Friendly greetings are heard as one and then another arrive. Everyone expectantly finds a seat around a table opening Bibles or a cellphone to their Bible apps. Jesus has invited them: " ... Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt.18:19)
So members of the Kamiah Church in north-central Idaho gathered each night from Jan. 8 through Jan. 18 for Ten Days of Prayer. Each shared in the reading of a devotional around the table on the theme of "Seeking God's Spirit." Members eagerly described answers to prayer they have experienced.
"This morning I asked God to lead me to someone I could help today," church member Robert White explained. "I got a call this morning. 'Can you help a man who needs a ride?' I said, 'Sure!'" On the way, White asked the man about his circumstances. Before the men parted, White, moved to help in a tangible way, gave the man money to help him reach his final destination.
Earlier in the month, Steve Rogers, Kamiah pastor, had been asked to visit someone in jail. Instead of visiting just one man, the woman in charge asked him to open the visit to others. Five inmates joined the study. "When I get out, I'm coming to your church," said the man who requested the visit.
The inmates weren't the only ones listening. After the week's study, the woman in charge commented to Rogers, "It was an interesting subject this week, wasn't it?"
That is why Kamiah members gathered for Ten Days of Prayer. They believe the inspired words, "Jesus sees His true church on the earth ... He hears their prayers" (Testimonies to Ministers, p.19).
The gatherings included time for conversational prayer. Members offered up praise and adoration to the Heavenly Father and confessed their sins, claiming His promise in I John 1:9 for forgiveness through the blood of Jesus. They ask edfor the rain of the Holy Spirit to fall, for intervention in broken relationships and impossible situations. They brought their sick loved ones, difficult people, wayward children to the Master, and they asked for God's blessings on the missionaries laboring in hard places.
"Lord, please, I'm begging You, please send Your Holy Spirit to the leaders of the world. Teach them to love their own people," one veteran of the armed forces prayed faithfully each night.
At the close of this worldwide initiative supported by the General Conference ministerial association, the blessings of the 10 days were shared at Sabbath School, and the members were invited to pray in pairs for each other. After lunch some joined together to crunch through the snowy streets to homes close to the church on a "GLOW walk." At each house they offered the GLOW (Giving Light to Our World) pamphlet that has practical ways of beating loneliness and another that gives meaning and hope in the midst of natural disasters.
At one door, a Kamiah member asked, "May I pray with you about something?"
"Yes!" the woman exclaimed. She explained that she misses going to church because a health problem keeps her at home. The two visitors and woman paused for prayer.
Let's hope we will be in heaven speaking with Jesus face to face before 2021 comes. But if not, join other churches and gatherings around the world in Ten Days of Prayer. Check it out at www.revivalandreformation.org.
Kamiah Church members circle up for conversational prayer.
