When
I was in junior high there was a television show that grabbed my imagination as
well as that of the entire nation. You
might have heard of it—-Star Trek.
As Mr. Spock would say, this show was “fascinating.” I was hooked from the very beginning when it
said: “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship
Enterprise. Its five years mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out
new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before.”[1]
Star Trek
has been so popular all these years because people love an adventure to the
unknown. I have found that walking with
Jesus has been an even more exciting true adventure. The apostle Paul tells us that God is “…able to do immeasurably more than all we ask
or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us.” (Ephesians
3:20, NIV). No matter how bleak our
circumstances seem, we are never without hope because God is with us. When we
pray boldly, God shows up in ways we never imagine. I found this out during one mountain top
experience. Literally!
Spring
Break. Sun. Sand. Daytona Beach. While serving
on Campus Crusade staff at Indiana State
University during the coldest and snowiest winters in Indiana history, I
daydreamed about getting away from the bleak Midwest to bright skies and warm
beaches. I looked forward to accompanying a group of students to the
"Operation Sunshine" conference. "Operation Sunshine" was
more than just a good excuse to get a tan. It was a marvelous opportunity to
bring the good news of new life in Jesus Christ to the thousands of college
students who descended on Daytona Beach. We used our Spring break to make a
difference in people's lives and had fun doing it! I anticipated that this year
as usual, God would use my Florida trip to teach me to trust Him more. I had no
idea that the greatest lesson of this expedition would come a long time before
I hit the beach.
Nine of us
gathered early Saturday morning at my house in Terre Haute to pack the cars for
the two-day trip. We could fit easily into three compact cars one of which was
my Vega, which I affectionately called "Perry" (it was periwinkle
blue). As Gary, a senior and one of the leaders of our fellowship group, was
packing suitcases in the trunk of his car, he came across a tow chain. Gary
doubted we would need it but decided to keep it in the car “just in case.”
After
praying for a safe journey, we began the caravan South. The ride was uneventful
as we moved from the flatlands of Indiana, through the rolling hills of
Kentucky into the mountains of Tennessee. At lunch, we had switched cars, so
that I was riding in the lead car with Gary, followed by my co-worker Mark in
his Toyota and one of the students driving my car. Gary, my roommate Barb and I
were having such a good time talking and singing that it was a while before we
noticed my car was no longer following us. Since this was long before the age of
cell phones, we had no way to contact the folks in my car. So, we stopped,
turned around and began to search for them. About 15 miles back down the way we
had come, there was Perry completely conked out by the side of the road. Boy
were we grateful that Gary had decided to bring the tow chain!
By the time
we had hooked up the chain and towed the car to the nearest small town, dusk
had arrived. As a Midwesterner, I had many stereotypes about mountain towns in
Tennessee and this one lived up to every one of them. There were two gas
stations on the main drag just off the interstate. From what I could tell, the
major Saturday night entertainment was to drive up and down the street, pull
into one of the gas stations, screech to a stop, rev up the engine and take off
again.
We
pulled into the gas station on the left where they quickly diagnosed the
problem as a faulty alternator. Having a very limited knowledge of automobile
engines, I had never even heard of an alternator and had no idea what it did. However, it was very apparent
that without a properly functioning alternator, we could not continue our trip.
The station had an alternator in stock, but had no mechanic on duty to put it
in. Across the street, the service station had a mechanic but no part. We returned
to the first station to see if they would sell us the alternator to be
installed by the other station's mechanic. The owner of the first station had
started his Saturday celebrating early and was already very drunk. He adamantly
refused to do anything that might in any way benefit his competition. In very colorful language, he angrily denied
our request.
There
we were, 8:30 Saturday night in the mountains of Tennessee, with no alternator
and very little hope of getting one. While Mark was telephoning auto parts
stores in Chattanooga (almost 30 miles away), the rest of us went into the
snack bar attached to the service station to wait.
Everyone
looked tired and depressed. Weren't we going to Florida to tell people about
God? Why had He left us stranded in the middle of nowhere? Didn't He know our
situation or care about our problems, I wondered.
I
reached for my Bible from my purse, hoping to find some words of encouragement
that would lift our sagging spirits. God’s promise to work all things together for
good came to mind, so I turned to the eighth chapter of the book of Romans and
began to read aloud. When I came to verse 32, the words nearly leapt off the
page at me: “He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all,
how will He not also with Him freely give us all things.” (Romans 8:32, NASB)
“Surely
'all things' must include alternators,” I said. With uncharacteristic boldness,
I prayed reminding God of His promise and asking for the alternator we so
desperately needed. As we opened our eyes, we noticed a man who had come in to
get a Coke while we were praying. Gary asked the man if he knew anywhere we can
get an alternator at this time of night.
Amazingly, the man said yes!
It
turned out that he was a Baptist preacher and one of his parishioners owned an
auto junkyard. The pastor called his friend, who had the right part and was on
his way to the station to install it as soon as he hung up the phone. I
couldn't believe this wonderful swift answer to our prayers!
While
waiting for the installation to be complete, the minister talked to two of the
teenage boys who had been cruising in and out of the station. He explained it
is possible to find the true meaning to life through a relationship with God.
One of the boys prayed with the pastor and began a new life in Christ that
night. All things really do work together for good!
Because
we were going to Florida on a “mission trip,” the Christian mechanic refused to
charge us for either the alternator or the labor. God does freely give us all
things!
I'd
like to say that since my mountain top experience in Tennessee, I've always
prayed this boldly. In the middle of a
crisis, however, sometimes I still forget that God sees my circumstances and
will lovingly see me through them. But I can say that whenever I hear the word
“alternator,” I am reminded that God is faithful and is “able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!” (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)
Learning the Lesson:
“And this is
the boldness we have in God’s presence: that if we ask God for anything that
agrees with what He wants, He hears us. If we know He hears us every time we
ask Him, we know we have what we ask from Him.” (1 John 5:14-15, NCV)
According
to the above verse, we can pray boldly when we ask for anything that “agrees
with what he wants.” We find out
what God wants for us by reading His Word.
Beth Moore says believers are equipped with “two primary sticks of
dynamite—prayer and the Word.” When we
pray based on scripture, it is like we are “strapping them together, and
igniting them with faith in what God says He can do.”[2]
The
easiest way to begin praying based on scripture, is to adapt actual prayers
found in the Bible to our own situation.
There are prayers throughout the Old Testament especially the
Psalms. You could pray Jesus’ prayers
recorded in the Gospels. Or you might start
with the prayers Paul prayed for believers in his many letters. Here is one of those prayer you can start
praying for yourself and your loved ones:
So we have not stopped praying for
you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge
of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way
you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce
every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God
better and better. We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his
glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May
you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share
in the inheritance that belongs to His people, who live in the light. (Colossians
1:9-12, NLT)
[1] In
later Star Trek incarnations this was changed to boldly go where no one has gone before to be more inclusive. After all Lieutenant Uhura was on the voyage
along with the men!
[2] Moore, B. (2009). Praying God's Word: Breaking free from spiritual strongholds. Nashville, TN: B & H Publishing Group. Kindle version, p. 7.
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