Power of Prayer - Importance of teaching others how to pray
“I don’t know how to pray.” These words came from a man living in one of our Greenhouse Recovery Houses. We’ll call him Lukas.
Coming from a place of 100% discouragement, Lukas has been walking a very difficult road. Can you imagine being hundreds of miles away from your home? Losing everything you know, friends, family, relationships and possessions due to drug and alcohol addiction?
He is recently out of a treatment facility and living in one of our recovery houses since mid December of 2023. When he came to us for housing support he shared about his medical challenges. He was in need of abdominal surgery and didn't know how to navigate the situation with his recovery and work. This is why we have our recovery houses, to help men navigate the challenges of life in a safe environment. After a few weeks Lukas had his surgery and opened up new challenges.
He was able to receive medical leave for about a month while his body was healing. Stuck in a house, trying to recover can be incredibly painful but also lonely, frustrating and let's be honest, boring. We are very grateful to have other housemates to help with chores, meals and support.
Being out of work, Lukas was told he was eligible for unemployment, but was quickly denied. He knew he would go back to work, but was not sure about his limitations and the capacity to do his job well. But it's the middle part of life that has the most unanswered questions like, “when will I recover?” “will my job actually take me back?” and “am I going to be fired?” All these questions were spinning around his head.
Despite that he had saved some money he was quickly running low on funds. To add to the other challenges and still working on his recovery Lukas came to me for guidance.
It's hard to see people you care about in a frustrating spot, we all know the pain and challenges of life. But I know this is where the growth happens, this is where faith is developed. This is where we turn from our own natural thoughts and abilities and simply trust God. Our answer is: God is the one who provides for everything we do.
My answer to Lukas - “God will provide!” We can’t always change circumstances but what can we do? We can pray. I turned to Lukas and asked him to pray and he responded, “John I’m embarrassed to say this but I don’t know how to pray. Will you please show me?”
Lukas has prayed before, but only in his mind, but now I had the opportunity to share with him on a deeper level about “what is prayer” and “how to pray” and so on. This is why we’re here, is to help train the next generation on how to pray, how to read scripture, how to walk with the Lord.
Emily and I have two small children 2 and 4. At night before bed, I'm teaching Max how to pray. We get on our knees together and I ask him to repeat the words I am saying. We use a simple acronym, ACTS, to help teach people how to pray. ACTS stands for four parts of prayer - Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication.
All of the 101’s of what it means to be a Christian are being taught to our children, our Homework Cub, our recovery guys and at church. This is so special being able to help people own their journey to connect with God, and it all starts with the power of prayer, communication with God.
We love being able to teach and lead, but to see people's faith blossom right in front of you, brings praise, glory and honor to God! God promises that He will never leave us nor forsake His Children and he is never away from you. You can always reach out to him through prayer. He already loves you as much as he’s going to love you.
At our Sunday Church, we had just finished the book of Ephesians and had been discussing the power of prayer. What perfect timing this was to have it coincide with this heartfelt question.
So how does this story end? Lukas did pray, and is practicing his prayer life with God daily. He is involved with our church and finally went back to work and is doing well. About a week before he went back to work a foundation came alongside him and helped him by covering three weeks of program fees to help him get back on his feet financially HOW COOL IS THAT? Look at what God did, he answered all of Lukas prayers from my office. Lukas has over 270 days of sobriety and walking with Jesus.
In the next few months we will be sharing more about Greenhouse Recovery, the newest part of our ministry. Some of our supporters have been asking for our YouTube link for Sunday Sermons and Monday Recovery meetings. The links are below. As of right now we have over 13 residents in our recovery housing and we ask you to earnestly pray for each soul, that they become saved and walk as a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.
Finally, thank you for being an encouragement to myself and Emily and our ministry. We are able to reach so many individuals and families with the Gospel because of your prayers and support. Thank you so much and please consider coming for a tour and seeing what God is doing in Chester