I'm learing so much about prayer right now and I was reading a book by O. Hallesby while traveling and this passage really struck me as I was overwhelmed by the people and needs around me. I'm sharing it here and I pray that it really speaks to you too.
When Jesus took leave of the eleven apostles at the ascension, He entrusted them a superhuman task. He charged them to go mad make Christ-worshipers of all the nations.
They were to begin in Jerusalem, He had said. That was not far away. The city lay at the foot of Mt. Olivet, and they could see it from where they were standing. In the city were the executioners of Jesus, His innocent blood upon their hands, ready to annihilate every one who dared to mention the name of the Nazarene publicly. And even though the eleven should be fortunate enough to escape these murderers, what did they have to preach? A crucified Messiah, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks.
As they looked westward from Mt. Olivet beyond the Mediterranean Sea toward Rome, the center of the world, the outlook appeared no brighter. There they would be confronted by the strongest empire which had ever been welded together, the mightest culture and the richest intellectual life which the world has known to this day.
It was almost irony to send out from Galilee eleven common laborers to win this mighty cultural empire for Christ. True, their number was later augmented by an acdemically trained co-laborer, Paul; but he, too, said that he was determined not to know anything or to preach anything, even in the great cultural centers, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
But He who sent them knew what he was doing. He had equipped them for their superhuman task in a twofold manner.
Objectively, He had equipped them with the Messianic gift itself, the Holy Spirit, through whom the powers of the whole supra-mundane world were put at the disposal of the little Christain congregation.
Subjectively, He had equipped them with prayer, the means by which all of these objective, supra-mundane powers are imparted to the individual believer and to the congregation.
We get a vivid impression of how highly He Himself evaluated this equipment when we read a few of his statements about it.
Matt 17:20 “He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matt 18:19 “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”
Paul, who had the opportunity to make use of this throughout a whole lifetime of work and sacrifice says of it, “ Phil 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
He who had sent them knew that this weapon, this piece of equipment, would make them invincible. “Nothing shall be impossible for you” were His words. When at His ascension He took leave of His friends as far as His physical presence was concerned, He extended His almighty arm so far don that we insignificant and sinful people can reach it every time we bend our knees in prayer.
Whenever we touch His almighty arm, some of His omnipotence streams in upon us, into our souls and into our bodies. And not only that, but, through us, it streams out to others.
This power is so rich and so mobile that all we have to do when we pray is to point to the persons or things to which we desire to have this power applied, and He, the Lord of this power, will direct the necessary power to the desired place at once.
This weapon is the more valuable to the friends of Jesus, because it is not possible for the enemies of Jesus to make use of it. True, His enemies can lay hands on the weapon; but the moment they grasp it in earnest they are transformed from enemies to friends of Jesus.
Here, too, we see divine grace and wisdom. How terrible this weapon would become if it could be used by anybody and everybody for purposes of revenge and destruction. Instead He has decreed that only His own friends can establish contact with these inexhaustible sources of power. In fact, the means of contact has been devised so carefully that the connection is automatically cut off, as soon as we try to employ this power in ways contrary to the will and purpose of Jesus. It is only when we pray for something according to the will of God that we have the promise of being heard and answered.
It is our Lord's will that we who have received access to these powers through prayer should go through this world transmitting heavenly power to every corner of a world which needs it sorely. Our love should be, according to our Lord's plans, quiet but steadily flowing streams of blessing, which through our prayers and intercessions should reach our whole environment.
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