Despite being raised by Christian family that showed me the love of Jesus my whole life, I never accepted it. Instead, I ran from it. By the time I was 16, I was addicted to drugs and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. I was losing my ability to speak and reason, and I was confused all of the time. Often I would remember people talking around me, and I would have no idea what they were talking about and I would take offense. When I would try to speak, I could only speak half a sentence. The last year before I got arrested, I struggled with multiple personalities along with anger. I was too destructive. I was far from God.

One day, I had an encounter with the Lord for the first time in my life. I went to my parents house, despite the rarity of going there. I was there alone, and although I had never had the desire before, something prompted me to turn on worship music. The power of God hit me like a ton of bricks, and i broke down crying. I had believed God was out there, but it wasn’t until this moment that I realized that he loved me and cared about me. I told my parents I would go to rehab.

Then I bailed. I didn’t go.

Two weeks later I was arrested.

I was facing years in prison and realized that if nothing changed, I would either end up in prison for the rest of my life or end up dead. Sitting in my jail cell, I gave my life to the Lord. Immediately I was delivered from mental illness and drug addiction.

Soon, I realized I was able to reason. I could process the difference between right and wrong. I was able to hold conversations with people in a matter of weeks. Within a month, I was able to read about a book a day, and I was able to begin the process of finding out more of who Jesus is and read the Bible. All of which I could not do prior to surrendering my life to God. Jesus had healed me, and for the four months I was in jail, I studied His Word, and discovered so much more of who He is.

When I got out of jail, I joined Teen Challenge, which is a faith based drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. For a season of life, I was able to tune out distractions of the world and find my identity in Christ. It was a season of fasting. Fasting from old friends, “worldly” things, and a secular worldview. I only focused on what Jesus is saying.The vocal point of my journey was not so much the addiction, but fixating my heart on Jesus.

I do not believe that once you are an addict, you are always an addict. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says that in Him we are a “new creation.” The old has passed away, and the new has come.

When you fix your heart on Jesus, things can’t stay the same. He leads you into entirely new restoration. Allow Jesus to be your fixation. Some things happen immediately. Others take time and renewing your mind. Just focusing on what Jesus is saying. Let Jesus be the only thing that matters. Perk your attention on Jesus.

I went from staying up for weeks on Meth to pursuing the heart of Jesus. As I gave up my drugs to God, I found healing from drug addiction.  I was able to work at Teen Challenge and mentor other people who had been through similar things, and encourage them with the freedom I had found in Christ. I realized it was one thing for God to deliver me, but it was another to watch him deliver others through me. My greatest pain had become a great joy, and what the enemy intended for evil, God turned around to bring glory to His name.

Because of my experiences, I limited myself. I didn’t realize i could live in the regular world. I thought my ministry was limited to helping people find healing from drug addiction. But here I am, doing a Discipleship Training School at YWAM, and I am realizing that there is so much for me. God has been showing me that having gone through addiction doesn’t limit my capacity for ministry. I am realizing through DTS that there is a whole world of possibilities. I am realizing that He sees me and wants to use me, even greater than I ever imagined.

The whole world is in front of you. I have seen some of the most beautiful and creative minds wasted because they have limited themselves. I am realizing through DTS that there is a whole world of possibilities. God sees me and wants to use me. He sees you and wants to use you, too. 

It was Jesus. No rehab, no 12 step program, nothing could bring the freedom but Jesus.

Like I was, you might be seeking to take a season to focus on Jesus. Come dive into a community of people who are like minded and seeking Jesus with their whole heart. 

Be a part of our Discipleship Training School. Your life will never be the same!

Firstly, unity in ministry is needed in order for others to see Christ in you. That makes it a big deal!

1 John 4 :12 says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us”

Jesus says in John 13:45, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.“

Jesus didn’t say that they would know Him by our prayer walks. He didn’t say they would know Him by our eloquent preaching or compassionate heart for the lost. Although these things are good, His Word says they will know Him by the love that we have for our brothers and sisters in Christ. Our love for the lost will not get us anywhere if we don’t extend the same love and grace to our fellow believers and teammates! 

