The Power of Prayer

A Few weeks ago, in my preparation to go back to El Mezquital and to see the people who have become dear to me, I found some pictures of Pastor Victor preaching on Sunday. Last year Pastor Victor preached a sermon called the Power of Prayer. Even though I did not understand 95% of what he said, I could tell that God was speaking through him to his church, to the people of El Mezquital, and to me.

I have prayer before. I have thanked God for who He is and for what He has done. I have asked God for health, safety, patience, grace, comfort, healing, peace, love, joy, and much more. I have allowed my prayer time to become stale and I have been guilty of saying “ I will pray for you.” And then I forgot as quick as it the words come off of my lips. Sometimes I feel like my prayers make an impact, but most of the time I feel like it is wasted breath.

One year after I heard Pastor Victor’s sermon on prayer, I have experienced the Power of Prayer as I never have in my own life. On evening as we were preparing to show the Jesus film in Matamoros at the location of the new church plant of Bautista Horeb, a few of us were witnesses to something very scary. In the house closest to where we were, a man was beating his wife, pulling her around by her hair, and yelling at her and their children. One of the older children ran down the road to where the woman’s father lived. The father and the children who lived in the home returned and the father had a baseball bat. He rescued his child and his grandchildren and sped off in the direction of his home. The man who had been abusing his family followed down at about 60 miles an hour. The roads in this community could be compared to a very poor dirt path. The husband was obviously drunk. The children from the community were all watching a chattering about the incident. Luckily, I only caught the tail end of this horror, but they children had seen it all.

After standing in shock for several moments and feeling scared and like the Enemy had just proved his presence, I got several people together to pray, it was all we could do. As I looked around several small groups of people were praying. I prayed for safety from this man and his anger and a few other things. As I prayed the words, “God we know that this man needs you, call him to yourself and if that means you bring him over here, bring him.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth I was shocked, I closed my prayer quickly and thought in awe. This was the first time that I can remember not having to think about what I was praying, words were just coming out of my mouth. It was rather scary; I knew the Holy Spirit had been there. I spent most of the rest of the night in awe of what I had just experienced. We never heard a thing from him the rest of the evening, but he was watching and listening to what was going on so close to his home.

The next morning when we arrived at the church, the man was still sitting in his car, probably past out from the night before. As we prepared to start clinics and other activities of the day, he began to drive around on the streets closest to the church. He was watching what we were doing. Several minutes later, this man approached a group of men from our group including the Pastor Benjamin, (Bautista Horeb), Pastor Ron, (2Rivers), Ricardo (member of Bautista Horeb) and Sam (member of 2Rivers and translator), to ask if he could have some gasoline for his car. Apparently, he needed to go somewhere.

The men told him that they would give him some gas, but first they needed to talk to him about the way he was treating his wife and his family the night before. The man, Raul, broke down and started crying and he asked the men to come to his house to talk. I had seen the men talking to a man, but I had no idea it was the same man from the night before until I looked over into his house and saw a bunch of our men in his home. While in Raul’s home, the men told him that it was unacceptable treat his family in such a way and that the drinking needed to end. He agreed with them, broke down, and told his life story. Raul’s father had been an alcoholic and his mother had died when he was three. He did not want this for his children and recognized his need to end the cycle. Now, his wife, Esmeralda, had left because of his drinking and she had taken their three children, ages 11, 8 and 6, with her. After much talking and discussion the men were able to present the Good News to Raul and he recognized his need for the Savior, Raul accepted the Lord.

It was not until that afternoon while on the ride back to El Mezquital that I heard about all of this. It was quite overwhelming! All I could think about was the feeling I had the night before and the prayer that God gave to me! After we completed some visits in El Mezquital we had the honor and blessing of meeting with Raul to pray with and to encourage him. I was a little nervous about entering his home, but the men who were with me assured me that he was safe. We all went into to Raul's very small one room home. It was maybe 15ft x 15 ft in size. He has a small table and one chair, a full sized bed, a stove, and a cabinet in the home. One could tell that children once occupied the home. There was a coloring page one of them had made that said “Happy Birthday Daddy, I love you.” A few other belongs were throughout the home. Raul, his wife and three children all lived in this small home.

As we began to talk with him and pray, Raul started crying again. He broke down and was weeping uncontrollably. He was shaking and crying aloud. Raul was confessing his sins to us; he was completely undone before and the Lord. We prayed for him for a while and it was a truly unique and God moment. I was so amazed by his attitude and his brokenness over his sin. He was a broken man and he had nothing but the Lord. Someone mentioned that God was his only hope and I remembered a bookmark that I received earlier in the week, I was waiting to share it with someone special, and here it was the last day of our trip. I ran out to the van and brought it to Raul. I gave it to him as a reminder that God was his only hope and the without God there was no hope of recovery for his family! After we were done praying, I looked out the door and I saw the Church. I thought in my head, “He will be a leader there one day,” and seconds later Pastor Ron told him, “Maybe next year when we come back, you will be the Pastor over there.” I knew God was in that thought and I look forward to my next trip to see what God has done with Raul and the church.

As we parted ways after much prayer and many hugs and words of encouragement, we took a few pictures and said goodbye. While I was walking back to the van, I was amazed at how God had changed this man from a very scary individual to a man after God's heart in one day. I recalled my feelings of fear and discomfort the evening before and compared that to how I was feeling then, while standing next to him. I did not want to leave Raul; I wanted to know more about his life and his family and what brought him to were he was.

My feeling of sadness that we had to leave is still with me. I understand addictions and the desperation to continue in them. This has only led me to pray fro Raul, Esmeralda, and their children repeatedly. I don’t even know them, yet I miss them. I long for them to know God in a way that will change them into people who will serve the Lord and honor Him in all they do.

God taught me so much through this experience with Raul. God showed me that my prayers, when aligned with the will of God are effective. I now understand the true power of prayer. God taught me that he gives us the desire to pray and he wants to bless us though those prayers. God’s plan for Raul was written long before my prayer, and God did not need me to pray for Raul to recognize his need for God. God could have done it all…by Himself. Instead, God allowed me to be blessed. He allowed me to pray what I did. He allowed me to experience horror and fear of Raul. He allowed me to catch a glimpse into the house when the men were in there praying. He allowed me to be in the van to hear the story first hand from Pastor Ron and Sam. He allowed me to meet Raul and experience his brokenness before the Lord. He allowed me to love on a man who needed nothing more. He allowed my heart to be moved by this experience. He blessed me in His work and I could ask for nothing more.

Raul's children. The only photo he has of them, it is many years old.



Raul's home as seen from the Church