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What Happened?

Principles of Maintaining a Godly Organization - KP Yohannan Books

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Someone once said that within the timeline of any movement, the original life, passion and vision would be sustained about 25 years. The excitement, freshness and newness are on a basic uphill incline up to that point. After that, things will begin to change. There will be more of a plateau effect on the distinctives of the movement.

During the early days of my ministry with Operation Mobilization, I heard its founder, George Verwer, speak about the problem of losing vision and passion. He said, “God raises up a man with a vision and heart for God, and that becomes a movement. Then it turns into a machine. Then it ends up becoming a monument, and it is history. It is dead.”

This is exactly what happened to the YMCA, the Salvation Army and most mainline denominations, such as Methodist, Lutheran and Moravian. What glorious beginnings they had under godly leaders! But now look at some of the mission organization of the past and see—where are they today? The vision, the burden and passion are gone.

Unfortunately, I have found this to be true in organizations I have known. But the greater question to ask is when will we ever learn from others failure? Let us take a look at what changes.

Radical Becomes Conventional

In the secular world, a business’s generation is also said to last about 25 years, after which freshness and vision—and thus success—decline. Japanese organizations, however, have manipulated this time frame through education and structure changes. They begin to implement changes after only about 10 years, before people become set in their ways and find difficulty adapting to change. In this way, businesses are perpetually moving on, without losing their edge and success in the industry.

After a certain point in the life of a movement, things somehow shift into “maintenance” mode. The life that was once radical is now a part of the past, a part of history; now the goal is simply to “do it the way we’ve always done it.” What was once a fresh, flexible way of doing things now becomes a hard, stiff structure of rules, regulations and bylaws that we build around ourselves to feel some sort of protection.

Individuals now have positions on a variety of levels—some you can approach directly and others you cannot. By the time you attempt to go where you want within the organization, the structure is so complex you almost need a road map to navigate the maze!

A movement that has gone from radical to conventional is no longer regulated by vision and faith; instead, the decisions that come out of it are based on careful calculations of the lowest risk possible. Prayer meetings become planning meetings. Simple, childlike faith is replaced with smart, business-oriented brains. Change becomes nearly impossible because the ball and chain of bureaucracy is too strong.

This shift has happened to some of the finest movements in the history of the Church. Even right now there are some that are going through a terrible crisis. And we should not think that, regardless of the organization with which we serve, we are immune to this change. It can happen to us!

Keep in mind—I am not saying that structure is wrong. With the growth of any movement, structure is vital, for you cannot function without discipline. The last verse of the book of Judges says, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). The next verse in the Bible is Ruth 1:1, which says, “. . . there was a famine in the land.” No army can survive without discipline. No nation can survive without discipline. And no organization can survive without discipline.

But what I am talking about is the heart. The danger we must avoid is not discipline and structure, but replacing love, enthusiasm, freedom and empowerment with laws, regulations and power-based structures. When that happens, do you know who pays for it? The lost world . . . and our children who are growing up within the context of our ministries.

Transformational Becomes Transactional

This is when the motivation changes from one of heart condition to one of external rewards and benefits. Instead of, “I am so excited to be here; God is fresh and real, and our family is growing in His grace,” the attitude is more like, “What do I get out of it—money, position, recognition?” As time goes by in an organization, people start thinking more about benefits and vacation time than service from a sold-out heart.

When believers in the book of Acts were beaten up and persecuted, the Bible says that they regarded it as a privilege that they were considered worthy to suffer for Jesus’ name (see Acts 5:41). Paul tells us in Philippians 1:29 that “it has been granted [to us] . . . to suffer for His sake,” or in other words, our “gift to suffer.” Tradition says that when Peter was eventually sentenced to die by crucifixion, he asked to be crucified head down, as he did not feel worthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. For those who sold all to receive the precious pearl of great price, nothing could hold them back. They wouldn’t ask, “What can I get out of it?” but rather, “What can I give?”

But as time passed, things began to change in the first-century church as well. Paul writes in Philippians 2:21, “All seek their own.”

And what about you—where do you stand in this chronology? Are you feeling that the burden is too heavy for you? Do you wonder, “How long can I keep doing this? It’s too hard to keep going. I don’t know why I am doing it anymore. What about the future? Is all this worth doing?” Somehow, very privately, deep within your heart, these questions and thoughts can begin to burn and grow, even while outwardly you appear to be full of enthusiasm and praise to God.

I am not saying in any way that we should not have a plan for vacation time, insurance benefits or any of these things. The danger lies, though, in our hearts going after these externals or after some kind of promotion or recognition. When that happens, the joy that used to fill your heart will fade away, and all that will be left is self-centered motivation.

Relational Becomes Rational

Back in the mid-80s, when God led one young man to join us and help with our computer, I remember the one question I asked him before we accepted him: “Are you willing to clean the toilets and wash the dishes for the rest of your life, and never touch another computer again?” You see, I wanted to know if he was willing to become a servant—that’s all I wanted. When I heard that he was willing to do anything, then I was glad to have him join us.

I tell you this to make a point. My concern was not so much about whether or not he had a big degree or his expertise and skill in his area. I was looking for someone with a servant heart.

When an organization goes from relational to rational, its values change. Skill and competency become more important than allowing the Lord to work through people. Things are perceived rationally and logically rather than based on faith that will produce miracles.

But when God calls people to serve Him, He will look beyond the 99, who have the best brains but are not broken, to the 1 who is perhaps not as smart but who is humble and willing to be used. Paul says that God chose the foolish things of this world—the least and last, the nobodies—to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27, KJV). That is His way. Paul tells us that he himself was gifted with a brilliant mind, a stellar education, an impeccable pedigree—but he valued knowing Christ above it all so he threw it away and regarded it as dung (Philippians 3:4–8, KJV).

What matters to God? Servanthood, brokenness and faithfulness. Look at Joseph’s life. How much education and training did he have to become prime minister? I don’t think he had ever been to school. How about Daniel—what type of preparation did he have to become one of the top rulers of Babylon? And what was Amos’s job that led him to become a prophet of the living God? David’s qualifications to become the mightiest king of Israel included sheep herding and being a refugee. These are not fairy tales. This is reality. This is the way God works.

