Prayer works

This summer ('08) I had my NothinsGonnaStopIt! seminar DVD'd for the first time in Ventura California. Before the seminar began I sent out an email to a number of friends to ask them to pray for a number of things. Over the last eighteen year of doing this seminar I have had some fairly predictable obstacles to overcome. It is a very physical experience (high energy teaching for seven hours over two days) and my diaphragm, back and feet often hurt...so I asked for prayer for physical strength. There have been other times when I have been close to losing my voice...so I asked for prayer for that. Since I have kidney disease, I can get very fatigued toward the end of the teaching...so I asked that to be covered as well. Then there is the occasional allergy attacks that cause me to have to clear my throat. Finally, there were all the technical things that could have gone wrong with the cameras. I had DVD'd a vision-casting DVD for Nothinsgonnastopit! two weeks prior and my professional cameraman said that he had never seen so many inexplicable technical problems as there was with that shoot (we will have to re shoot a number of segments this week; prayer needed again!). All that to say that I wanted to have the weekend covered in prayer. Everything went off without a hitch. I had energy and there were no problems with my stomach muscles, back or feet. Didn't have to clear my throat once. The camera team said that it was a very clean take and that all the shots were technically sound. Thank the Lord. Prayer is real. I felt like I was under a shelter, protected from the record breaking heat outside...but then I got in my car to drive home. Suddenly I was tired, my legs started to cramp, I began to clear my throat, yada yada yada. It was amazing. There was a clear demarcation between the period of time I was covered in prayer and the time when I was back to being Clark Kent. It was like moving into a different water temperature layer, called a thermacline, when you're scuba diving. Now you're warm, then you're freezing (I'm obviously a California diver). I guess the moral of the story is to make sure your prayer cover extends to the ride home! Seriously, though, it was one more reminder that we are in a spiritual battle. Angels and demons are real and God's people can make a difference as to what kind of atmosphere we encounter when we are stepping out to serve the Lord. It also shows how much ministry is a team effort. When all the parts of the body are doing their thing, God's work surges forward against the myriads of barriers that stand opposed to God's unstoppable plan.