Jana Thurber – Denver, Colorado … Jesus never tires of us coming to him in prayer. Hebrews 4:16 assures us, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.”

The August 26-27 Prayer Summit at LifeSource Fellowship, presented by Rick and Cindy Mercer, proved the Hebrews text to be trustworthy and true! The Mercer’s shared their personal his-and-her stories of how God dramatically saved their crumbling marriage by performing miracles in answer to their cries for his help.

Rick commented that from his personal experience, “Prayer is probably one of the most important things we can do in our Christian life. Prayer connects us with God. I know where I was before I began praying and where I am now. The way I look at it is, when we pray, we open a channel that gives God permission to come into our life and do what He wants to do.”

The Mercers are both in Christian ministry today because of their decision to pray BIG prayers.  They didn’t have anything to lose. As Cindy began to pray, God put it on her heart to fast and pray. Rick worked hard, but he also played hard. In his words, he admitted that “he had tried many times on his own to be good. But he was addicted to alcohol, cocaine, crystal meth, lust, and pornography.”

But as Cindy began to pray BIG, God put it on her heart to ask God to change her.  Things were still broken between them, but her husband began noticing a change in her. So much so, that he wanted to begin praying with her!

One evening, she asked him to join her in prayer. It was a pivotal moment in their marriage. They felt God’s physical presence as they knelt beside their bed and prayed for each other! God had been invited, and God responded. He came near. A new life’s journey together with God had begun while on their knees.  They give their BIG God all the glory and praise for the transformation He accomplished in their marriage, removing addictions and mending broken relationships too.

After the last session finished Sabbath afternoon and the cameras were turned off, Rick led those in attendance in intercessory prayer for each other, along with special requests from the audience.

“God’s spirit was present. Hearts were encouraged, and God was invited to enter the stories of those present,” shared Jana Thurber, RMC prayer ministry director.

“God does not leave us where he found us when we come to him in prayer asking for help. What an exhilarating adventure God promises and delivers. Though the path is not always smooth, I like to say that God changes us on the inside so we can deal with what’s on the outside,” she continued.

The prayer ministries department of the Rocky Mountain Conference plans to make an edited version of the Mercer’s presentations available soon, as well as add resources for your personal prayer walk or in church prayer ministries. An online participant in the summit remarked that, “this was God’s perfect timing to hear their presentations.”

Jana added, “I praise God with you that he does not turn away from our persevering prayers.”

–Reported by Jana Thurber, RMC prayer ministry director. Photos supplied.