Do I place a premium on ignorance, on people who have no ideas or education? No, that is not my point. What I am saying to you is that when an organization comes to the place where passion is no longer a central value and, instead, titles, recognition and degrees hold priority, it will go astray.

So what must be done in a situation like this? How can we walk carefully so that we can avoid these three pitfalls? Let us explore that in the next chapter.

© 2003 by KP Yohannan, the president and founder of Gospel for Asia. It was written with the intention of encouraging and edifying the Body of Christ. To learn more about Gospel for Asia or to receive additional free resources, visit Gospel for Asia’s website.

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How It Begins

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If you look at any movement that God begins, you will see three distinct characteristics. You will find these in the early church.

Let us take some time and go back to the book of Acts, to the very beginnings of the Church. If we can live with these believers for a while and feel what they felt, I believe we can return to our own situations and circumstances with some timeless principles.

It Is Radical

It does not take long when reading through Acts to discover that these believers were radical—they were willing to take all kinds of risks. To the rest of the world they were crazy people, blind to reality—nuts!

But this is what Jesus was after—radical, fearless men and women. These were the kinds of people He was looking for when He told them:

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

When the early Christians understood that Christ had risen, victorious over sin and death, they readily burned all their bridges behind them and said, in essence, “There’s nothing to go back to. This is a one-way trip” (see Acts 2:45; 4:19–20; 5:29–32; 7:51–60).

At this time in history, the city of Jerusalem was completely anti-Christian. Imagine trying to preach the Gospel out in the open today in the nation of Afghanistan or in a Hindu temple—believe me, that would be easier than doing so in Jerusalem in A.D. 33. The early Christians knew they would be beaten up and put in prison if they preached the Gospel (see Acts 8:3). It did not matter to them—they did it anyway, considering it an honor to suffer for Christ’s sake (Acts 5:41).

These people were so radical that nothing would stop them. They were not concerned with preserving their lives. They were bold and adventurous. They were open to new ideas. They wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. They were motivated from within rather than from tradition. They were willing to endure any hardship, but they wouldn’t keep their mouths shut. And ultimately these characteristics earned them the reputation of being “world revolutionaries” (see Acts 17:6).

When I think back to the beginnings of our movement, I see that same radical attitude in our early days. I can honestly tell you, I don’t know how on earth we did what we did! The way so many of our programs developed was not through planning, scheming or figuring. They just happened out of spontaneity, love, dreams, hopes and ambitions rather than out of rules or regulations. We were not on any kind of schedule or timetable. Today I carry a planner with me to help me remember my appointments—but I had nothing of the sort then. I did not know just what was going to happen, but it did—amazingly and radically so.

It Is Transformational

The people involved in the tremendous growth of the early church were not considered to be tools used to get things done. Rather, they threw their lives into their calling, and all the while God was using them to impact the world and carry out His plan, they themselves were actually being continually transformed and changed in the process.

Jesus focused on people’s potential instead of on weakness. He did not recruit perfect people, but people who could change, who would have a heart commitment. You’ve read enough of the Gospels to know that His disciples came from the dregs of society. (Gayle Erwin talks about this in detail in The Jesus Style.1) Just imagine the scenario that surrounded Jesus in just the last 48 hours of His life: 12 men fighting among themselves over who was greatest . . . one of His closest followers betraying Him . . . and the rest running away when the danger got too close. Yet He entrusted these men, in whom He had invested three years of His life, to carry on the calling God had given Him. It was unto Peter, who denied His Master three times, that Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom (see Matthew 26:75; 16:18–19)!

Think about the apostle Paul after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Most believers did not want to have anything to do with him. “He’s dangerous,” they believed (see Acts 9:21, 26). But then you see Barnabas enter the scene, put his arm around Paul and vouch for his integrity to the early church (Acts 9:27). And Paul, who had once worked tirelessly to persecute believers in Jesus and eradicate all traces of Christianity, becomes totally transformed into one of the greatest apostles who ever lived. How did this happen? Not all in one day, but in a process that took time, starting with 14 years out in the wilderness.

In our early days, when we thought about recruiting staff members, we had no application form or interview process. I’ll never forget the day when one couple just showed up on our doorstep with their little baby in their arms, ready to serve God with us. I never even thought to ask him for references! It was all so fresh and amazing.

You’ll find that same wonder, awe and fear of God in the beginnings of any organization. God just brings people—no forms to be filled out—He works in their lives and changes them, and then uses them to change others. It is a continuous, perpetual motion in which somehow things just keep happening. Nobody stops to think about how!

You see, God is always more concerned about people than about what they can do. And if we follow Him, He will make sure that we keep this in mind. God’s approach is always from the inside out (Luke 11:39–40; Psalm 51:6). Character is the important thing. If this is taken care of, the rest will follow.

Jesus’ only requirement for those who wanted to be His disciples was that they obey and follow (Matthew 16:24). He did not ask about anything else. He knew, like a potter, that if the clay would submit, He could mold and transform it to become the most precious vessel to be used for His kingdom.

It Is Relational

The third characteristic that marks the beginning of any movement of God is that everything happens through relationship, just as we see in the book of Acts (Acts 2:42, 44–47).

When Jesus sent the disciples out to the villages, He sent them two by two, not one by one (Luke 10:1). If you look in the Gospel of John, beginning with chapter 13, Jesus gives His disciples some final instructions before He goes to the cross. But the crux of His message has nothing to do with world evangelism, changing the world, the reality of hell, how to start an organization or a list of rules. All He simply said was, “If you love one another, the world will know you are My disciples.” His prayers, His concern had everything to do with this one truth.

And how did Paul do his work? Read his epistles, and you will find such phrases as these: “This brother greets you,” or “this sister greets you,” or “the church in your house…” (see Romans 16:23, 1 Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15). And at the end of each letter there always seems to be a list of names tagged on. You will always find relationships working here. Paul’s life and ministry have everything to do with working with others.

We are commanded to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens. Look at Romans 12 and Philippians 2, as well as other Scripture portions that deal with our relationship toward one another in the Body of Christ. You will see clearly that this is how God works. This is His plan to get things done.

As time passes, unfortunately, these three natural distinctives that mark a fresh movement of God will naturally degrade. Let us look at these changes in the next chapter.

