Rudder

I'm sitting here reading my third book on prayer by Terry Teykl, called Pray the Price. He brings up the story of the German warship Bismarck from WWII. This ship had an 18-inch-thick armored shell around it and could hurl a shell the size of a Volkswagen over 20 miles. It was going to change the way the war was going. The first thing the Bismarck did was sink the British battleship Hood, which put fear in the hearts of the Navy. But along came two enemy (our good guys) seaplanes on patrol. They were made of canvas and could only carry one torpedo each, as they weren't built as attack planes. They both fired their torpedoes. One hit the side of the Bismarck and exploded but did no damage. The second hit the tail of the ship, bounced off and exploded in the water, doing no visible damage. The planes quickly left. What they didn't know was that the second torpedo had knocked the rudder of the Bismarck off its hinges and without a rudder, it couldn't steer. Within hours, it floated directly into the middle of a British fleet, which shelled it until the great ship went down. Terry then states that he believes that prayer is the rudder of the church. Without it, we have no sense of direction and no ability to steer. 

OK, now flash back to my silent retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani in Trappist Kentucky in February. What I came away with from that weekend was that God was doing a new thing in me. I even blogged about it on February 8. I was sitting in the chapel at the 3:15 a.m. service and was praying. I looked up, and coming toward me down the center of the church was a bush that had no leaves on it but was covered with little round red fruit. I asked God, "What is that?" What I heard was, "I'm doing a new thing in you."

Flash back to now, and I'm going to repeat what I read from Terry's book: "I simply offer this book as a plea to United Methodist churches to pray the price. Isaiah 43:18-19 says 'Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?' God is doing a new thing today all across the world and we need not be left out!"

I sat back in my chair and just laughed at how God works with me in His own time and in His own way. He is calling me to pray the price for His church. He wants prayer evangelism, not just another prayer ministry, and he wants it to start with me. Won't you join me in prayer for your church to have a renewed vision of Jesus, a renewed sense of purpose? This just makes chills all over my body, knowing that God had a plan and I get to help!