Today is the last Sunday I will be in church before I leave for a five- week ministry trip to Africa. It is our custom at church to have the congregation lay hands on me and pray for me just before I leave for a missions trip. So at the start of the service they prayed for me.
Rodney announced when I leave and where I would be going. Then he asked me to come up front so they could pray for me. Rodney invited those who would like to lay hands on me to come to the front and do so. Everyone began praying more or less at the same time. It was hard to listen to all the prayers at the same time, so I just went into receive mode and invited the Lord to be in control. I could hear parts of various prayers as the Lord called my attention to them and just about all my major concerns were covered. I was blessed.
About 1/2 way through the prayer time, the worship team began to play one of my favorite songs. I told the Lord that I was a bit disappointed that it came on when I could not fully enjoy it and worship along with it because I was busy receiving prayer. The Lord told me to think of it differently -- He arranged to have one of my favorite songs played while they prayed for me because He wanted to bless me. Wow, a different perspective! God is so neat!
The prayer and song ended about the same time. I went back to my seat and joined in the corporate worship. I was really enjoying myself during this worship as they seemed to be doing a lot of songs that really resonated with my spirit. Somewhere around the third or fourth song, this idea hit me and I prayed in response to it, "Lord Jesus, I had all those people pray for me and it was wonderful. But would You consider coming to personally pray for me as well?"
I don't think I really expected Him to answer that. But half way through the song, I was taken into a vision where Jesus came and stood in front of me and stretched his hand towards me as if He were about to pray for me. I was not sure what to expect Him to pray for me. Maybe He would ask for ministry opportunities for me and for unsaved people to hear and respond to the Gospel. Or maybe He would ask for protection for me, or for the financial and material needs of the trip to be met, traveling mercies, protection over my family while I was away, etc. But he did not pray any of those things.
This is the prayer He prayed:
"Father, let her do My will."
Wow! I felt the power of that prayer even as He spoke the words. There was a sudden realization in My spirit of what that prayer meant ... almost as if God explained it to me in a fraction of a second. In order for me to do His will, I had to understand His will clearly, moment by moment and situation by situation. So He was praying that I have a complete understanding of His will for the trip and that I hear His voice clearly all throughout the trip, no matter how tired I am and no matter what situation I find myself in. Also, to do His will, I needed a heart after His heart and a will to obey Him ... things I personally pray for on a daily basis. And finally, to do His will, I needed the authority and power and anointing for whatever He wants to do at any instant. He was praying that I be fully equipped for whatever He wants to do, that I have any anointing I need and the empowerment to do whatever He wants to do.
"Thank you, Lord," I whispered silently. "That is such a neat prayer!"
"Teresa," He responded, "Do you think My prayers get answered?"
I had to laugh as joy flooded through me. Of course His prayers get answered! The Father would never say no to Jesus. I realized that He was not just praying for me, He was promising to answer that prayer. He was making it possible for me to do His will on this trip. No demon or force of Hell or opposition of man can prevent His will from being done on this trip if only I am willing to obey Him and do what He is doing. Any anointing I need will be supplied. Any supernatural empowerment I need to do this trip will be provided when I need it. Any wisdom or discernment I needed to do His will would be supplied when I need it. He was promising me that I would be fully equipped to do His will on this trip. Wow!
It was not long before His sweetness and His presence enveloped me and I was lost in His goodness. I wanted to stay there all day but the worship time ended and it came time for the sermon. We had a special guest speaker who I had been looking forward to hearing: Rodney's father. Service was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed what he had to share. At the end of the service, Rodney's father prayed an impartation prayer over us as a congregation. One of the things he mentioned was that God had given him the nations. Something inside of me clicked when he said that and I just knew I had to go to him for individual prayer after service was over.
I went up to him the first chance I had. I shared how God has also promised me the nations and asked him to pray into that. His prayer was wonderful and blessed me tremendously. I won't share the whole prayer with you, but I want to share how he started the prayer, since it fit in so closely with what Jesus had done in the vision only an hour before. He started the prayer with "Lord, let her do Your will as she goes overseas to serve you..."
I believe that prayer is going to become the main prayer of my life and cry of My heart: "Lord Jesus, let me do Your will!" Amen.
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