Notes:

1 Gayle Erwin, The Jesus Style (California: YASHUA Publishing, 1997), pp. 24–26.

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Principles in Maintaining a Godly Organization

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“Where there is no vision, the people perish . . .” Proverbs 29:18, KJV

When we look back at the history of church movements and Christian organizations, we often find they began with great dreams and ambitions. The leadership was strong and on fire for God—and then somehow, something went wrong. The life went out of them. They became “just another organization.” Study the beginning years of some of the major denominations and see how red-hot they were. Look at them now and see where they are! You are in for a shock!

I have seen this trend too often in Christian ministry, where things go well for so long, tremendous progress is made, the Lord’s kingdom is going forward—but then, over time, things start heading downhill.

This is a great concern to me as I think about the movement of which I am a part. It is my prayer that the Lord will help us continue on course, that we will stay focused and not lose the original vision He gave us, and that we will maintain our vibrancy and joy over the great possibilities He is laying before us.

That is why I believe it is good for us to continually go back to the Scriptures, rather than to the philosophies and structures created by human experts on building great organizations. From Scripture we can see how God called people and empowered them, how they succeeded, how they failed and how they returned to the Lord after their failures. We can learn valuable and vital lessons from their lives. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:11, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition.”

One powerful example we have is the early church in the book of Acts. You see a fresh beginning, leading and newness. You see excitement and unity and togetherness. You see a cause to live and die for. If we can understand the hearts of these believers more deeply, grasp the principles that worked in their everyday lives and made them what they were, and then adjust ourselves accordingly, I believe this will help us more than we can ever realize.

Because each one of us is an individual, it is not always easy to think of our part in the organization in terms of this bigger picture. By default we think about the immediate—the experience we are going through right now. It takes a good deal of maturity, understanding from the Lord and deliberate thinking to put ourselves in the context of the world in which we live today, realizing that our lives are short and what we do now can truly impact eternity. Jesus told us that the road to eternal life was narrow, and few would find it (Matthew 7:14); and unless we make it a point to think about ourselves as the Lord does, we can easily miss the significance of our call.

What I share in this booklet I have learned over the past couple decades of experience with Gospel for Asia. I pray that you will take the time to think deeply about what you will be reading and learning. Let your understanding and response go beyond your intellect or your emotions.

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Conclusion – Seeing Him by KP Yohannan

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There is a beautiful chorus that goes, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”1 All the difficulties, all the pain, all the letdowns, all the delays and all the suffering and sacrifice will grow dim when you look to Him.

It is when I look to the world that I begin to have problems. Peter walked on the water when he looked to Jesus. But the instant he stopped focusing on Jesus, he saw the wind and waves and he began to sink (see Matthew 14). It is when I look away from Jesus that I begin to sink.

It is when I look to other people that I begin to have problems. When I compare myself with you, then I begin to have problems. But when I look to Jesus, I have His perspective. Then I see that I am in great need. Then I see that I am a sinner. And I see His grace and mercy and love for me. I see His power. I see His glory. His holiness surrounds me.

And that is the key—seeing Him. That is more important than anything in this whole world.

Prayer

O Lord, whom have we in heaven but You? You are our only hope. You keep us going. Lord, I pray that You would help us turn our eyes to You, that we might see You and worship You. For the one who feels they have lost sight, Lord, I pray that You would restore their vision and help them to see You once more, full of love and grace. Father, help us to see You in the little things, the ordinary things. And may our new sight give us the strength to continue on for Your glory.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Notes:

1 Helen H. Lemmel, “Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus” (1922).

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Seeing Him

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One of our great difficulties in life is that we try to understand Christ and relate to Him in terms of time and space. When we talk about being near someone or looking at someone, we think in terms of our eyes and ears and distance. But time and space are only relevant to us as finite beings. God is everywhere and feels all, which is why the psalmist declares, “One cannot hide from Him anywhere, He is closer to us than our own being.” If that’s the case, we must conclude that our seeing the Lord has to do with our spirit, our inner man, rather than our natural eyes. That’s the reason Paul, in his incredible prayer for the believers, prayed that “the eyes of [their] understanding [may be] enlightened; that [they] may know what is the hope of His calling . . .” (Ephesians 1:18).

Paul’s prayer emphasizes on having the eyes of our understanding opened. We could read through the four Gospels and record everything about Christ—how He lived, what He did and what He said—and try to live by that like using a “how-to” book about changing our behavior or building friendship or maintaining good conversation. Yet we still will never be able to see the risen Christ of glory and be changed by Him if the eyes of our understanding are not opened.

It says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” In the Word we see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we gaze upon Him we see the nature, the character and the presence of the Lord. As we gaze upon Him and meditate on Him from the depth of our heart, the Holy Spirit within us begins to transform us and change us from within. Our attitude changes, our feelings change, our evaluations change and our decisions change. Our external circumstances may stay the same, but inside we are transformed. Our eyes have been opened, and we see our risen Savior. And it’s no longer despair and melancholy and hopelessness—but rather hope, strength and confidence that come from the Lord.

It is the one who seeks that finds. It is the one who knocks that the door is opened to. How often we live through years of our life in our own strength, struggling, striving and fighting, while all it takes is for us just to pause and wait in His presence. Then we will hear His voice and see everything from His perspective.

Always with Us

In the book The Horse and His Boy,1 by C.S. Lewis, the main character, Shasta, is lost in a dark forest. He can’t see anyone or anything and does not know how to find his way. He is scared, and most of all, he is totally exhausted. His problem is not just that he is discouraged, but he is also full of self-pity, totally rejected. Seated on his horse, Shasta wanders in the pitch-dark along terrible, narrow mountain trails. Shasta doesn’t know what to do. He is separated and alone and doesn’t know where to go. Suddenly, in the midst of this awful loneliness and despair, he is startled by a new awareness.

Shasta discovered that someone or somebody was walking beside him. It was pitch dark and he could see nothing. And a Thing (or person) was going so quietly that he could hardly hear any footfalls. What he could hear was breathing. His invisible companion seemed to breathe on a very large scale, and Shasta got the impression that it was a very large creature. And he had come to notice his breathing so gradually that he really had no idea how long it had been there. It was a horrible shock.2

When Shasta begins to hear the warm breath, he cautiously asks, “Who are you?” To which the creature, who is the great lion Aslan, answers, “One who has waited long for you to speak . . . Tell me your sorrows.”3 As a result, Shasta is no longer scared, but comforted.