Another reason we must acknowledge the importance of unity in the body of Christ is we all must work together to accomplish what we are called to. We all have different strengths, giftings, and callings that aren’t meant to be done alone.

Romans 12:4 says, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function. so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

Again in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Paul says, “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

Ephesians 4:16 says, “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

It is for our own good, and the good of the body of Christ that we operate as one. By this we build each other up in love.

The devil brings lies to cause disunity and division, because he can attack where there is disunity. We saw this in the story from our outreach students. Did you know the number one reason people leave the mission field is because of strife and relationships with other believers? This shouldn’t be! This is why Paul tells us to strive to be at peace with our brothers and sisters.

1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Something I recently learned is that when a lion goes to attack an elephant, the herd rallies in a circle around the weaker or smaller elephants with their tusks facing outward. When the lion attacks, the elephants are able to use their tusks and defend the others. However, when an elephant goes off on its own, it is unable to defend itself when a lion attacks. This is what it is like when the body of Christ is in unity. When we are unified, we can stand our ground against the enemy. When we are not, we open a door for the enemy to work in our lives.

Disunity comes from believing a lie. We must walk in the truth to be able to minster effectively.

I love this story from our outreach team because they acknowledged that something was wrong and brought it to the Lord. This is what I encourage you to do as well! Embrace open communication with each other as you ask the Lord what the root of the issue is. Ask Him to reveal the lie, and choose to partner with His truth! Go have the hard conversations with people. Pray together. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Do not give the enemy a foothold! Choose to lay down your life in love for your brothers and sisters as Jesus laid down His life for you. 

There is no better place to grow in unity in the body of Christ than to dive into a Godly community that disciples and does life together! 

Learn and grow for 5 months with us in our Discipleship Training School!

First, let’s take a look at Paul. We consider Paul to be one of, if not the, greatest missionaries and apostles of Christ. Our New Testament is filled with his letters to churches, like Ephesus, Colossae, and Corinth. In most of Paul’s letters, there is a theme of prayer. Every time Paul asks for prayer from the church he is addressing, the prayer had to do with the advancement of the gospel.

In Ephesians 6, Paul writes of the armor of God. He concludes this passage with this:

“…and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” Ephesians 6:17-20

In this passage, Paul makes a clear link between the spiritual battle and praying for Christians to boldly proclaim the gospel.

Next, let’s look at Jesus and the way that he modelled prayer. Luke 6:12 says this:

“In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”

This verse follows a passage describing persecution from the Jews for healing a man on the Sabbath, and precedes the day that he chose the twelve disciples, at which point they begin ministry together, preaching, healing the sick, and raising the dead. Jesus showed the importance of prayer in ministry.

Again, at the end of Jesus’ ministry, he showed the importance of prayer when he spent the night praying in the garden of Gethsemane. He needed the strength from the Father in order to do the Father’s will. Spending His last moments before being taken up praying for the Father’s will to be done is the backbone behind Him being able to endure and ultimately bring the good news of the gospel to all of creation. (Matthew 26:36-46)

Jesus prays for the saved and the lost

The entire chapter of John 17 writes a full prayer of Jesus before he was taken up to be crucified. I encourage you to read all of it, but for now we will take a look at verse 9 where Jesus intercedes on behalf of His disciples:

“…and they believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”

Verse 20 continues with Jesus interceding for the lost:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.”

Throughout Jesus’ time on earth, he continued to model the link between prayer and missions. Although we won’t discuss them all, I encourage you to look these verses up on you own time and see what the Lord shows you! (Heb 5:17, Luke 3:21, Matthew 14:23, Mark 6:46, Luke 6:12, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Luke 9:18, Luke 11:1)

Finally, when Jesus was hanging on the cross and about to die, he cried out to the Father on behalf of the lost:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Throughout the scriptures, we see that there is a clear link between intercession and missions, but why is this?

