do you need healing? Do you want influence? Do you want life? Trust your life to the Hands and Power that gave it all for you.
“…By His wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
For more information on the Ten Days of Prayer, go to: http://www.tendaysofprayer.org.
Jan. 8-18, 2014
Day 1: The Secret of His Power
GABRIELA YARELIZ 