Learning in the School of Prayer

People - Miner, Rob“Lord, please help my Aunt not to slide on her back!”

That was one of the prayers that went forth from six-year-old Bob Evans’ lips in the fall of 1974.  I was living with Pastor Randy and Sandra Evans and their three boys, Bob, Paul and Timothy, in the parsonage of Parklawn Baptist Church, Toronto.  It was my first year as a student at Central Baptist Seminary (now part of Heritage College and Seminary).  The Evans family had devotions together each evening after supper.  They would act out Bible stories, sing praises to God and pray. Randy had been praying regularly that the Lord would heal this Aunt of her backslidings, and his son Bob joined him in this prayer concern.

As they prayed for many people and needs, I had the privilege of joining in. It was exciting to hear them pray for Bob’s grade one teacher to whom he had been witnessing. They prayed for me as I was preparing to teach my first Sunday school class ever; that is, if anybody would come.  They prayed for boys to come to the class.

Pastor Randy showed me how to knock on the doors of the nearby apartments and to invite people to come. He told me how evangelist D.L. Moody invited children to Sunday School off the streets of Chicago in a similar way to begin a class.  God answered prayer and six or seven boys from Parklawn Road began coming to the class!

Years later, as my wife Patty and I were raising our three children, we followed the Evans family’s good example of daily, creative family devotions after supper. Randy and Sandra have now pastored for over 36 years and presently lead Campbell River Baptist Church in BC.  Their son Bob and his family now pastor First Baptist Church in Sicamous, BC.

Learning to Pray for the World

In 1976, John Mahaffey (now pastor at West Highland Baptist, Hamilton, ON) would rally some of us as students to get together for late night prayer meeting/sleepovers to pray for missions, especially the Arab World.  From those prayer meetings, God called Don Greedy (Grady) to Morocco under Arab World Ministries to minister the Gospel. Don died there shortly afterward of hepatitis B, leaving behind a wife and young daughter who eventually settled back in Canada.

In those days, we used the Operation Mobilization prayer cards to pray for various countries of the world. I continue to use the “Operation World” book to pray for a different country each day. A 2010 edition is hot off the press from WEC (Worldwide Evangelization for Christ).

Learning to Pray Specifically

In 1979, Patty and I started attending High Park Baptist Church in Toronto.  Pastor George Shuttleworth mentioned one Sunday in our young adults Sunday School class how he prayed about “the small details of life as well as the big issues, even when buying a pair of shoes.”   More than once since that day I have prayed about issues such as purchasing shoes. And more than once I have bought excellent shoes worth over $100 for about $5 or so at thrift stores. My wife Patty has lived out a similar adventure, and as a result, we have been able by God’s grace to help support additional missionaries around the world. How I remember the fervent, pre-service prayers back in those days at High Park by godly people such as Deacon Jack Gibson. He would pray, “Lord, if your Holy Spirit does not go with us into this service, carry us not up from here.” (This echoed Moses’ prayer found in Exodus 33:15.)

One summer week in the early 1990s when I was speaking at Pleasant Bay Children’s Camp near Trenton, ON, our young son lost his hearing aids on the campgrounds. I walked and prayed, “Lord, you know that we can’t afford right now to replace those hearing aids. Please help me to find them.”  I looked down in the grass and there they were!  “Thank you, Lord!”

Learning to Pray with other Men

In 1985, I began to serve with Pastor Byron Wheaton at Hespeler Baptist Church, Cambridge, ON. Byron invited me to join him and a few other young men from the church once a week for early-morning prayer. He said that this was a setting where we could be brutally honest about the sins that we were struggling with and that we would pray for each other and hold each other accountable.

I thought, “This is great. This is just what I need!”  At one of the first meetings that I attended, I shared openly about some of my struggles with sinful thoughts. Byron’s eyes widened and he said, “Could you repeat that?” I don’t think that he realized what a sinner that they had hired to their staff!

But Byron and the other men accepted me and we prayed honestly for each other. We grew together in being “more and more at home with holiness.” That early morning weekly practice of prayer and accountability with other men continued at Hespeler Baptist for years after Byron and his family left for Singapore with Fellowship International. I am grateful for his example.

Two of the young men who later joined us for those early morning prayer meetings are now Fellowship pastors – Greg Patus at Hespeler Baptist and Ron Latulippe at Rosedale Baptist, Welland. And that weekly practice continued for ten years with some very special men at my next church, Calvary Baptist in Burlington.

Learning to Keep Prayer a Priority

In recent years, my wife and I have made a practice of beginning each “Monday morning work week” with an extended time of prayer.  We also have brief daily devotions together at the supper table. But these Monday morning times provide us an opportunity to bring many tough situations and people issues before the throne of grace as our “first line of offence” in our service for the Lord.

Recently, we have been praying fervently for our sixteen-year-old niece who has turned away from the Lord.  We have asked our church to pray for her as well. I am reminded of Pastor Jim and Carol Cymbala’s story of their wayward daughter Chrissy and how the people of Brooklyn Tabernacle, New York, groaned in intercessory prayer for her.  That night the Lord turned their daughter back to him, and she serves him to this day.  May it happen in our day among your relatives and mine!

The Tuesday evening prayer meetings at our present church (Long Branch Baptist, Toronto) have been such a great blessing and encouragement. All of the leadership and many of the people make corporate prayer a big priority, and they come regularly.  One woman who works a steady evening shift felt that she was missing out and asked if we could have another weekly prayer meeting at a time when she is available. So two years ago we started a one hour 10 a.m. Thursday prayer meeting in my office. We often have 8-10 people attend, and our friendships are deepening.

For our two weekly prayer meetings, we have a weekly prayer bulletin with updates. All of our missionaries are listed by name, mission and place of service with updated requests and answers to prayer. I will sometimes direct the flow with words such as “let’s praise the Lord in one sentence prayers for who he is” or “let’s now pray for one missionary each.”  This keeps people alert and avoids needless repetition.

I am thankful for our Fellowship’s goal to pray around the clock in 2011. We plan to partner with two other churches to cover one of the weeks.

Together, let us “pray on!”

 

Pastor Rob Miner and his wife Patty have been married for 33 years and have three adult children and one grandson. Their son, Jeffrey, lives with them in Mississauga; daughter Andrea and her husband Tyler Lisk serve in lay youth ministry at Shenstone Baptist, Brantford; daughter Joanna and her husband Jesse James serve at Spring Garden Church, Toronto and Youth Unlimited respectively.