Shasta was no longer afraid that the Voice belonged to something that would eat him, nor that it was the voice of a ghost. But a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad too.4

Just like Shasta, we too often get lost in the dark. No matter what we do, we simply can’t seem to find the Lord or hear Him. What should we do in those times? I believe one of the significant things we can do is to remember that whether we see Him or not, hear Him or not, He is still with us. We must learn to quiet ourselves and wait, asking the Holy Spirit to open our inner eyes to see Him and to hear Him.

Recognize Him

One of the most powerful ways to see the Lord, on a constant basis, is to be aware of events that happen every single day, seeing God at work in the little things—the email you receive or the telephone call; a letter or just someone saying a word of encouragement; a song you heard or something you read. Perhaps you were driving on the road and switched lanes, only to realize that that change of lanes spared your life from a terrible car accident. The Lord orchestrates the circumstance of our life with His own hand. We need to develop a habit of seeing the invisible with the heart’s eye.

A couple of years ago, my wife, Gisela, was in our master bedroom doing some writing. She spends many hours sitting at the desk in our bedroom, quietly writing various pieces for the ministry. At this particular time, I was overseas in Asia visiting the mission fields. The morning was normal; she was busy writing and concentrating on her work when, all of a sudden, she felt an urge to get up from her chair and go to the kitchen to get a drink. She got up, walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Suddenly, she heard a loud explosion, as if someone had dropped a bomb into our bedroom. She ran back to see what had happened and discovered a large SUV in the middle of our bedroom.

Two teenagers had been driving on the road in front of our house, and for whatever reason, they had lost control of the vehicle. In full speed, the SUV crashed into our house, completely demolishing the brick wall and totaling the vehicle. Can you imagine what would have happened if Gisela had been sitting at her desk for just a few minutes longer? It would have been a whole different story. She would no longer be writing.

How wonderful it is to know that angels are watching over us. As the chorus goes, “His eyes are on the sparrow and I know He watches me.”5 But the question is this: Are we able to see His face, His eyes and His concern in events like these? Can we see the face of our Lord during tiny little conversations, in the breeze or in the flower, in the smile of a child or as we drive along the road? When we can’t see Him or feel Him, we should deliberately look for Him, to see His care and His presence all around us. And if you listen closely enough, if we quiet ourselves long enough, as Shasta did, we too will realize He has been right alongside us the whole time. And that will change everything for us.

Our problem often is, like Elijah, we are trying to see the Lord and hear Him in the midst of huge events and experiences. But often, more than you realize, He will reveal Himself in a still, small voice and in so many tiny events and encounters. Most miss it. Keep your eyes and ears open—you will see Him and you will hear Him. For He Himself has promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And He always keeps His promises.

Notes:

1 C.S. Lewis, The Horse and His Boy (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1954).
2 Ibid, pp. 155–156.
3 Ibid, p. 157.
4 Ibid, p. 159.
5 Civilla D. Martin, “His Eye Is on the Sparrow” (1922).

© 2003by KP Yohannan, the president and founder of Gospel for Asia. It was written with the intention of encouraging and edifying the Body of Christ. To learn more about Gospel for Asia or to receive additional free resources, visit Gospel for Asia’s website.

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Point to Jesus

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I heard it said one time, “The church is not here to meet the needs of the people, but to connect them to the only one who can.” How true that is.

Early one morning my telephone rang. The call was from the senior leader of our work in India. He called to speak with me about a problem he was having with an older staff member. This particular man had served with our ministry for quite some time and was responsible for overseeing a vital part of the ministry. However, a few days prior to this phone call, a younger brother was placed over the older staff member as his leader. And because this man was older and had been with the ministry longer, he would not submit to the younger man. He refused to carry on any work with a young man as his leader.

When I heard about the situation, I said to the senior leader, “Somehow, somewhere along the line, he has lost sight of Jesus. Now he is looking at his ability, his skill, his position and his wisdom. Somehow he thinks that he should be above this younger leader.” I continued, “This didn’t happen overnight. It is only that it just came into the light through this situation.”

I continued to speak to the senior leader, saying, “I will pray with you, and you should gather the rest of the leaders together and pray as well. I encourage you to re-read Watchman Nee’s book Spiritual Authority and look in the Scriptures at the life of Korah, Saul and others. Look at the fall of Lucifer. See how these didn’t submit and how they resisted God’s authority. And then, in contrast, see Jesus. See how the Son of Man lived and died in total surrender to the Father and to those the Father put over Him.”

Then I said, “After that, call the older brother and share with him the things you read. Always remember, you must point him to Jesus. If you can paint Jesus before him, you will have succeeded.

“Pray that he is able to see what you are saying. Pray that he is able to see Jesus. Then give him the opportunity to be restored. Restoration is what we want. That is our goal. Always remember that if you have to err, err on the side of grace. But after you have pointed him to Jesus, if there is no repentance, then please ask him to leave. You have no other recourse.

“Even if you have to shut down the whole operation that he is in charge of, that won’t be a problem. There are other people who can step in to run it. Running that part of the ministry is not important compared to his following the Lord.”

And you know what? A few days later I got a message from the senior leader saying that the older man had repented. He was able to see Jesus, in His humility and submission, and the problem was solved. The answer is always Jesus.

The best thing we can do for anybody is to point them to Jesus. Only when we keep Jesus before us can we then live and work with one another in love and humility. But if we are not connected with Him, if we lose sight of Him, then we have thousands of reasons for disunity, fighting, discouragement and all kinds of problems.

Remember Job? God said he was the most righteous man in all the earth (see Job 1:8, 2:3). He endured horrible trials with no knowledge of what was going on behind the scenes. His wife and his friends didn’t help him. They didn’t point him to God; they only got him more confused. Job despaired of life because it seemed God had deserted him.

But then we see what pulled Job out of his despair. It says in Job 42:5–6 (NIV), “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Isn’t that interesting? Before Job had heard a lot about God, but now he saw Him. And when he saw Him, everything made sense. The questions stopped. The arguments with his friends stopped. The struggles stopped because Job saw Jesus.

