Dear friends,
Last week I wrote about one of the speakers at the Missions conference at the Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa: Rob “Mags” Magwood. I also want to invite you to listen to the message by the keynote speaker, Nizar Shaheen, who serves with “Light for All Nations,” a television ministry in Arabic. Please go to the following link to hear his inspiring message: http://www.metbiblechurch.ca/Sermons/Audio/749.mp3.
In the past couple of weeks I read two accounts of the amazing power of music and prayer. The first account appears in the New Women’s Devotional Bible (The Zondervan Corporation, 2006). When eighteen-year-old Jane D’Esterre’s husband was killed in a duel in Ireland in the 1800s, she moved to a village on the Scottish-English border. Sitting beside a river and feeling despondent, Jane heard whistling coming from a young ploughman, known as the “hymn-whistler.” She realized that her two small children needed her and returned to Dublin, where she attended a church and trusted Christ as her Saviour. God gave Jane a burden to pray for her children and the twelve generations to follow, in view of leaving a spiritual legacy.
Jane married Captain John Guinness and their son, Grattan, became a minister. His preaching helped spark a revival in Ireland in 1859, with up to 100,000 people coming to Christ in one year. Many years later, Dr. Os Guinness, son of missionaries to China, had a profound ministry of proclaiming the gospel of Christ.
The second account involves American missionaries to the Philippines. In 2001, Martin and Gracia Burnham were abducted and held for ransom. Dr. John Barnett shares some of what took place during their 377-day ordeal in his book “The Joy of a Word-Filled Family”: “Countless numbers of God’s people prayed faithfully for Martin and Gracia … as it turned out, Martin was brutally murdered shortly before his wife was freed. At Martin’s memorial service in Rose Hill, Kansas, a dear saint from Tulsa Bible Church, Marilyn Sargent, discovered how our Savior had ministered to Gracia in a very special way throughout her captivity – a direct result of one person’s specific prayer on her behalf.
The second account involves American missionaries to the Philippines. In 2001, Martin and Gracia Burnham were abducted and held for ransom. Dr. John Barnett shares some of what took place during their 377-day ordeal in his book “The Joy of a Word-Filled Family”: “Countless numbers of God’s people prayed faithfully for Martin and Gracia … as it turned out, Martin was brutally murdered shortly before his wife was freed. At Martin’s memorial service in Rose Hill, Kansas, a dear saint from Tulsa Bible Church, Marilyn Sargent, discovered how our Savior had ministered to Gracia in a very special way throughout her captivity – a direct result of one person’s specific prayer on her behalf.
After the memorial service … Gracia wept as she grasped Marilyn’s hand and expressed how much of a blessing she, and especially her brother, Ron, had been in her life. All three knew each other during their college years, but Gracia and Ron had ministered together as members of a touring singing ensemble from Calvary Bible College. While on tour, Ron frequently sang a special solo based upon Psalm 18 – Tower of Strength. Its message that God is the tower we can flee to for strength during times of great need would later impact Gracia’s life when she was out in the jungle and all alone. This became evident when she tearfully expressed to Marilyn, ‘The whole time I was in the jungle, every night it was just like I could hear Ron’s voice in my heart clearly singing Tower of Strength to me!’”
After Marilyn returned home, she called her brother and started to tell him about being at Martin’s memorial service. Dr. Barnett writes: “Ron excitedly interrupted her: ‘You know what? When I first heard about their abduction, and began to pray for them, I was reminded of Gracia’s love of hymns. You always knew where she was in the college dorm because she was always singing to the Lord! And she especially loved Tower of Strength. So, I decided to offer that once a day as my prayer for God to encourage her.
Without fail, when it was night in the Philippines, I went into a room and closed the door, then loudly sang Tower of Strength for her as I prayed, ‘Lord, please use that to encourage Gracia!’ Then Marilyn exclaimed, ‘Ron, do you know what Gracia tearfully told me? She said that every night she could clearly hear your voice in her heart singing that song! Every single night …’ Ron himself then started crying with joy over the power of even one person’s faithful praying!”
What an awesome God we serve! I have often felt that people are praying for Karen and me, and we are very grateful for the many saints who go to the throne of grace on our behalf. Yesterday, while driving to the post office before getting winter tires installed on our van, I turned onto a side street that was covered with ice and felt helpless as the vehicle started skidding. At the corner, I was able to turn the van toward the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding hitting a car on my left. When I turned to apologize to the driver, he waved to indicate that he understood my predicament. Was someone praying for me around 8:45 a.m. yesterday? I believe so!
Scripture for the weekend: “As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 18:30 (NIV)
Thought for the weekend: “In warfare there are four possible attitudes – offense, defense, detente, and desertion. It is the first one of these attitudes that our adversary fears, for ‘Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.’ ” – R. Arthur Mathews (from his book “Born for Battle”)
By His grace,
Steve