Written by: Andrea Price, Director of Education at myLIFEspeaks
Listen to the audio version of the story, here.
Growing up, I had a very shallow understanding of prayer. I knew it was giving thanks to God, asking Him for something, or begging Him to forgive me. That was it. It never sank in that prayer was more than just selfish words coming out of my mouth when I was in need. I never understood that prayer is for having deep conversations with our Eternal Father. Nor did I understand that prayer is a weapon against the darkness (Ephesians 6).
When I moved to Haiti in 2014, I still had that surface-level assumption of God and who He was. The truth is I really didn’t think much about prayer. However, God still took this broken vessel and poured His oil out upon me. In the spring of 2015, I finally came to understand the truth about God, Our Father. I was called off the bench and onto the playing field. My view and understanding of prayer would never be the same. I came to understand that prayer moves the hand of God on our behalf and the ones that we pray for. I wholeheartedly know we are letting go of control in a situation and giving God the honor of breakthrough on our behalf.
It all started one sunny day in Neply. I had a friend come to me and tell me that his mom was having seizures every day and needed to go to the hospital. Of course, my first instinct was to try and gather money to send her to the hospital but I knew that I didn’t have any on hand, and trying to borrow some would be difficult. I decided to go to their house to check on her and assess the situation. When I arrived, I saw his mother sitting on the bed with her knee wrapped up in a bandage. She said she hurt her knee when she fell out of bed during a seizure. I started to ask questions out of curiosity, but in reality, it was the Spirit helping me discern the atmosphere and what was operating. I asked her when she has the seizures and how long they last. Everyone in the house told me that she only has them at night and she shakes so violently that she falls out of the bed.
At that moment I, not knowing the power that was about to manifest in me, decided we needed to circle up and pray over her for healing. That was the only option left. The prayer circle consisted of me, the mom, my friend, and a handful of children under the age of 10. I blurted my best prayer that was mixed with faith and doubt because at this point I had still not come to realize who God really was and who He was calling me to be. I left the house and went about my day. Their house was about 50 yards from the main myLIFEspeaks campus so the next day after work I went by there to check on the lady and see how she was.
I walked in and before I could ask how her night was, she threw her hands in the air and started worshiping God, and gave me the biggest hug. Apparently, she didn't have a seizure the night we prayed over her. I think I went numb out of shock that our prayer that rebuked the enemy and prince of darkness actually moved mountains like the Bible says. She was so excited and she grabbed my hands and asked me to pray again. So I did. The next day, she was still seizure-free. And the day after that? Seizure free. To this day, SHE IS SEIZURE FREE!
That day was the day my heart woke up to the goodness of God. That day the sleepy eyes of my heart truly and fully opened to our miracle-working God and our thoughtful, kind Father. That was the day that I became a prayer warrior. That was the day the match was lit to the fire of the Holy Spirit in me. I cannot explain the countless miracles and breakthroughs I would go on to witness because of that one encounter with God's nature in 2015.
We have since witnessed the dead come back to LIFE, protection from a Category 5 hurricane, healing of tremors, blood diseases, breast cancer, automobile accidents, and many more situations the enemy has tried to steal from us. We have seen forgiveness crash through the hardest of hearts. We have seen repentance burst through hearts that had been welded shut. We have seen the Joy of the Lord in the darkest of days because the weapon of prayer slashes the eroded chains of our sinful nature.
We must put prayer back on our tool belt. The prince of darkness is trying to keep us focused on all the things going wrong instead of focusing on God and giving Him complete control through prayers and petitions. When we hand God our heavy burdens, He promises to give us Peace. When we feel helpless we need to remember that we have access to the authority of Heaven through prayer!
Matthew 6:5-8
"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."