Power in the Secret Place

God is faithful and good! Wow...yup. So God has been blowing my mind this whole year in regards to prayer. It started first semester when he put this desire in my heart to pray. To really set aside time in my day to just pray in the secret place; to begin creating a culture of prayer. This semester God is showing me what happens when we are faithful to God's call to seeking God in the secret place.

The first encounter I had dealt with someone I met in my homeless ministry that I do on Tuesday nights. Her name is Ruth and I met her during the first quarter of last semester. We got to talking and she just began to unload her life story on me. She had been raped by her brother and had a child because of it. Her family were then disgusted at her (as if it was her fault) and she didn't tell her son that his uncle is his dad because of her shame. She eventually ended up telling him but the guilt was tearing her away inside. She felt guilty for everything, the rape, the child, and not telling him. As a result, she was suffering from depression and was cutting herself. All I knew to do was, and so I did; and I prayed hard. I prayed for like 5 minutes straight...and nothing. She said thanks and then left and I didn't see her the rest of the semester.

At first I was completely crushed. I wanted God to move SO BAD! But as I continued to pray daily I couldn't get her off my mind. So the whole semester I prayed that God would break the lies Satan has wrapped around her heart. That God would send his Spirit of truth and speak worth into her and free of her and all of the guilt that isn't hers. Then one day this semester she shows up towards the end when we were eating. We get to talking and I notice that she's actually smiling. She tells me that since we talked like 4 months ago she has been able to deal with some of the guilt in her life and has stopped cutting herself! How faithful is God! And how amazing is it that we his sons and daughters can speak into and move God's heart when we seek God in the secret place!

The next two things happened this week. I had a grip of things I had to get done (cf. my last post) and so I couldn't make it to SRO. But I decided to set aside an hour and pray for them during the time of their ministry. So I went to the prayer chapel and just went after it, really interceding for my team and for those they were going to meet. That night, the Spirit moved in powerful ways at the Plaza and one lady named Lisa was healed of seizures and a tumor near her armpit! COME ON!

Then, that same night, I prayed for my friend who has been in a weird funk with his relationship with God. And ever since we talked last friday I just couldn't get our conversation out of my mind. So when I was in the prayer chapel I just started praying for my friend. I get a text message from said friend tonight that says "I just had breakthrough yesterday. Life is looking up."

Please don't read this as me trying to brag, I am just blown away at how faithful God is and God loves us so much that he listens to our prayers and allows them to penetrate God's heart. There is power in prayer, and there is power in prayer that is done in the secret place. So let us be a generation that finds its place on our knees, face down before the Lord of lords and the King of kings, singing worthy is the lamb that is slain! And let's see God's love poured out over our lives and those lives we come into contact with.