she asked His help: Being People of Prayer

I wept and struggled to read aloud the words

Musa described a visit by representatives of the U.S. and Italian Embassies offering him asylum. According to the letter, after the foreign representatives left the room, Musa was visited by three Afghan officials who told him that he would be released within twenty-four hours if he wrote a statement declaring that he regretted his conversion to Christianity. “I laughed and replied, ‘I can’t deny my Savior’s name,’” Musa wrote. “Because my life is just service to Jesus Christ and my death is going to heaven [where] Jesus Christ is. I am a hundred percent ready to die. They pushed me much and much. I refused their demands.”

Initially the tears caught me off guard as I choked out the words "I laughed and replied 'I can't deny my Savior's name.' But by the time I finished the brief article announcing that 'Said Musa, an Afghan Christian who was arrested in May and threatened with execution for his conversion to Christianity, was released from prison last week,' and Addy clapped, the reason for my tears was so clear.

I wept because I wonder and I pray that if faced with such persecution that I too could with the joy of such conviction and assurance laugh at the thought of denying my Savior.

I wept because a month or so ago we made a prayer wall with pictures of those we pray for: our church pastors and their families, the families we love who are full time missionaries here or abroad, our friends and family who we long for to know saving grace, and for the persecuted church worldwide.

I wept because we have been praying for Said.

I wept because Addy and Anna are witnessing God's power and grace and experiencing the gift of prayer.

I wept because last week when Egyptian masses were congregated and shouting for change, the country that was next in line for us to pray for was Egypt. And because I believe in the sovereignty of God, I know that He cherishes the prayers of two tiny girls and orchestrated for us to pray for President Mubarak on the day he didn't step down and that Addy wanted to pray for him the next day as well, on the day he did step down. She prayed that God would change his heart and that God's glory would shine through. Clearly, we have no idea of what God is doing but we know that

...there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God...For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."(Romans 13:1, 9:17)

Addy saw that God answers prayer. And I got to teach her that

The reason that a just and holy God is free to bless us with answers to prayer, even though we are sinners who deserve condemnation, is that Jesus Christ died for our sins and turned away the wrath of God from us. Everything beneficial, which fallen human beings have ever experienced, was purchased at Calvary. And therefore, all answers to prayer are free gifts based on God's mercy. We do not purchase answers to prayer by anything we say or do; we only plead for the overflow of mercy already purchased by the sacrifice of our Lord. ~ John Piper

Granted I simplified it a bit--that because Jesus died for the sins of His people we have the privilege of praying and not only do we get to pray but God hears us and as an overflow of mercy, He answers.

And we take hands in a circle here and pray, pray to YHWH — the One whose very name sounds like our breathing, the One with the name YHWH that means
Y = yod — Hand
H = heh — window of breath, Behold
W = vav — Nail
H = heh — window of breath, Behold
We pray to YHWH whose name embodies suffering, Who takes our hand with His nail scarred one and we behold the Wounded Healer, the One in Whom is our window of breath in a world suffocating with pain and ache.
We come up for Breath… We Behold… and The Nailed Hand holds our prayers. ~ Ann Voscamp

And so in faith, we keep praying. We pray for the persecuted, for those who don't yet believe, for our family, for our friends, for you. We pray because His nailed hand holds our prayers. We pray because His nailed hand purchased our prayers. We pray because His nailed hand is the answer to our prayers.

**A note about our prayer wall-- I was convicted a year ago to start a prayer wall when a dear friend mentioned that their family had one of our extended family members actually on their prayer board. Not only did her husband tell mine that he would pray, he went home and his family prayed. No flippant or even at-the-time sincere "we'll pray for him," discarded later with out a second thought. He went home and actually prayed. We were convicted.

Now let me tell you that sometimes even though I have a strong conviction, I fail to act because I am sinful. The real reason we just put our 'prayer wall' up a month ago--I couldn't find or afford the perfect bulletin / white board combo for our wall that was cute. No really, we haven't been praying because I couldn't find a cute enough method. (This is where I stop and repent and thank God for grace.)

For the holidays to keep Christmas card photos off my refrigerator or the top of my microwave, I threw up some raffia with clear tacks to hang Christmas cards. I realized when I went to take them down that I had made a prayer wall without even knowing it.

We added a map from Voice of the Martyrs,

requested photos from our church elders, kept Christmas photos of missionaries we support (dear friends on staff with Campus Crusade and Younglife) and others we want to pray for and cut out strips of paper to write new requests on when we get them!