Listening Prayer in Unreached Areas
They called it “listening prayer.” It sounded intimidating. That’s what I thought going into the mission trip this summer.Mission trips have a plan. Lots of prayer goes into the decisions of where to go or who to work with and that occurs long before a volunteer team ever arrives. As a volunteer I show up and do what’s already laid out. This time was different as I was brought to a place that has deeply impacted my thinking and my life.
Over twenty years ago several missionary families joined together to teach their children to listen to God. They would take the lessons, scriptures, life experiences and look at them to see what God was saying. The children were instructed to journal with words and/or pictures what God was showing them. Then they learned to share those thoughts with others and to pray for each other as a starting point.
It reminds me of the young boy, Samuel. How sad, it had been so long since anyone had heard the voice of God, Eli didn’t immediately tell Samuel to simply listen. God himself brought “listening prayer” back into the life of Israel through Samuel. I felt young as I stood in Kankalabe, a remote region in Guinea, West Africa. It was as if I were Samuel being told by Eli “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.’ “
Three missionary families joined by five volunteers made up our team. Each missionary had several “ideas” about what we should do with our week in Kankalabe. These families had been in the region for over 2 years with no believers. They knew prayer as a major component of preparing the land and the work of God. It was their belief we should join them first in their weekly time of “listening prayer,” so the entire team could hear from God exactly what He desired us to do with those days.
Our morning started with a corporate time of confession, praise and worship, followed by the simple “listening prayer” instructions. Each person would go off alone with God taking their normal devotional materials, Bible, journal, etc. We would bring several questions before God. “What do You want us to do?” “Where do You want us to do it?” “What do You want to show us?” And “Other,” as occasionally God has no answers for our questions, because He has something else for us to learn or focus on. We would sit before God, read, study, ask our questions and then wait on God. We were to stay alone with God until we had a clear sense that He was finished speaking to us whatever He desired, whether that was 5 minutes or 5 hours. As each person finished they’d come back to the main room remaining in an attitude of prayer and listening until everyone returned. Once the group was re-gathered each person would share whatever God had impressed or revealed to them. Next, there was a time of interpretation. What did we think was the common thread woven into all we’d heard from God individually that He would use to guide us corporately?
Listening prayer is not a new concept. In fact, we could all give testimony to the times we’ve heard from God. Our week in Africa was a keen reminder to me in our fast paced world to find a still place to say ‘Speak Lord, for your servant is listening, Throughout that week I stood in awe of how God spoke, how His people listened, the way He worked and what He accomplished.
Pray for the work in Kankalabe where there are no Fulani believers.
Pray for God to break down the walls in lives around you as you worship Him.
Take time to be still before God and wait patiently to listen to Him.
posted by miriam plowman @ 1:09 PM
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