The Prayer of the Faithful

     "I never shared about Jesus with people. I just felt discouraged and had no energy.  But ever since your team came, I realized that I, as a Thai Christian, had work to do. I thought, 'These people came from another country to come share the gospel with Thai people.  That means I need to do it too!” As my friend Niphaa said these words, I was humbled and reminded why I am here.

     I know a lot of people deal with the whole "performance" aspect in everyday life.  Whether we try to prove ourselves to God, or to our parents, or significant others, or teams, or friends, or bosses, or whomever...  Our hearts are either screaming, Look at me!  I am good because I can do stuff well, or don't look at me; I'm bad because I can't do anything well.

     I was talking about this with Niphaa, one of our good friends and a powerful evangelist, last night.  I told her how I had been feeling discouraged lately because I feel like I don't know what to do right now. Her response? "You don't need to feel discouraged, and you don't need to do anything. It is God who does the work.  Our job is to pray."

      This woman is one of my biggest inspirations. She has been a Christian for about 10 years.  For many years, she had been feeling discouraged as she prayed and asked God for a church to exist and last in Cha-am, the city we are in now. One day, someone told her a team of missionaries had moved there to plant a church. She couldn't believe it. "I live in Cha-am, and I haven't seen anyone," she responded.  But soon afterwards, someone connected us to her, and a beautiful friendship began.

     Truth be told, Niphaa has done more than we have ever even tried to do. She is full of joy and a determination that others know the hope they can have in Jesus Christ. It has been an immeasurable blessing to serve alongside her and to once again learn the secret to successful ministry:  crazy, faithful prayer.

     "We have to pray for Cha-am," she says. "All we can do is plant the seed and water it.  God must do the work to make it grow. We need to pray that He will work, and then we wait for His timing. If we trust in our own plans, we will fail and waste time and energy. If we trust God and wait for His timing, we will see fruit."