The same thing happened with Isaiah. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he said, “Woe is me, for I am undone!” (Isaiah 6:5). After seeing the Lord and repenting, Isaiah became the man God could use to speak to His people.

The best disciple, the most effective witness of Jesus, is one who points everybody not to himself, but to Jesus.

This is exactly what the Holy Spirit came to do—to point people to Jesus (see John 15:26). And all of creation—everything—points to Jesus. The entire Old Testament points to Jesus, while the New Testament is a fulfillment of who He is. The Bible is not a book full of doctrines; it is a book full of Jesus.

Why do we point to Jesus? When I see Jesus, I see the truth—that I am nothing. He is all there is. I have nothing to offer you, I have nothing to offer the beggar and I have nothing to offer the lost world, except Jesus. Paul asks a very good question in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “And what do you have that you did not receive?” Think about that for a moment. Paul goes on in that same verse to say, “Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” That understanding helps us to always look to Jesus and point others to Him. We have nothing but what we receive from Him.

This is our purpose in studying the Word—seeing Jesus so that we might point others to Him. You can study book after book of the Bible and still never see Jesus. A friend of mine once said, “You will never find more carnal, self-centered, ungodly people than you find among the so-called fundamental, Bible-studying, Bible-memorizing group.” They know the whole Bible, but somehow they miss Jesus. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40).

So, I encourage you, when you read the Bible see if you can find Jesus. Don’t study just to know how to do something. Don’t study to find another rule you can follow. Some people are not really following Jesus; they are following the teachings of Jesus. That is the problem with us many times. But study to see Jesus. Desire to see Jesus.

Notes:

1 Watchman Nee, Spiritual Authority (New York: Christian Fellowship Publications, 1980).

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He Is Our Hope

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Some years ago, a young man came to our office in India for a job interview. I will never forget that evening. This man was seeking to join the staff and teach at one of our Bible schools. He was an extremely brilliant man, having received his doctorate in biblical studies from a very prestigious university.

As we sat down to talk, the first thing he said was, “Brother K.P., I am spiritually bankrupt.” This startled me! This was the first time meeting him, and he says “I am spiritually bankrupt”? He went on to explain the experience he had gained and the positions he had held in the past, listing the salary for each. Then he said, “Brother K.P., I could do a good job here for you. But please don’t take me because I can do a good job. Take me because I need help. I know all the doctrines, the Greek and Hebrew; whatever you want, I can teach it. But my heart is empty. I feel if I can be here, I will find Jesus again. And if I can be a help to you in the process, I would be glad to teach here.” With all his knowledge about the Bible and theology, he was still far away from the Lord Himself.

Only in Him

The truth is, we can learn all the doctrines and be fundamental in our convictions yet still live with emptiness and be spiritually blinded. The way back begins with taking that first step-confessing our spiritual need. Through honesty and repentance, we are given clear eyes to see the glory of Jesus once again, and the veil that clouds our hearts is removed (see 2 Corinthians 3:16).

Our survival and hope are not based on how much we can do or how well we can obey. Our hope is not in how many verses we can memorize or how much doctrine we know. Our survival is only in the person of Jesus. In Him is everything we need. He is our hope.

To the one who has lost sight, slipped or failed, Jesus is waiting to receive him. He does not say, “Okay, tell me about all the sins you have done.” In Luke 15, the father never asked of the prodigal son, “Where did you go? How much money did you spend? How many sins did you commit? What did you do? Tell me before I make a decision about what to do next.” No. There was not a word said along those lines. When the son came back, it was all embracing, consolation and joy.

Who Has Not Failed?

The question is, who has not failed? We all are weak, failing people. In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,1 Edmund, one of the four children who first entered the land of Narnia through the wardrobe, falls prey to the evil White Witch who turned the glorious Narnia into a cold land of constant winter. Edmund had betrayed his fellow companions, and the Deep Magic of Narnia said that all those who were traitors rightfully belonged to the White Witch, who now planned to kill Edmund. The only thing that could reverse the law of Deep Magic was a sacrifice of blood.

But Aslan, the great Lion who sang Narnia into existence, came to defeat the White Witch and kill all who belong to her—which now included Edmund, whom Aslan loves. Some alternative had to be reached to save the life of Edmund.

In private, Aslan speaks with the White Witch and chooses to give up his life as a ransom so that Edmund may live.

The scene is very moving and graphic as Aslan walks alone to the stone table and submits himself, without any resistance, to be tied up before his enemies. They mock and jeer, clipping off his long mane and beating him. Finally, after all this, the long dagger of the White Witch is thrust into Aslan’s heart, and he dies.
This was the only way Edmund’s betrayal could be reversed and his life spared. True, he had failed and betrayed, and a price must therefore be paid. Aslan became that ransom for the life of Edmund.

Didn’t Aslan—being all-knowing and all-powerful—know that Edmund had fallen prey to the White Witch and was a betrayer? Surely Aslan knew. He knew all that Edmund had done and all that he would do in the future. But Aslan also knew that the only solution was to sacrifice his own life on the stone table.

You see, this is a picture of Christ dying on the cross for our sins. Once while counseling a brother who was in despair because of the sins and the failures in his life, I reminded him, “When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He forgave all your sins, no matter what you have done or how you have failed. The sins you commit now and everything that you will ever do until the last second of your life here on earth—all of it is covered by Christ.”

When we fail, the Enemy often uses those times to fill our hearts with guilt and pain. This can even drive some people to the verge of suicide. But there is power in recalling what Christ has done and why He did it! It was His love for us—His everlasting love (see Jeremiah 31:3). If only we would turn our eyes away from ourselves and our failures and see Christ.

Jesus died on the cross not only to take away our sins and to spare us from hell, but also to continue to deliver us from the power of Satan. He does that through teaching us and training us to grow and become strong through failures and struggles.

How incredibly significant are the sacrifice and price our Lord Jesus paid for our lives to be ransomed from the Enemy. But how sad for us to so often forget it, especially in the times we need to remember it the most.

If ever we find that we have lost sight of Jesus or have failed in some way, we can always turn back to Him. Even if the whole world writes you off because of your failures, Jesus is always there. Jesus didn’t give up on Peter even when he denied Him three times. In fact, even before Peter messed up, Jesus had prayed for his restoration. Jesus told Peter, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:32).

