“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
—Matthew 6.9 KJV
Mark and I have pages of often lifted up, faith-based, and Scripture-enforced prayers which have been seemingly unheard or dismissed. Days of petitions rolled into months and into years. Our prayers felt lifeless, and we wondered why we even lifted them up. We began to feel weary and discouraged by praying what felt like the same fruitless prayers every day. We were convicted that something had to change, but we weren’t sure anymore how to make our prayer garden flourish. Books on prayer didn’t seem to change much either.
I was divinely led to a book by Nik Ripkin, The Insanity of God, which had been recommended to me months prior by a fellow morning gym rat on the heels of me sharing my daughter’s heart for missions. So I finally followed through, purchased, and reluctantly began reading the slow-starting volume, yet somehow I was compelled to read to the end. Nik wrote of his personal journey in African missions where he and his wife had witnessed extreme poverty, tribal warfare, starvation, and inadequate supplies on every front. Their own son had died during their tenure in Somalia. And after years of ministry that produced few believers, Nik was inspired to interview what amounted to over 600 persecuted Christians around the world, primarily to find proof that, after all the suffering he had witnessed, the God of Scripture was real and still answers prayers.
Nik interviewed believers from China, former USSR and Eastern Bloc countries, Central Asia, and multiple regions dominated by Islam. I was gripped by each account he shared of my fellow believers who passionately exhorted their own wives and children that the greatest legacy they could leave behind would be to faithfully uphold the name of Jesus in the face of suffering, torture, and death. Fidelity to Christ, even to the cross! These believers endured years of imprisonment, abuse, torture, and isolation, all without Bibles or a “community” of fellow Christians. He writes of pastors singing praises to God as they died. He was told to not pray that their persecution would stop because “when persecution stops, the church stops growing.”[1] The persecuted believers rejoiced to know that people were serving Christ in other countries and that the gospel was spreading.
The interviews recounted testimonies of imprisoned pastors bringing countless other prisoners to Jesus by their joy and faithfulness to Him. They referred to prison as their “seminary.” They informed their captors that all could be taken away but Jesus would remain their King. They truly believed the Word of God, and they witnessed miraculous financial provision, divine healings, and God-only ordained meetings. I was reminded of the Lord directing Ananias to minister to the apostle Paul: “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul” (Acts 9.10–13 NIV). They were led in obedience to hear, follow, and obey.
Even without consistent access to Bibles, they memorized countless Scriptures and truly believed each word. On any scrap of paper found, they would write every verse that came to mind. They lived out the New Testament with faith and obedience as if every command was possible for today! To be in the will of God meant you were “safe,” regardless of possible death. “Safety” was not defined as described in Webster’s dictionary but rather through the Word of God.
Reading their stories, I was deeply convicted by their fidelity. Wikipedia defines fidelity of sound as “how accurately a copy reproduces its source.”[2] As a follower of Christ, I am gripped with the spiritual confidence and faith exhibited in the lives of these believers, and I wonder how accurately my life reflects my source as well? Do I truly believe the promises of God? Oh, God, where is my fidelity to Your very words? Does my life truly reflect my Savior and does the fruit falling from my tree identify me with Jesus? Countless passages of promises and commands came to my mind:
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. — 2 Corinthians 12.9 NIV
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. —Mark 11.24 NIV
Jesus answered them, ‘Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, “Be taken up and thrown into the sea,” and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.’ —Mark 11.22–25 NRSV
My husband delivered a transformational message a few months ago at RiverStone church in Charlottesville: “Kingdom Shapers: Called to Influence.” He called us to shape the Kingdom with God by living Kingdom values, influencing our environments, reflecting the light of Christ, and carrying the presence of God. We are called to move in the authority and absolutes of the Word of God. In John, Jesus tells the disciples, “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14.12–13 NIV). That’s an absolute. Is my life truly replicating the Word?
Despite scores of answered prayers, I know that after years of numerous unanswered “good” prayers, my faith weakens, and I simply pray in a different direction or drop them all together. My husband’s mother faithfully prayed for his salvation for over ten years before he fully surrendered to Christ. I have grown discouraged over far fewer years of interceding for our son in the same manner. Several parents in my church community are experiencing the same level of hopelessness before God because we are not yet witnessing fruit from our prayers for our prodigals.[3]
In our children’s programs, have we chosen which Scriptures and stories we tell without weighing their applicability today? Can the walls of Jericho fall down? Can the dead rise? Can we defeat our enemies with praise to the one true God? Yes, even today God can stop the lions’ mouths. My daughter’s YWAM team ministered in London a few months ago with a pentecostal Nigerian church. They witnessed a crippled boy be completely healed and push his wheelchair across the stage. That’s the Word in action.
God’s Word also promises grace for today.
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
— Matthew 6.31–34 NIV
Is my fidelity to the Word seen in my faith in the goodness of God to provide my daily bread without any anxiety, despite seasons when my business doesn’t generate the income I depend on or when unexpected expenses arise? Does my fidelity to Scripture remain when my body fails or when a friend’s child still dies after prayers for healing?
I was led to the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our debts,
As we also have forgiven our debtors;
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
—Matthew 6.9–13 KJV
By praying for the Kingdom of God to come, I am gripped with a compulsion to be a replica of my Father, truly believing God’s Word with an expectation of fruit. I seek first the Kingdom of God, not the opinion of those around me. I walk in obedience. I reflect His grace, the bread given for today. I expect deliverance from evil. I dismiss fear and anxiety because I can trust my Father just as my model, Jesus, trusted his Father even to the cross.
Our good Father is true to me and to you. He is loyal beyond comprehension. I choose to believe that He will make a way where there seems to be no way. I encourage you to join me in humbling ourselves to be shaped as replicas of Christ for the Kingdom of God. Come to Him like a child who copies every move his revered father makes. As Nik challenges in his second book: be “defined by the Resurrection.”[4] We should live with awe that we have been raised up with Christ, as Ephesians 2.6 says, and have been seated with Him in heavenly places.
Editor’s note: The New International Version does not capitalize pronouns referring to God; these have been added by Cultivating editors.
[1] This quotation is from Nik Ripken’s reflections on his website on how “Freedom from Persecution Creates Disillusionment.”
[2] For further reading on the concept of the fidelity of sound, visit the Wikipedia article here.
[3] As I was editing this essay before final submission we had a glorious weekend where my son completely surrendered to his Savior! He wept across the altar, confessing sins, and asked to be baptised too.
[4] Nik Ripkin, The Insanity of Obedience, B&H Publishing Group
The featured image, “September Mums,” is courtesy of Lancia E. Smith and is used with her glad permission for Cultivating.
Mary has cherished life-long literary dreams coupled with a passion for ministry, all of which lead her to study English literature and later theology and counseling in seminary. She has been designing artisan jewelry for 15 years. After 14 years of ministry in San Diego she and her husband Mark Miller, along with their teenagers and cat, Lord Peter Wimsey relocated to Charlottesville, VA where they enjoy farm life, raising angus beef, 40+ chickens and a thriving garden. Mary enjoys off-the-wall humor, gardening, cooking, and curling up with anything penned by Dorothy Sayers, C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, or Jane Austen. She and her husband Mark serve in ministry with RiverStone Church.
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