Three Evidences from God

by Kathy Marson

Perhaps you have heard of the Prayeradigm Shift that was held at Camp MiVoden this past weekend. The main speaker was Pavel Goia. I’m not able to share the weekend training because it was like learning from a fire hydrant. It would take too long to unpack what I have learned about prayer.

If you are interested in learning more about the Prayeradigm Shift, the team that held it have asked those who attended to host it in their churches or prayer groups on February 25-26, 2022.

I believe God led the 180 people from 47 church to attend the weekend event for a reason. God wants his people to be in more prayer for each other. He wants us to ask for His path in our lives. The weekend underscored the importance of prayer in my own prayer life.

To give you a small, tip-of-the iceberg look at the weekend from a personal perspective, I want to share three things – evidence of answered prayer, evidence of God speaking, and evidence that God is leading.

1.   It was evident the team prayed for us

The getting away was different. Whenever I leave for an event, there is usually a scurry of activity, stress, and shopping. For Prayeradigm Shift, my Friday was unusually calm. I did not need to shop, I drove away with no stress, I took a nap before I left for MiVoden. This is unheard of. During the weekend I learned that the leaders of the even had been praying for months for every participant. I’m sure their prayers were answered. I don’t know if I’ve ever attended a more positive prayerful event where the leaders spent two years preparing and praying for the event.

2.    The Evidence of God Speaking

Each morning there was a prayer walk before breakfast. The prayer was simple but personal. The leaders shared Bible verses. The Lord’s prayer was our prayer the first day. The next day was focused on praying for others as we walked to the soul tree. The soul tree is a fallen down tree as well as a standing tree where campers have nailed their shoes to the tree to signify their desire to follow Jesus. On the way back we walked silently as we prayed for our own revival, our turnabout and repentance. As we turned around and walked back, we were to ask God how and what he wanted to do in our life and what it looks like from His perspective.

Not wanting to put God in a box, I prayed that God would reveal a personal need or change of direction in my life that is not ordinary, not something that would typically be in my thoughts. I prayed that he would reveal something that would help me in my walk with Jesus, considering, I give my life to Christ daily. I did receive a revelation – an interesting picture. If you ask God to reveal something, He will.

It’s a long walk back to camp from the soul tree. All 50 plus people walked quietly, praying. As I prayed for God’s revelation, I saw a potter’s wheel. The potter took a pile of clay and formed a vase-like tall pot with a small but wide spout. It looked like strange pitcher/vase. There was also a little spigot lower on the creation that could be turned like a faucet to let water out. I laughed and wondered if this is what God wants for me or if this is how he sees me. If I’m the clay and He is molding me into this vessel, what does it mean? 

He filled me with the sense that both spouts are sharing spouts. This is how he wants to share his life through me. Pouring out love to others or even having a faucet where others can come and get their thirst quenched. was how he filled my mind with a picture of His presence in my life. I’m still unpacking what it means but it was refreshing to have a picture placed in my mind that was from God.

3.    The Evidence God is Leading

The fact that you want to learn more about prayer is evidence that God is leading you.

At the end of the weekend, each church group met to talk about how they can bring this weekend back to their church or prayer group. So expect that God will reach out and touch more lives with prayer ministry. I hope you will become a part of it. The fact that you read this article to here is also evidence of God’s leading.

I will share one thing the UCC Prayer Team plans to do. We want to make prayer a larger influence in the office. We plan to make praying for our teachers, pastors, schools and churches more intentional and easy to do. How? We will place all names of teachers and pastors, schools and churches in a box called “Pray For.” Then there will be another box entitled “Prayed For.” As staff go out to walk the trail or drive to an appointment we will encourage them to take some names out of the “Pray For” box; photograph them so they can pray for them; then place the names in the “Prayed For” box. This way we will be able to pray for them much more often.

The main thing is that Prayer is the main thing.

As we pray more intentionally for prayer lists asking God to show up in their lives, we know that God will have more power to work in those lives. We need to remember that God always follows his rules that we all have a choice – to follow him or not. When we pray for others, we essentially unleash God’s power in that person’s life.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” James 5:16-18.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[a] and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile” Jeremiah 29:11-14.