Even when everyone around picks up stones to hurl at you, Jesus will be there. He will never join in the condemning. He will say, like He said to the woman caught in adultery and about to die at the hand of her accusers, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more” (John 8:11).

Notes:

1 C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., 1950).

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Consider Him

“That . . . the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling . . .” Ephesians 1:17–18

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We are told in Hebrews 12:2–3 (NIV), “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

“Consider Him . . .” Those are powerful words, because at one time or another, we all grow weary. Our hearts so easily faint, and we find ourselves on that verge of giving up. No matter how great the accomplishments in your life are, how many degrees you hold, how many books you have read or how determined you are to persist to the end, losing heart comes to us all.

But there is a way to not lose heart. That is found in keeping Jesus before us, fixing our eyes on Him and considering Him. Following the Lord closely is the most precious thing in this life. And it is only in fixing our gaze on Him that we are able to endure whatever comes along.

Think about the disciples who followed Jesus. After Christ’s resurrection and ascension, severe persecution arose under the Roman emperor, Nero, in A.D. 54–68. Gladiators slaughtered hundreds of believers, many were fed to hungry lions and still others were crucified. Surely these believers must have prayed for God’s intervention, but the persecution and suffering were not eliminated. How, then, were they able to endure such great opposition? Certainly this persecution would have been enough to turn away even the most devoted saint. But it didn’t happen. Why? Because their eyes were fixed on Jesus. Church history tells us that in the midst of such tremendous persecution the believers would encourage one another to “remember Jesus!”

When Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was being stoned to death, Acts 7:55–56 (NIV) tells us that he “looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’ ” It was in seeing Jesus that Stephen found the strength not only to live for His Savior, but to die for Him as well.

Notice that it was not the great need to get the Gospel to all people that gave Stephen the fortitude to continue even when persecuted. It was not the depravity of the lost that kept the disciples enduring until the end. It was only because of Jesus. The good work you are doing or the fruit you are seeing can never be enough to keep you going. Only in seeing Him will you find the strength to endure all things to the end.

Hundreds of times, by different reporters, presidents and prime ministers from all over the world, Mother Teresa was asked the same question: “What makes you do what you are doing? How do you keep going?” Never was her answer, “There are so many lepers in India. There are so many poor people in India. The suffering and needs are so great.” No. Her answer was always the same. She would simply reply, “Because of Jesus.”

And this is how I want to encourage you also. In everything, at all times, look to Jesus. Come to Him and remember Him. I can say this to you because I have learned from my own experiences how easy it is to wander. How easy it is to get so caught up in all that happens in life, becoming sidetracked and losing our focus. But our hope and our life are in seeing Jesus.

He Is Our Rock

A sure guarantee to become discouraged and fail is to consider the circumstances you face. It was Peter whom Christ called to come and walk to Him on the water. And, considering Christ, Peter stepped out of the boat and onto the water—and began walking! But it is when he started to look around and see the raging waves that he began to sink. He simply could not accept that what he was doing was reasonable. And when he considered his circumstances, he began to sink.

This tells us that our circumstances, whatever they may be—friends or relatives rejecting or opposing you, health failing, business in trouble, people whom you trusted and looked up to no longer walking with God, the list can go on and on—can cause us to lose heart.

Remember Paul? Anyone reading the book of 2 Corinthians, even superficially, will be stunned by the persecution, difficulties and suffering Paul encountered in his life:

In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—besides the other things, what comes upon me daily . . .(2 Corinthians 11:23–28).

Humanly speaking, it is difficult to grasp or comprehend how a man could go on with this kind of intense suffering. Not only did he face this suffering from outsiders, but also from people who were very close to him, he experienced such rejection and loneliness. In the time of difficulties, most of his friends ran away (see 2 Timothy 4:10).

How on earth did Paul survive? The answer is given in 2 Corinthians 4:1—“Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.” That simply means the thing that kept Paul going, in spite of all the difficulties, was his constant consideration of the Lord Jesus Christ—for it was He who went before him, the one who was with him and the one who had called him. The very first thing Christ told Paul were the things that he must suffer for His sake (see Acts 9:16), and Paul never forgot that.

What kept John, Christ’s beloved disciple, from despair when he was exiled and all alone in a forgotten land on the island of Patmos? We read in the first chapter of the book of Revelation about John’s “Christ encounter.” In the midst of feeling forsaken and with every reason to be discouraged, we find John looking to Christ—and what a remarkable encounter he had!

We have the choice to deliberately think about the Lord in the moments our hearts begin to become overwhelmed with the circumstances of life. It is a choice we make and one that can eventually become a habit. In every situation, every day, in all things, let us consider Christ, who He is and His promises for us. For “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews13:8). He never changes. He who was able to keep Paul and John until the end is able to keep you as well. The only one whom we can draw strength from and depend on for all that we need is Jesus.

Our Answer

Matthew 24:12 says, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” This means that the discouragement we face and the way things go wrong all around us can become reasons for us to lose our attention and our affection toward Christ. And that becomes the reason for our downfall.

In reading Psalm 73, it’s almost as if you’ve opened the personal diary of a man struggling with this very issue. It speaks of how, when he looked around and saw the prosperity of the wicked, he almost lost his faith. He even came to the verge of denying God and walking away. But then, toward the end of the psalm, we read that when he came before the Lord and considered the Lord, he understood all things as they are. He cries out in the end, saying, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You” (Psalm 73:25).

The psalmist is essentially saying, “No longer do I desire the easy life of the wicked, their wealth or their seeming happiness. The only thing I desire on this earth is You, O Lord.” He looked to the heavens not to see what God could give him to make his life a little nicer. He looked to the heavens because he realized the Lord is the only one who matters. The most important thing and the only thing is to pursue the Lord Himself and gaze upon Him. Jesus is the answer for everything in this life.

This makes me think back to when I was in seminary 25 years ago. The blessings were many, and I am grateful for the godly professors I learned from. Those years were spent researching and gaining knowledge of the Scriptures. I studied Greek and Hebrew, philosophy and history, ancient culture and missions. It’s an honest thing to say I was a very bright, very good student. But somehow, at the end of all my learning, spiritually I was dying.

