Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:4
It was my first mission trip and one behind the Iron Curtain before it came down. We arrived in Zagreb, Yugoslavia late at night where we were scheduled to spend the night with a local pastor. We entered the home and were treated as welcomed guests. Then there was a knock at the door.
The police had arrived and told the pastor that he was not allowed to have guests in his home. The three of us were escorted to the sidewalk with our luggage. It was dark, and we were homeless and cold.
While we were thinking we were going to spend the night on the street, the pastor was working and finally found a hotel that charged an exorbitant rate where we were able to spend the night. It was not only a surreal experience, but an education of what it is like to live in a communist country.
We could do nothing but pray and pray we did. It was just the beginning of a three-country mission in communist countries. We had many scary experiences, and we prayed. I remember one night in Poland when I stood before an audience in a church in Poland giving my testimony when officers carrying machine guns walked in. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I prayed. Prayer is a power of our faith, connecting us with our maker and the line is never busy and we are never out of range. Prayer is communication with God. We do this by praising Him, confessing our sin before Him, thanking Him and asking Him for our needs and desires. Prayer is communion with our Creator. When we pray, we engage in loving fellowship with the Maker of heaven and earth.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)
Where we were, access to freedom had been cut off, but access to God is never cut off whether in a communist country or around our home dining table. The Prayer Hand is an easy way to remember five essential aspects of prayer: confession, petition, intercession, thanksgiving and praise. Use The Prayer Hand resource to walk through each of these five purposes.
No matter what we face, God is always there, so we should spend each day in prayer as we look upward more than we look outward.
by John Grant
used by permission
John Grant is a former Florida State Senator and is a practicing attorney
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