The Important Work

Our church is having VBS this week.
Vacation Bible School.
It is such a privilege to have children come through the doors to learn about Jesus.
It is such a joy to see their smiling faces.

There are always the few children who do not want to leave their Moms.
There are always the volunteers with their servant hearts who step in with love.
Apprehension turns to excitement when they see that one familiar face they can sit beside.
Within minutes of hugging their Moms, they are singing with smiles from ear to ear.

I am blessed to be on the prayer team this week.
I can sit in on the Bible lesson and pray.
I can worship along with the children and pray.
I can walk into the rooms before the children even get there and pray for their little hearts.

It is a quiet ministry.
It is a powerful ministry.
Nothing happens without prayer.
Incredible things happen with prayer.

I walked among the wonderful volunteers in the kitchen.
They prepare snacks for the children each day.
They provide food for the body while the pastor provides food for their soul.
I love to listen to the children respond to his questions.

Their innocence and childlike faith is so refreshing.
We adults can learn from them.
Their youth is to their advantage.
Sometimes our grown-up ways can be a hindrance to us.

I walked among the craft volunteers and watched them set up the tables.
Set them up so that the children can make the daily craft that coincides with the lesson.
Set them up all over again for the next group.
Love and patience abounding.

I walked in the preschool wing and saw the very small children.
I looked in the doors and saw the wonder in their eyes.
Some of them are hearing the Gospel for the first time.
I prayed for the Holy Spirit to open their hearts.

I saw the nurse sitting faithfully at her station.
I prayed that she would not be needed for any emergencies this week.
I know that there will be the necessary band aid for the invisible cut that needs attention.
She ministers to everyone in a very real, very practical way.

I saw the women stationed under the registration tent.
They greeted the children as they came to the door.
Theirs is the first face that the family will see.
Pleasant, smiling, nurturing; ready with open arms to greet the children God brings to us.

I watched our pastor sit in the back pew of the church.
Eyes closed, Bible on his lap, praying for the souls that are entrusted to us this week.
Doing battle with the Sword of the Spirit in his hand.
Doing battle against the enemy of our souls.

I prayed with another woman at the end of the day and was so blessed by her heart.
She prayed for the children to be teachable, to be open to the Spirit.
She remembered when she came to Vacation Bible School as a child and was a bit scared.
Scared because she didn’t understand what being a Christian really meant.

She thought it would mean that she would have to be a missionary in a far away country.
She didn’t want to do that.
She was afraid of spiders and thought for sure she would encounter spiders there.
She remembered the fears she had before knowing what it meant to follow the Lord.

She was so in tune to what the children might be thinking before they really understood.
Things that we adults never imagine could ever be a stumbling block to a child.
She and I took the registration list and prayed over every name.
Those children are precious to Jesus; we brought them all before the Father.

As we came upstairs from the little alcove where we had been praying, I saw it.
The board that had been empty just a short while before.
The board that was now filled with prayer requests.
Colorful slips of paper with the hearts of the children written all over them.

My own heart was overflowing as I read their requests and began to pray over them.
God, help me know how to read my Bible.
Help my great-grandpa who is getting ready to die.
Help my friend whose sister just died.

Anonymous to me.
Known by God.

I looked at the board in amazement.
This is just a small church, in a little town, in one state, in one country.
One country on one continent, on one planet in a vast solar system.
Think of the millions of people who pray to God.

Think of the sheer numbers of prayers that are brought before His Throne on any day.
I can only read one prayer request at a time.
God hears them all; God knows them all; God is aware of them all even before we are.
Our omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God.

The din of those prayers would deafen us.
The sound of those prayers is melodic to our God.
The prayers are a perfumed incense to the Father.
He hears every one; even before it is on our lips, He is answering.

Prayer is important work.
Prayer is the control room of the Kingdom.

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Pray without ceasing.
Profoundly simple.
I am just beginning to understand what that means.

 

2 responses to “The Important Work”

1. Many thanks. How great and tender is our God.

   Reply

   • Amen, friend.
     Gina

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