Prayer Essential to Missions!

"A giant tree stood on the banks of the Awash River in an arid valley about two hour drive from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It had been there for generations and seemed eternal. Unable to bring the water in the river to the higher level of the land, the people who lived in the surrounding district had suffered through famines over the years. In their suffering, the people looked to the tree for help. They worshiped the towering giant, believing a spirit had given it divine powers. Adults would kiss its great trunk as they passed by. They spoke of the tree in hushed, reverential tones and the children said, "This tree saved us."

When World Vision began a development project in 1989, including an irrigation system to make the valley's parched earth bloom for the first time, the great tree stood like a forbidding sentinel of an old order. It presided over the community of people, enslaving them through fear. The people were convinced that the spirits must be propitiated with animal sacrifices and the strict observance of taboos. The World Vision workers saw how the villagers worshiped the tree and recognized that it was an idolatrous barrier to the en- trance of Christ's kingdom and the transformation of the entire community.

One morning as the World Vision staff prayed together, one of Jesus' promises struck them as particularly relevant. It said, "If you have faith, you can say to this tree, 'Be taken up and removed' and it will obey you" (Matt 21:21). With this reminder, they began to pray in faith that God would bring down the menacing Goliath. Soon, the whole community knew that the Christians were praying about the tree. Six months later, the tree began to dry up. Its leafy foliage disappeared, and finally it collapsed like a stricken giant into the river. The people were astonished. "Your God has done this!" they said. "Your God has dried up the tree!" Within a few weeks, about a hundred villagers received Jesus Christ because they had seen His power displayed in the spectacular answer to the Christians' prayers."

("Strategic Prayer" Chapter 24 John D. Robb "Perspectives on the world Christian movement" 3rd ed 1999. Edited by Ralph D Winter Stephen Hawthorne, Willam Caery Press, Pasadena California. )