It gets our focus in what is on God’s heart.

You may hear the prayer “break our hearts for what breaks yours, God.” This is done through prayer for others, when we ask God what is on His heart to pray for and we partner with His will!

It puts our dependence on God.

Intercession in missions is also vital because it puts our dependence on God first, not ourselves. Prayer sets up our ministry by focusing our attention on the one who deserves all the glory. A heart posture of humility and dependence on God empowers us to walk in His authority!

God uses us through our prayers.

Another reason we should value prayer is because it involves us in God’s plan to touch people.

Loren Cunningham, the founder of YWAM, shares an incredible story of the impact of intercession in a teaching he gave many many years ago. In that story, he and his wife, Darlene, were travelling together across a desert, and crashed the car terribly. Both of them were thrown from the car, and Darlene stopped breathing. God spoke to Loren in that time, and he began to pray for Darlene. At the same time in a different country, a group of women paused what they were doing because they felt an impression from the Holy Spirit that they needed to pray for Darlene and Loren. Soon, Darlene started breathing again and they were able to get help. It was later confirmed that the prayer of those ladies was happening at the exact same time they had gotten into this accident.

(Watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wM82OrUb40)

Could God have just healed Darlene without the prayer of those ladies? Of course he could; He’s God! But God’s heart is for us to pray with faith according to His promises, and he wants us to be involved in the process. It is an honor to be able to partner with God through prayer!

The Lord speaks when we intercede.

The last reason intercession in missions is important (that I will touch on) is that it allows the Lord to direct our paths. It is in times of prayer that God speaks to us. He shows us things we could not have known on our own, because He sees the bigger picture when we can only see one puzzle piece. When we give room for God to speak and are prepared to step out in faith, things will always fall into place according to His will.

We can see that intercession in missions is important and biblical, but we must also know how to do it! There are many prayer methods, strategies, and thoughts on how to pray effectively. However, right now let’s look at the very model that Jesus gave the disciples when they asked him to teach them to pray, in what many call “the Lord’s Prayer”. The words of Jesus is a great place to learn, right?

“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”

Here in this simple verse, we see key principles we can pull out.

Let’s take it piece by piece:

• “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

We praise God and lift His name high. Spend time giving Him His rightful place in your life and glorifying His name.

• “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Partner with the kingdom of heaven! What is bound on earth will be bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth will be loosed in heaven, so pray that the will of God would happen on the earth! This includes praying for the lost to be saved, workers to be sent out, and the sick to be healed.  If you ever question the will of God, just look at the life of Jesus. Everything Jesus did and said was according the will of the Father!

“Give us this day our daily bread”

Allow the Lord to refresh you and fill you up so you can overflow to the world around you. His water never runs dry and continuously satisfies.

“And forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors.”

Repent before the Lord and acknowledge the forgiveness he has offered you. Choose to forgive those who have wronged you also. It is a command from God!

“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Engage in spiritual warfare. The enemy comes to bring destruction, but we have been equipped with armor of God. Take it up, and take your stand as a son or daughter of God who cannot be overcome by the evil one!

Be willing to listen to God and do what he says! Prayer often moves us to action, not a life of isolation and passivity. Prayer is the launching pad to the advancement of the gospel. Ask the Lord to prepare your heart to say “yes” to what he speaks to you.

Keep in mind that as you pray, God may be calling you to be the answer to your own prayer.

So, we have looked at where prayer and missions is found in the Bible, why it is important, and how we do it. Now that we know these things, what is stopping you? Are you ready to let God invade your prayer life and set your heart on fire for what He is passionate about? Take the first step. Ask Him what to pray for, and just step out and do it!

If you are interested in learning more about the way intercession is fit in to missions, join our community! As a base, we intercede together multiple times throughout our week. We invite you to come learn in a missions minded community by joining our Discipleship Training School!