“I need Prayer. And I knew this was the place to come.”
Simple words from a desperate man of God. Pastor Gilbert is well known to us, but never was a student at the Bible School. He works for Bishop Ogutu, the host of the DSM Bible School location in the Mathare Valley slum. Pastor Gilbert has had extensive theological training elsewhere. He has the gift of administration, and worked for many years as a financial manager and accountant. His heart for ministry led him to eventually work in Bishop Ogutu’s ministry after retirement.
Pastor Gilbert came from the ground floor church up the steps to the DSM Bible School. The church below was having a function downstairs while we studied upstairs. “Brother Paul, I hope you don’t mind. I don’t want to interrupt the Bible School, but God told me to come up here. I have a desperate need.” I didn’t need any further explanation. I stopped the Bible class and immediately ushered Pastor Gilbert to the teaching platform. I simply introduced Gilbert to the 190+ Pastors and Ministry Leaders and then I sat down.
Gilbert shared, “We are having a Harambe (fund raiser) downstairs. And we appreciate your kindness in sharing the facility today while you are learning. Tomorrow I am leaving for India, and we are raising some funds for my upkeep. I will be there for at least 3 months.” Gilbert paused, and fought to hold back his emotions. You could hear a pin drop.
“I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. It is what they call ‘Stage 4’ which means I am well down the road to death. I got the news last week. The doctors said my only chance is to get medical help overseas immediately. So, by the grace of God, people have raised the support to send me to India. My sponsors and well wishers are continuing downstairs to raise final funds for my expenses.”
“As friends and supporters have stopped in this morning, God has moved my heart in a very large way. Showing me His mercy and love and kindness through my friends and their sacrificial giving. But He spoke to me in a most clear and direct way just now. He said,
‘Your friends down here are sending you to doctors. But I am Upstairs. Go Upstairs and be Prayed for.’ ”
The irony was compelling. The differences stark. Pastor Gilbert is a man of substantial means. Having retired from a successful business career, his societal stature is validated by his burgeoning waste line. The man with the world’s wisdom, credentials, comforts and assurances suddenly realized he was not where he should be: literally. Gilbert left the well-intentioned fund-raising event...to seek the Intercession of the slum pastors. The Pastors of the Least. Those that the upper echelons of Nairobi high society and business community consider to be Untouchable and Cursed.
The response of the student Pastors and Ministry Leaders was nothing less than divinely inspired. They gasped, tears began to flow, and immediately Prayers rang out. Pastors gathered around Gilbert, and the Intercession began. Prayer poured forth from the hearts of 190+ impassioned Intercessors. Pastor Gilbert knelt as the Pastors of the Least laid hands upon his bowed head and broken, trembling body. Praise and Thanksgiving rang out like bells on a tower for all to hear. Surely those downstairs were overwhelmed by the volume and intensity above their heads. The Faith, the fervency, the fury of Desperate Intercession was indescribable. I can only liken it to the Words Jesus used to explain His glorious reception in Jerusalem...
“I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”
When we had exhausted ourselves in Prayer, the Worship continued. Then the Pastors and Ministry Leaders did something I’d never seen before. They continued singing, formed a line, and danced down the aisles, out the door, down the steps and into the fundraiser downstairs. Singing, clapping, dancing, stomping their feet, laughing and smiling all the way. Nearly 200 saints “Marching In!” Pastor Gilbert was escorted by the Pastors of the Least. Everyone in the church below joined in. What had been a solemn and serene fund-raising event erupted into Praise and Thanksgiving. The Pastors continued out the opposite door, dancing and singing all the way back upstairs to the Bible School.
The Upper Room had come down.And so had God.
Pastor Gilbert traveled to India the next day. The next week, we got word. He was on his way home. Not heaven. But rather Nairobi. The extensive scans and diagnostics from the high-end private hospitals in Nairobi were completely contradicted in Mumbai. Doctors found “no trace of cancer” in his body. He was released immediately without condition. Not one.
As I write this, I marvel at the privilege to have seen this. Not once, not twice, but multiple times. With friends, with strangers, with my own loved ones. Healed. Delivered. Renewed. By the direct intervention of God in the affairs of mankind.
Often times people ask me details over and over again. Trying to dig out the secret formula, the correct words to use, the “right way” to move God. Please know this: you cannot move God. We have no power over God, so no one and nothing can “move” Him. But He does invite us to “Pray”, to “Believe”, and to “have Faith” in Him. Which lends me to understand one thing, if nothing else:
Go to Prayer First!
Too often we do “everything” we can to fix a problem or settle an uncertainty. And only when we have exhausted all other human means, measures and methods do we turn to God. The mindless mantra that we “don’t want to bother God” or others with our “little” problems is nonsense. What postures as Humility is masked Pride, Self-reliance and utter Foolishness. The Enemy laughs at the absurdity and incongruity of it all. The utter Prayerlessness of many Christians is not only astounding...it is Senseless.
What we don’t need is another book or seminar or teaching on Prayer. Rather, what would help is a dose of Christ-like Simplicity. What happened to Pastor Gilbert was Simple: a broken, desperate man; a Word of counsel from the Lord; a step of Faith; Prayers of fervent Intercession by the brethren. I’m convinced that it’s in the unadorned desperation of Simple prayer that God meets us.
Pastor Gilbert didn’t actually do much. At least not on the surface. He just came to the Upper Room. But that Simple act of Faith unleashed Prayers of Faith by the brethren. And together, they touched the Hem of His garment...just as God had willed and desired since before time began.
Stop seeking the formula. Seek Him. Let the Holy Spirit lead you. We can pray alone. We can pray together. We can pray in silence. We can pray aloud. There is no fixed method. But there is an attitude, a mindset, a “heart” that God desires to honor. Like the spiritual paupers we are, let’s come to Him in Prayer with an attitude of Praise and Thanksgiving, first and foremost. As the prophet Jonah declared...
“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my Prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple. Those who regard worthless idols forsake their own Mercy. But I will Sacrifice to You with the Voice of Thanksgiving.”
God’s response to Jonah’s desperate, heartfelt, Simple Prayer was immediate and profound...
“So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.”
Like Jonah, and like Gilbert...let us go to the throne of Grace. The Upper Room.
But unlike them...let’s go there First.
