Peru: Prayer is powerful

Prayer is powerful. As we Sunday school teachers gathered to pray for our students, I felt a fire burn in my heart for the lesson I was to teach that day.

On our way up the mountain, during our prayer walkAs I walked into my class, my heart started racing when I saw three new faces in the room. We reviewed what we had covered last week and the memory verse. Then we began the day’s lesson with a prayer.

As we began the lesson, I felt the Holy Spirit come over me. I wanted to cry because I could feel the Holy Spirit speaking through me to my class. All the students were wide-eyed, looking at me and participating in the class discussion.

Our lesson focused on the kind of faith a real hero has. We went through all the examples given in Hebrews 11 and then thought of ways that we can apply faith to our lives. We ended the lesson with a prayer, asking God to guide our lives and to use us for his glory.

Before class dismissed, I asked the students if any of them were willing to prayer-walk the town with me after class. About five of them said “yes.” As soon as class was over, I was happy to see everyone was on board.

We divided into groups of four. The four men went up to the upper part of the town, and the five young women went to the lower part of the town. We met at the top of the hill, and prayed for the whole town. The students told me that it was the first time that they had done this and would like to do it again.

How beautiful it is when the people of God come together in prayer. How beautiful it is when we pray for one another and encourage each other in our walk with Christ. How wonderful an opportunity it is to serve the all-powerful God of the universe.

Janet Ruiz, a student at the University of Texas-Pan American, is serving with Go Now Missions in Peru.