Influence in Our World Through Prayer

INFLUENCE IN OUR WORLD THROUGH PRAYER

by Susan Rowe, M.D.

On the morning of July 4, 2019, our son was working in his garage when he stood up to reach out for a tool and suddenly felt very dizzy. It took a while for him to get his bearings. At the same time, a friend in Los Angeles was traveling and suddenly felt like the world was spinning. It took a while for them to get their bearings, but when they did, they realized they had just been in an earthquake. Reports soon sent the alert that a 6.4 magnitude earthquake had struck a remote part of our county. The following day, July 5th, an even stronger aftershock of 7.1 hit the area. News reports the next week relayed the fact that the July 5th earthquake carried the power of 45 nuclear bombs. Would the fact that such a powerful earthquake on our national Independence Day and its aftershock catch your attention? It did ours. What if that earthquake had hit a largely populated area? What would happen?

The plot thickens. Two days later, we connected with friends who are full-time missionaries in Muslim stronghold. At the same time the earthquake struck California, their home was invaded by robbers. It was middle of the night their time and robbers took many of their belongings and covered their little girl’s head with plastic. Waking up just in time, the robbers escaped, and they saved their child’s life by getting the plastic off her face. We realized the incidents were no accident and that God was issuing a “wake-up call.” The timing was too precise to brush off as accidental. We began to fervently pray for their situation. We all sensed the call of God. Within a week, they received donations and support enough to cover all their losses and then some. The children, though traumatized, were recovering. We joined in prayer, and God responded in powerful ways.

What is the message in this? Prayer is not only a means to develop our personal journey and walk with the Lord, but it is also the key to catalyze Kingdom advance in an increasingly lost and disenfranchised world. If God is stirring your hearts, it is now to wake up and engage in the concerns that we see around us. Was our contact and prayer with this unknown couple in a significant stronghold of Islam just a great testimony? What if God is about to break loose and change an entire region for the glory of God. We are taking on that task and joining with our friends for that express purpose.

What inspires your heart? Is there an issue, a person, a desire within you that when you think about it, your spirit is quickened? We would urge you to use this internal signal to take steps forward and engage with the community and contacts you have to make a difference. God will give a specific strategy. He will grant you favor. The earthquake sent a signal to “wake up.” We are in an hour much like it was in Joshua’s time to, “Be strong and of good courage,” Joshua 1:9. If you are stirred, step out, put your foot in the Jordan, and watch the waters part. God has plans to, “Prosper you, not to harm you, but to give you a hope and a future,” Jeremiah 29:11. How do we know that? It is His Word and it will not return to Him void, but it shall accomplish what He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing for which He sent it, Isaiah 55:11! In the shakings around us, He desires to send you.

Dr. Susan Rowe, Author of Remnant Rising and The Amos 911 Call, along with her husband, Dr. Fred Rowe, are the Directors of our Prayer Ministry at Canyon Hills and lead Pray Bakersfield praybakersfield.com