From Jan. 11-21, 2023, members of the Fairview Mosaic Christian Fellowship Seventh-day Adventist Church in Fairview, Tex., joined our brothers and sisters around the globe for the 10 Days of Prayer event initiated by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church and promoted by the Texas Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
During this time, God was so gracious and showed His kindness and power in wonderful ways. We knew going in there is power in prayer, but we felt a miracle from God as we gathered in one place, in one accord, praying and fasting.
Our prayer ministries leader, Sue Monroe, had an idea to have a fire pit during the event. Her goal was to make sure that people would pray and do so with others to increase their trust in God. “When I heard the title was Back to the Altar,” Monroe shared, “I had been reading about Moses and Noah. After their experience with God, they each memorialized it with stone altars. I wanted to do that through a fire pit.”
Looking to purchase a fire pit, she soon noticed that they were pretty expensive. So she prayed, telling the Lord, “This is your thing; this is your money; we want to spend the money you’ve given us on the most important things.” After her prayer, she felt impressed to go to the tractor supply store. When she got there, she asked if they had any fire pits.
After they showed her the expensive models, she asked if they might have anything plain. She was directed to some fire pits on display outside the store. That is when one caught her eye. It had some rust but seemed O.K. otherwise. With a price tag of $99, she pointed out the rust to the manager hoping for a discount. The manager offered her 50 percent off. They gave her an additional $25 off when she went to pay. What an incredible answer to prayer.
Shortly before the event’s launch, Monroe made arrangements for the head deacon, Edsel Mendoza, to set up the fire pit. Learning that he recently had a house fire, she wasn’t sure if he could still complete the request. Yet, there he was on the first day, setting up everything. Monroe was touched by his sacrifice and by the providence of God.
That first night, more people were in attendance than she had expected, so she had to make more copies of the handouts. She felt everyone was so engaged, seeing the need for direction by God.
As I listened to her testimony, I was reminded of a similar scene in the Bible in the book of Acts, “They all joined together constantly in prayer…” Acts 1:14. “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.” Acts 2:1. We all remember what happened at that time. God poured out His Spirit and moved powerfully among His people. Just like the narrative in Acts, we saw God do extraordinary things throughout our prayer meetings.
We had a few adults, but we also had youth, teens and children join us. A new member joined us, confiding that this was the first time he had personally prayed with people. We prayed in groups and individually. We worshiped, confessing, praising and praying. God gave us the Holy Spirit, as the presence of the Lord truly came into the room.
“My faith increased,” Monroe added. We experienced the joys of answered prayers, but more than that, we got to know God more deeply through the personal fellowship with Him. In light of all that God has done in this short time of dedicated prayer, I find myself wondering, What if we didn’t stop praying? Prayer is a beautiful and awe-inspiring gift. God still wants to show us His love. He desires that we draw closer to Him into a closer personal relationship. Let’s pray for God to work in mighty ways in our lives.
By Moises Lopez
A version of this article appeared in the May/June 2023 issue of the Southwestern Union Record.
