The Most Productive Task

I went to the office with my computer in my backpack and a hand written to-do list of everything I needed to get done. I had it all planned out in my head - which tasks in what order and how long each one would tentatively take.

As soon as I arrived to the office, though, I walked in on a conversation between the ladies about dreams. Finding the subject particularly relevant, I added my two cents.

"Did you know last night was actually the first night I haven't had a bad dream since I arrived here?"

The ladies looked at me sharply yet with compassion, as if they were curious, surprised, and sympathetic all at the same time.

"Like what?" they inquired. "What do you think they mean?" one woman asked.

I explained that sometimes dreams do have meanings, but that mine are usually so strange that I can't make sense out of them at all. They seem to be random and nonsensical. Sometimes they are literally terrifying - like the kind when you wake up with your heart racing or tears in your eyes - but those are rare. Most of the time I just wake up with a strange, bothered feeling. The kind of feeling that you just can't shake off. You can't explain why it's bothering you; it just is.

"None of my dreams are true, nor do they ever come true. I think the enemy just wants to put fear in my heart. That's all I can make of it," I said.

"And that's exactly what I wanted you to recognize," said the woman who asked the meaning of my dreams.

She went on to explain a dream that she had recently. In her dream, a large crowd had gathered around her. At first she didn't understand why, but then it became clear that they wanted to hurt her, so she started to run. She had a baby tied to her back. She ran as fast as she could while one particular woman pursued her closely until she arrived to a tree and started to climb it for safety. Even as she climbed, the woman chasing her grabbed at the baby. She even pulled the baby's head back and pinched his nose, trying to suffocate the child.

That's when she awoke, and she realized that the woman hadn't been after her at all; she wanted the baby.

"The tree is God, our refuge," she said. "And the enemy is pursuing us because he wants to destroy the people that we are bringing to God."

I took a deep breath, amazed at her insight and understanding. I was also letting the reality of what she said sink in. The devil had been caught in his scheme. His play was no longer a secret. He was exposed.

"This year is a year of spiritual warfare, Ashli. We have to stop playing around and take this seriously." And with that proclamation, we started to pray.

We prayed all together at first, out loud, sometimes quite loudly. We consecrated the office, our ministry, our team, and our year to the Lord Jesus Christ. We rebuked Satan and refused to give him any more ground. We committed to being a people of prayer, we asked for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and we renewed our passionate desire for his glory among the nations. We put on the armor of God and entered into a battle through that prayer, following our commander, the Lord Almighty.

After a while of praying all together at the same time, we started praying one by one, adding particular prayers as the spirit led and agreeing with one another verbally. There were long silences, but they were not awkward; they were sacred. We kept praying until we lifted our heads and our eyes met. We were breathless until one woman said, "The Spirit of God is in this place. I can feel him."

I didn't get a single item done on my to-do list that afternoon. I left the office two hours later without doing a single thing I had planned to do. But I felt ten times more accomplished because a much greater work was done. A battle was waged and won. And I think we all know that this is just the beginning.

~~~

It's only been a month since we arrived to Burkina, but I can already sense the direction the Lord is taking our team. If I could sum it up in a word, it's prayer. God has stirred my own heart as well as the hearts of many on the team to recognize our intense need and passionate desire for prayer. We are on the front lines of spiritual warfare, and we can make all the ministry plans we want, but without the intervention and outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we will accomplish nothing. We want prayer to be the most important work we do, because prayer is our way of showing that this work belongs to God, and we want him to move and work in ways that only he can.

We can't turn hearts toward him, but he can. We can't make people see light in the darkness, but he can. We can't make people believe in Jesus Christ, but he can. We can't set people on fire for him, but he can.

We can start a children's ministry and train up leaders, but God is the only one who can make the hearts of the leaders faithful and the hearts of the children tender and receptive.

We can plan a devotional and activity for teen girls, but God is the only one who can help them see how valuable and loved they are in his eyes - enough to make them want God to be the passionate pursuit of their lives.

We can plant churches and train pastors, but only God can empower people to understand and preach and apply the Word of God to their lives.

We can proclaim God as the only true God and counsel people to get rid of their idols and fetishes, but he is the only one who can soften hearts to believe and open the eyes of the blind to leave their animistic ways and commit to faith in Jesus Christ alone.

We can heal the sick, but only God can cleanse a heart stained by spiritual sickness.

We like to do work where we have control of the results, but mission work is just not that way. We do what we believe to be obedience to God, and then we trust him with the results. In fact, the only thing we can do to truly impact the results is to pray.

Thus prayer is the absolute single most productive and effective work we can ever do.