It was a daring plan, but someone needed to reach the town of more than 8,000 people. The town was almost exclusively non-Christian, with 99 percent of its inhabitants adherents to a dominant non-Christian faith.
Over the years several attempts had been made to reach them with the three angels’ messages, but this town, located along the Indian Ocean coast of Tanzania, seemed almost impervious to the gospel message.
Nevertheless, this did not stop a small group of young people from Seventh-day Adventist churches in a city some distance away from making a daring plan to conduct an evangelistic event in this town.
A Risky Undertaking
Normally, preparing for an evangelistic series involves a lot of preplanning, involving many details and logistics, but these young people mainly prepared for the series by praying. Knowing the work was delicate and risky, they decided to spend two weeks in earnest prayer, pleading for God’s intervention.
Miraculously, a few days later they obtained permission from the town government to hold religious meetings. Word spread quickly, and some in the town were furious that such meetings would take place.
Knowing that they were young and inexperienced and that this was a very risky undertaking, the young Adventists faithfully met at the seashore at 5:00 a.m. every morning to pray for the townspeople, the meetings, and God’s protection.
A Wall of Fire
One morning, unbeknownst to them, some youth from the town were sent by local leaders to kill the Adventists by the sea as they were praying. But God heard the young people’s prayers. As the attackers approached, they saw a wall of fire surrounding the Adventist youth! Shocked, they dared not attack, and instead ran away!
Prayer is vital and increasingly so as the world continues to unravel. Without prayer, how will we touch the lives of busy, distracted, annoyed people?
The Adventist young people continued praying and started the meetings. But the elders of the city were determined to stop them. They sent their youth to steal equipment and furniture used for the meeting. But when they went to steal, they saw a very tall man wearing a white gown and holding a shining sword walking around the equipment. They again failed to execute their wicked plan.
The Adventist young people kept praying earnestly and went on with the meetings. One evening, as a meeting was taking place, two elderly people dressed in full traditional regalia walked through the crowd, heading toward the front where one of the young Adventists was preaching. But before they reached the front, the men started running and jumping, crying out, “We’re burning! We’re burning!” and rushed away. Later these men explained how they saw a wall of fire surrounding the young preacher, making it impossible to attack him.
When none of their deadly plans worked, those who had opposed the meetings wanted to know what sort of “magic” the Adventists were using to protect themselves. The young people happily explained there was no “magic”; they served the living God of heaven, to whom they prayed every day, and had the divine protection of angels sent by God.
When the news of these miracles spread into the neighboring towns, a journalist came and reported the story in the Msema Kweli, a nationwide newspaper.
In the end, 50 people were baptized, and even though working in this environment continues to be challenging, there are now three organized churches in that town, with a total membership of nearly 200 people. Several of the Adventist youth became powerful lay evangelists, and two are now pastors.
Prayer Is Key
Friends, we are assured that “prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence.”1
This is where true power lies. We can make all the Global Total Member Involvement (TMI) plans that we want, but unless we are earnestly asking the Lord to bless those plans and to give us greater plans, we will accomplish almost nothing.
Prayer is vital and increasingly so as the world continues to unravel. Without prayer, how will we touch the lives of busy, distracted, annoyed people in the world and share with them the magnificent three angels’ messages? The Holy Spirit will need to arrest their attention as we pray earnestly for the Lord to work through our humble plans. And every personal connection, which is what TMI is all about, must be bathed in prayer.
Our Example
Jesus is our example. In the wonderful little book Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing we read how the disciples “marked how often He spent long hours in solitude in communion with His Father. His days were passed in ministry to the crowds that pressed upon Him, and in unveiling the treacherous sophistry of the rabbis, and this incessant labor often left Him so utterly wearied that His mother and brothers, and even His disciples, had feared that His life would be sacrificed. But as He returned from the hours of prayer that closed the toilsome day, they marked the look of peace upon His face, the sense of refreshment that seemed to pervade His presence.”2
Then notice this: “It was from hours spent with God that He came forth, morning by morning, to bring the light of heaven to men. The disciples had come to connect His hours of prayer with the power of His words and works.”3
Would you like the power of God in your life to reach souls for Him? It is there for the asking. I encourage you, and myself, to spend more time in prayer, asking the Lord to give wisdom, guidance, and effectiveness as we move forward in Global TMI—reaching the world for Him!
1 Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), pp. 94, 95.
2 Ellen G. White, Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), p. 102.
3 Ibid., pp. 102, 103.