The past two blog posts recounted the amazing rescue of a little girl, in a desperate war situation (from a documentary hubby and I recently watched, entitled “Free Burma Rangers”).
Today I would like to share one more account from this documentary. This incident also occurred during the campaign to liberate Mosul, Iraq from ISIS control.
Dave Eubank and his Free Burma Rangers team were making their way, along with the Iraqi army, through the streets of Mosul, Iraq.
Dave and his team were in a truck, following behind several Iraqi tanks. The cameraman was filming in the back seat, as the three tanks in front of them made a left-hand turn onto another street.
You can hear Dave (in the front seat) make a statement about mortars being fired at them by ISIS.
And very matter-of-factly Dave says – “God, please help them to miss the tanks.”
3 seconds later … the mortar explodes into the ground!! …100 yards in front of the truck Dave and his team are in! Almost where the tanks had just been a few seconds earlier.
Without missing a beat, Dave very matter-of-factly says – “Thank you God … that was a really great miss.”
This right here is what prayer looks like!!
When we pray … God answers!
When we pray … God responds!
When we pray … amazing miracle-things happen! (just like the mortar missing the tank!)
Prayer is powerful!!
Prayer works!!
Most of the time in our lives, we are not in life-and-death combat situations … therefore, God’s answers to our prayers are not as clearly obvious as in the incident above.
Most of the time, in our normal everyday lives, our prayers are for loved ones to come to know Jesus … for those whom we love and care about to be built up and strengthened in their faith … for God’s protection … for God’s provision … for God’s comfort … for God’s peace … for God’s strength … etc. …
Most of our prayers, we can’t clearly obviously see God’s answers.
We can’t see God drawing our loved ones to Himself. We can’t see God strengthening those whom we care about, and building them up in their faith.
We can’t see all the many ways God has protected us, and those whom we love and care about … unseen physical and spiritual protection we don’t even know about.
We can’t see the softening of a hardened heart. We can’t see forgiveness. We can’t see emotional healing.
We thank God for His provision … but at the same time, it’s really hard when we can’t see an imminent job offer on the horizon, when a job is so desperately needed!
We feel God’s comfort and peace … but at the same time, it’s really hard when we can’t see healing to the suffering and sickness.
The mortar exploding into the ground!! (in answer to Dave’s prayer) … oh we can see that!! For sure God answered prayer!
So also, God is absolutely moving and responding in answer to our prayers!! (even though we cannot see it in the same way)
Keep praying!!
Prayer is powerful!!
Prayer works!!
“Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” – Ephesians 6:18
“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” – James 5:16
“The LORD your God [Jesus Christ], who is going before you, will fight for you.” – Deuteronomy 1:30
“For the LORD your God [Jesus Christ] is the one who goes with you to fight for you.” – Deuteronomy 20:4
“The LORD [Jesus Christ] is a warrior; The LORD is His name.” – Exodus 15:3
“Do not be afraid of them; the LORD your God [Jesus Christ] Himself will fight for you.” – Deuteronomy 3:22
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish [spiritual] strongholds.” – 2 Corinthians 10:4
