A Real Prayer conference!
Recently, we were invited to a Prayer Conference for countries in the Balkan Area. We did not have a program in advance as this was the first conference organized by our friends there. All we knew was it should begin in the evening of Friday and David was to preach at the ministry service on Sunday at 11am.
Soon after arriving, we heard of many who had traveled 12-14 hours, cramped together as many as possible in one vehicle, to get there. They arrived tired, disheveled but ready for the weekend! Some of them told us how hard it had been to get a free day from work on the Friday and how their bosses did not understand their need to go, warning them they had better be present and ready to work on Monday morning.
Then the prayer times began and we were split up into small groups according to the language we understood best. As 9 or 10 countries were represented that put us in small groups of maybe 7/8 people. And so we began to pray. I left at midnight with a few others who were dead tired and the rest prayed on!
Over the weekend each country was given a few minutes to present the needs for prayer in their country and church. Then it was directly to prayer! All day Saturday, apart from mealtimes, when the food was ready to be served b the staff and did not take long to devour! At the evening meal, we were all told it was the day to change the clock back, and we should do it immediately, as it would mean we could pray for an extra hour!!! Why did I not think of it that way?
It was amazing to watch believers praying for each other”s countries, where not so long ago there was war between these nations! Even more amazing was to see nations where generations of hatred and bitterness has left people at various stages of disagreement, placing hands on another”s shoulders as they prayed fervently for the church in that land. Certainly, with God there are no barriers! Some who had fought in the war, said they still had some unease to be in the other country, but there was no problem fellowshiping with their brothers!
Again I left them praying around midnight, to begin again after 6 am continuing where we left off. By this time, there was some brokenness among those who were known to be the stalwarts of the faith in some countries, as they acknowledged allowing traditionalism and legalism to rule in their fellowships for so many years and having suffered by not seeing any fruit for their labor in the past 40 years. God had given them an opportunity to see widespread evangelism done in the area 40 years previously, but because the leader of the evangelistic outreach was not from their denomination, they refused to have him. This man has since been used by God to see hundreds find the Lord in India, and the elders who refused him have realized their folly in refusing God”s opportunity. They repented and we know “God will restore the years the locusts have eaten” but how sad for the generation who have grown up without knowing the Gospel.
Apart from the Breaking of Bread worship service followed by ministry of the Word brought by David, the rest of the weekend was spent in prayer and then after a quick meal the travelers turned round, got into their cramped cars again, for the return journey lasting another 12-14 hrs.
What a weekend! It has been a long time since I spent so much time in consistent, concentrated prayer! Yet, it was a great time, made even more wonderful by witnessing how vision and burden for the lost was renewed in each of the participants as we left for home, meaning we were already seeing answered prayer. This was really a Prayer Conference where not so much was talked about among us, but everything was prayed about and God was the Divine listener and motivator of every conversation!