Great is Thy Faithfulness

    “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
        and do not return there but water the earth,
    making it bring forth and sprout,
        giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
    so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
        it shall not return to me empty,
    but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
        and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11

The Lord has overwhelmed me this week with His grace and faithfulness in such a way that I’m not sure that I’ll recover from it…nor do I want to. He has reminded me that He has heard my every prayer even when heaven was silent and no answer seemed to be coming. But He was working in ways I could not see to bring about the answers in His own way and in His own timing.

First, there is my friend from India. I haven't seen her for about a year and a half, but I haven’t stopped praying for her salvation (though I have been tempted to stop). The Lord has saw fit to bring her back into my life. She “happened” to call my sister two weeks ago and, while they were talking, she got my number, which she apparently had lost. I then found out that she “happens” to live less than a mile from me (we have both moved since the last time we saw each other). We hung out this weekend over coffee, and the Lord graciously gave me the opportunity and the boldness to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with her. She told me that she didn’t know what god she was praying to, but knew that there was a higher power/energy directing her life. The Lord brought Acts 17 to my mind and He empowered me to share with her how God created her and brought her to where she is now in life so that she would seek Him and find her way to Him because He is not far from her (Acts 17:27).

Second, there is my cousin. I started praying for his salvation over 10 years ago. My home church of Meadow Heights challenged the congregation to pray for someone daily at a certain time each day for a certain length of time. The Lord laid him on my heart, and have been praying for him almost daily ever since. His picture is in my Bible as a constant reminder to ask God to save him. His name is written under the carpet of Meadow Heights in faith that God would save him and bring him to that church. The Lord has given me numerous opportunities to talk to him about Christ at family get-togethers, and when he stopped coming to those, the Lord gave me the idea to send him a birthday card every year in which the Lord will lead me to some word of Scripture to share with him. During this past year, I started praying that the Lord will bring someone into his life to share Christ with him more regularly. The Lord did just that. My dad's and cousin’s paths began crossing almost every week and my dad would talk about Christ with him. Then, last Sunday, my cousin surrendered his life to the Lord. I have been praying and hoping and longing for this for such a long time that I almost feel as if my life's work is complete. The Lord, indeed, is mighty to save (Isaiah 63:1).

Finally, there is a young woman I met on a short-term trip to Central Asia. My church, Rolling Fields, sends a team to Central Asia every October. My sister and I went last October. This year’s team just got back yesterday. They asked me if I remember meeting a certain young woman from last year. I told them I did, and they told me that she has placed her faith in Christ. The Lord is so faithful to hear and answer our every request. I have been praying for her since I met her and asking the Lord to bring her from the darkness of Islam into the light of Christ. Most of the time, you never see the fruit of short-term trips, but the Lord graciously allowed us to see a glimpse of His sovereign grace through the testimony of this young woman.

I am so encouraged by the Lord’s faithfulness to answer these prayers. It is tempting sometimes to stop praying for people or things when there is no perceived answer. And, quite honestly, praying can seem so insignificant compared to other methods of ministry. BUT it’s not. Prayer is God’s ordained means to spread the fragrance of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. We are to pray for laborers (Luke 10:2) and for wisdom (James 1:5) and for boldness (Ephesians 6:19) and for opportunities to share the gospel (Colossians 4:3) and for the salvation of those around us (Romans 10:1). Basically, we are to pray for God’s will to be done on earth (Matthew 6:10)! The Lord has used the above answers to prayer to increase my faith, to encourage me to come boldly before Him with my requests, and to persevere in prayer for the people and things I have been praying for for such a long time.

And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. Luke 18:1

These things are not to point to me at all. They are evidences of God's grace. I know I am/was not the only one investing or praying, but the Lord did allow me to be a small part of what He is/was doing in each of their lives (mainly through prayer). Plus, no matter what I do or say, I cannot save anyone. Only God can do that. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord” (Zechariah 4:6; cf. John 3:3-8). This is all the Lord’s work. He ordains the times and places of where we dwell and He determines our steps to fulfill His purposes (Acts 17:26; Proverbs 16:9). Our job is obedience.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.1 Corinthians 3:5-9