I lost Jesus. I studied, researched and learned all about Him, but somehow I lost Him. It was at this same time, toward the end of my senior year, that I began pastoring a small church and preaching four times a week! That is not an exaggeration to prove my point. You may not hear this from other preachers, but honestly, I was losing Jesus even in the midst of much ministry. Sure, here and there I saw Him. Here and there I embraced Him. Here and there I wept before Him. But it was not a consistent thing. And I grew weary, wanting to give up the ministry the Lord gave me.

But I look back now and thank God for the few months of that “dark night” of my soul. It was during that time that I began to pursue and embrace the Lord again. I began living again and each day loving Him. He was no longer distant and far off, but near and continually before my eyes. I realized then, and still do today, that I have only one need. That need is Jesus.

That truth affects my relationships with the people around me as well. There is nothing that draws me close to someone except that he or she loves Jesus. It used to be that there were a thousand criteria I looked for in a person before I could accept them. I had my measuring scale upon which I weighed everyone. But now there is only one thing that matters: Does he or she love Jesus? No longer does it concern me if they use a different translation of the Bible. No longer does it matter if they subscribe to the doctrinal fine points that I believe. It doesn’t matter if they are conservative or liberal in this or that. It is no longer an issue of dress or speech or anything else. It is only an issue of Jesus. The older I get, the more and more I learn that there is nothing more important than Jesus Himself.

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What is Prayer?

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If you’ve had similar experiences as I, you may have found how oftentimes in prayer, either public or private, people change their voices and stretch their words, as if talking to some unknown, powerful being a million light years away. Their voice may fluctuate and they may sound as though they were giving a speech or trying to convince God to do something. This, my brothers and sisters, is not to be defined as prayer.

Contrary to a lot of religious examples, prayer need not be just some mystical, superspiritual activity. Simply put, prayer is conversation between Father and child.

Have you ever noticed how a child comes and talks to his mom or dad? You never need to look for a dictionary to find out the meaning of the words children use. They come just as they are. They come simply. You will never find a child getting into a frenzy and fluctuating his voice as he talks. All you will hear is a small voice, in simple conversation, looking up into the mom’s or dad’s eyes.

One of the most exhilarating experiences for me is when I get a chance to hear a little child pray. It will make you both laugh and cry at the same time. Read some of these prayers from children:

Dear Lord,
Thank you for the nice day today. You even fooled the TV weatherman. Hank (age 7)

Dear Lord,
Do you ever get mad? My mother gets mad all the time but she is only human. Yours truly, David (age 8 )

Dear Lord,
I need a raise in my allowance. Could you have one of your angels tell my father? Thank you, David (age 7) 1

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus turned to the disciples gathered around Him and taught them an important lesson: “Unless you . . . become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” The way a child prays, in simplicity and trust, is the perfect portrait of prayer.

When we look at the prayer of Jesus in John 17, we find the same picture. Jesus was never closing His eyes and praying in a different tone of voice. In fact, we are told that “Jesus . . . lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: ‘Father’ ” (John 17:1, emphasis added).

What a beautiful portrait of His relationship with the Father! Through this example, Jesus was showing us that prayer is simply talking to God—not just as the almighty Creator of the universe, but as the caring, lovesick Father who waits for His child to come, a Father who delights to be with His children.

Come Just as You Are to the Father

We have need to remember this through our days. So easily we can forget that the Father loves us just as He loved Jesus. Then, instead of coming to Him because of whom He is, we are kept at bay, consumed more with who we are or are not.

I believe the enemy has numerous tactics to keep us from praying because he knows that it is the greatest way for the kingdom of God to expand. He also understands how our hearts and perspective on the situations of life are changed through prayer.

Perhaps you are one who truly desires to pray, yet when you do, you are soon bogged down with all the ways you fail, remembering how you aren’t matching up to the spiritual person you want to be, until eventually all motivation to pray is lost in guilt.

Our Father in heaven knows us. And I believe that is why Jesus told the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Although it is often taught with the emphasis being on the prodigal son, I believe Jesus was trying more to paint a clear picture of our God and Father.

He [the prodigal son] arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

But the father said to his servants, “Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” And they began to be merry (Luke 15:20–24).

I share this with you because I know how easily guilt can keep us from talking with our Father. Please see how the father rejoiced at his son’s return. Instead of reprimanding him, punishing him, demanding he say sorry or make some sort of restitution, the father embraced his son, rejoiced and even called for a celebration. Remember this promise: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:15–16, emphasis added).

So then, let us pray, remembering whom it is we call Father and realizing that prayer is coming to Him and listening to what He has to say. Prayer is waiting before Him and meditating long enough in His presence until our hearts are touched and moved with His concerns and burdens, so that we become channels for Him to work through.

Prayer is our willingness to say no to our own desires and accept suffering in the flesh to experience the pain and agony the Lord feels for the events and people in our generation.

Prayer is our willingness to join with the unseen Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane and experience His pain and heartbreak for a world that is lying in utter darkness, plunging into eternity to perish forever.

Prayer is standing in the gap on behalf of the needy and hurting, asking the Father to heal and to save before it is too late (see Ezekiel 22:30).

E.M. Bounds said it perfectly: “Prayer is the outstretched arms of the child for the Father’s help.”2

The Nearness of God

So then we see that prayer has less to do with words and posture and more to do with intimacy and closeness, like a child has with his father or mother.
The nearness of God is not determined by space and time, but rather by the inner relationship and intimate fellowship we have with Him in our hearts.

Just the other day, I was meeting with a few of my coworkers in the ministry. Before we started to discuss some things we were dealing with, I said, “Let us pray.”

Gathered in my office and sitting in our chairs, I began to pray, “Lord, You are the One who promised that when we gather like this You will be with us. Right now we are here because of You and in Your name. We are Your sons and daughters.”

All of a sudden, I felt like we should have another chair in the room because Jesus was certainly present with us. In my mind, I did not want Jesus standing somewhere while we were all sitting down. You see, in my Asian culture, it is terribly impolite and unacceptable for a subordinate to sit while there is a superior standing. This is why when a superior walks into a room everyone stands up until the superior sits down and asks for everyone else to please sit as well. This thought came to my mind, and I prayed right in the middle of it, “Lord, I feel like we should have a chair for You because You are right here with us.” In fact, Jesus assured us that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

In all of our prayers, whether private or public, let us have this attitude and frame of reference for sharing our prayer: We are talking to a Father who is closer to us than our own thoughts. He is near, so near that no words can describe it.

