A City Carried by Prayer
Acts 1:14a: These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication.
It is Saturday morning, around ten o'clock, as I steer my car into the busy center of Quevedo. It is unbelievable how many people are out and about again. There are truly hundreds of them. People walk crisscross in every direction. Traffic crawls along sluggishly, and at every traffic light vendors stand beside the car. Outside various shops, large speakers have been set up that literally scream for attention with loud music and colorful promotional signs. The smoking city buses push their way insistently past ordinary cars to pick up crowds of people at the stops all at once. No, nothing unusual is going on. It is just an ordinary Saturday morning in which everyone is doing their shopping, or simply spending the money earned that week — because saving is a rarity in this culture.
When I am literally right in the middle of the center, I look for a parking spot for my car. That is not easy. Fortunately, someone is just pulling away. I quickly park my car and give a nod to the old man in a bright orange vest who signals that he will keep an eye on my car for a while. I hurry across the wide main street, trying to avoid being caught by the stream of cars, and then find myself standing in front of the building I need to be at. White, with blue pillars and a heavy, black gate: the church. This morning, a time of prayer and fasting has been announced. We gather to bring all our needs before the face of the Lord.
I slide the gate at the entrance aside and step in, leaving the busyness of the center behind me. The contrast is stark: outside, honking cars race by, motorbikes growl, and loud music blares. Amid it all, the hurried and noisy crowd of people. But inside, absolute calm and peace reign. As I enter, I see that I am not the first. No, a small group of people is already present. One of them is praying aloud. The others pray along — kneeling.
A simple but powerful prayer rises that morning from the center of Quevedo. The need shared in prayer is a truly real need for them. Compassion for the souls of all those people hurrying through the center outside. Compassion for all the pain and sorrow experienced in the brokenness of this society. Domestic violence, crime, abuse, broken marriages, children without parents to care for them. Depressed young people who have lost all hope and only wish that their lives would end soon. Heartbreaking poverty caused by selfishness or addiction. It all comes back to one central cause: a life without Hope, without Life, without Christ.
In the prayer, the heart's longing resounds to be there for those who suffer, like a light in the darkness, reflecting the light of Him who said: I am the Light of the world. It is pleaded: there is so much suffering and darkness. And there are so few lights in this city. Make us reflectors of Your light. So they pray, for the coming of God's Kingdom. For all the churches in the city and a revival of the True Gospel. They pray for the swift coming of Christ. They pray for Afghanistan, Haiti and Israel. From personal need to worldwide need.
Outside the church door, the stream of people continues. None of them realize that they are being lifted up in the prayers of this small group of intercessors inside. That this city, groaning under so many problems, is carried by the prayer of these believers who know themselves called to bear the needs of others on the wings of prayer.
After the "amen," someone powerfully starts Psalm 91, Luther's version: "Castillo fuerte es nuestro Dios" (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God). Others join in. A guitar softly strums along:
And though the pit of hell should snarl at us
with all its thousand hordes,
no fear shall ever strike us down,
still we shall sound our battle song.
However Satan rages,
we stand our ground, foot for foot,
we defy his violence;
his sentence has been passed:
one word alone shall make him fall!
Here the battle is fought, kneeling, against Satan's dark kingdom. He seems to be the victor if we add up everything that goes wrong in the world and in the church. But these people look further: Satan received the deathblow at Christ's cry: It is finished. Therefore there is hope for every resident of this city!
By the way, do the people in your own neighborhood, village, or city also have such intercessors in their midst? What a blessing for them!
If not, what will you do about it?
