It was an amazing trip. We ate monkey meat and boa constrictor. We killed huge
tarantulas, a nine-inch scorpion and a coral snake in our camp. I was attacked
by ants which, unbeknownst to us, had taken refuge in the lumber we were hauling
and sleeping on as we traveled all night up the river. We flew in old, rickety
army planes and landed on fields from which goats had to be cleared prior to our
arrival. (None of this has anything to do with prayer, but it lets you know how
incredibly brave I am and how much I've suffered for the cause of Christ.)
Our leader, Hap Brooks, had me leading songs from the front of our long dugout
canoe as we journeyed up and down the river. His favorite was "It's a Good Life
Livin' for the Lord." He also made me utter my famous Tarzan call, which was
incredibly good and would reverberate across the river and into the jungle.
Natives from the villages would stand on the banks and listen. Having never seen
or heard of Tarzan, of course, they were not terribly impressed-in fact they
sort of had that "who is that idiot?" Look on their faces. That is, until the
animals in the jungle began to come to me! They had the same expression. (This
has nothing to do with prayer, either, but it lets you know how incredibly
talented I am.)
Back to the purpose of the story. Prior to leaving for the jungle, we spent our
first night (Friday) in Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala. We had
arranged months earlier for the Guatemalan airlines to fly us the following day
into the jungle. On our arrival at the airport Saturday afternoon, we were
informed that they had changed their plans and would fly us to our destination
not that day but the next.
Feeling an urgency to go as scheduled due to the limited amount of time to
accomplish our mission, our leaders pressed the airlines for three hours to
honor their original agreement.
"No," the manager said in his broken English, "we take you tomorrow."
"But you agreed months ago to take us today," we argued. "We have no pilot
available," they countered.
"Find one," we pleaded.
"What is your hurry? Enjoy the city," they encouraged us. And so it went for
three hours, in and out of offices, meeting with one official, then another.
Finally, in exasperation, one of them threw up his hands and said, "Okay, we
take you now! Get on that plane quickly!"
We all ran to the plane, throwing our bags and tools into the baggage area
ourselves. We wanted to leave before they changed their minds.
That night, while we were 250 miles away, an earthquake hit Guatemala City and
killed 30,000 people in 34 seconds! Had we stayed in the city one more night-as
the airlines wanted us to-some of our team would have been killed and others
injured. We know this for certain because on our return to the city we saw the
building we had stayed in the night before the earthquake-and would have been
staying in again had we not left on Saturday with huge beams lying across the
beds.
The connection between all this and our subject is that an intercessor from our
home church back in Ohio had received a strong burden to pray for us on the
second day of our journey. For three hours she was in intense intercession for
us. Can you guess which three hours? Yes. The three hours that our leaders were
negotiating with the airline officials.
We didn't know that our lives were in jeopardy had we stayed another night in
Guatemala City, but God did. This intercessor didn't know it either. She only
knew that for some reason she had a strong burden to pray for us. She was alert,
as Ephesians 6:18 instructs us, and perceived the kairos time. There isn't a
doubt in my mind that she helped create the protection and intervention we
experienced.
There is a life in the secret place, but it's not automatic for believers.
Although we are promised protection from our enemy, we have a definite part to
play in the securing of it for ourselves and for others. The intercessor knows
this and leaves nothing to chance, posting signs for all the forces of hell to
see: "Under the shadow of the Most High. Keep out!"
Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets, p.88-90. 1996, Gospel Light/Regal Books,
Ventura, CA 93003. Used by Permission.
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