In Psalm 73, we read of a godly man who, in the midst of tremendous discouragement and inner struggles, finally recognized the nearness of God. After all was said and done, he cried out saying, “The nearness of God is my good” (Psalm 73:28, NASB). His prayer is no longer directed to somebody far away, but to someone who is near to him. It is the understanding of this that changed his view on the situations of his life and even changed his own heart.

Let us then remember that when we pray there is no reason we should close our eyes and imagine some strange being far away. Rather, let us have the honest attitude of a little child talking to his father.

I believe the Lord is so delighted when we approach Him with a childlike heart, sharing our concerns and burdens with Him in this manner.

Tell God all that is in your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pains, to a dear friend. Tell Him your troubles, that He may comfort you; tell Him your joys, that He may sober them; tell Him your longings, that He may purify them; tell Him your dislikes, that He may help you to conquer them; talk to Him of your temptations, that He may shield you from them; show Him the wounds of your heart, that He may heal them; lay bare your indifference to good, your depraved tastes for evil, your instability. Tell Him how self-love makes you unjust to others, how vanity tempts you to be insincere, how pride disguises you to yourself and others.

If you thus pour out all your weakness, needs, troubles, there will be no lack of what to say. You will never exhaust the subject. It is continually being renewed. People who have no secrets from each other never want for subject of conversation. They do not weigh their words, for there is nothing to be held back; neither do they seek for something to say. They talk out of the abundance of the heart, without consideration they say just what they think. Blessed are they who attain to such familiar, unreserved intercourse with God.3

Notes:

1 Bill Adler, Dear Lord (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1982).
2 E.M. Bounds, The Complete Works of E.M. Bounds on Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1990), p. 231.
3 Francois Fenelon, quoted in The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart by Charles R. Swindoll (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1998), p. 309.

© 2004 by KP Yohannan, the president and founder of Gospel for Asia. It was written with the intention of encouraging and edifying the Body of Christ. To learn more about Gospel for Asia or to receive additional free resources, visit Gospel for Asia’s website.

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A Secret Foundation

Learning to Pray

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A few years ago, I heard the story of one missionary serving with our organization who, in a short time, had planted five churches in a difficult part of Northeast India. Curious of how this young brother did it, I called one of our senior leaders and asked him if he could tell me more about this brother’s ministry.

All that I knew was that he was from a tribal background and didn’t have any college education, yet regardless, it seemed that God was with him in a remarkable way. The first church he planted began with the healing of a Hindu priest who was paralyzed. Then, one after another, four more churches were born. I was more than curious to find out this brother’s secret.

Our senior leader said he would check into it and let me know what he found out. When he called to tell me, he said, “There is nothing unusual about him. I found nothing special except for one thing—he gets up very early each morning and spends two or three hours in prayer and then an hour or two reading the Bible. This habit began while he was studying in one of our Bible colleges.”

Let me give another example. One morning I was talking to a senior leader in our work on the mission field. He was traveling throughout North India to meet with many of our leaders and appoint new workers to projects that had recently been started. In our conversation we were discussing who might be able to take a certain new position. I asked him, “What do you think about this particular brother? He seems to be a really godly man. Why don’t we think about putting him in that position?”

We talked back and forth about this brother’s abilities, his lack of experience and the seriousness of the challenge in this new area of work. But finally we both agreed to trust him with the particular job. There was something about him that caused us to make that decision: He spends nearly four hours in prayer each day.

Our decision was not based on the fact that he had started a dozen churches or that he was able to oversee a large region of the country quite well. Our decision was based on the fact that God was with him and that he knew how to pray.

You see, prayer is God’s method of carrying out His purposes upon this earth. There is a mystery to the truth that God waits to hear and answer the prayers of His people. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 9:37–38? “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (emphasis added).

There are many people all throughout Christian history who knew the power of prayer. John Hyde was one of them. In the late 1800s, he left his home in Illinois to serve the Lord as a missionary to the people of India. There he labored, not just physically but, more important, in prayer. He was known to stay up late into the night praying, as well as rising very early each morning, crying out to God, “Give me souls, O God, or I die!” He was so gripped with passion for the lost, and he knew that the strongholds the enemy had upon the people could only be broken through prayer. And so pray he did.

In fact, he prayed so much that the position of his heart had shifted in his chest, later causing the complications that led to his death. But because of his prayers, in 1904 the northwestern states of India where he had labored for years experienced one of the greatest revivals the nation has ever known!

Just like Praying Hyde, we too can learn to pray and see God accomplish great things through our prayers. But we must learn. You could read every book ever written on prayer, but that won’t make you a person of prayer. We learn to pray by doing it.

In The Last Days Newsletter, Leonard Ravenhill tells about a group of tourists who were visiting a picturesque village. As they walked by an old man sitting beside a fence, one tourist, in a rather patronizing way, turned to the old man and asked, “Were any great men born in this village?” The old man simply turned and replied, “Nope, only babies.”

My brothers and sisters, we must grow into the life of prayer. Let us begin today, taking the first steps toward becoming people great in prayer. As we do, we will see incredible things happen in our lifetime. “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results” (James 5:16, NLT).

I know firsthand just how effective the prayers of those who trust the Lord and continue in prayer are. For three and one-half years my mother fasted and prayed for the Lord to call one of her six sons into full-time ministry. One after the other, each of my brothers started their careers, with only me, the youngest and shyest, left as my mother’s last hope.

But when I was 16, the Lord answered my mother’s prayers and called me to the ministry. The call on my life is a direct result of her prayers.
As John Wesley once said, “God will do nothing but in answer to prayer.”1

I believe John Wesley first learned the importance of prayer and how to pray through the example he saw in his mother, Susanna Wesley. This woman of God and mother of 19 children was known for her devoted prayer life. In the midst of her busy household and numerous duties, she consistently made time to pray by pulling her apron over her head to find solitude with God. It was out of her prayers that two of her sons—John and Charles Wesley—became key leaders in the Church in the 1700s.

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3). Let us receive His invitation and begin to walk this road of learning to pray.

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